A Lotus officianado I know claims this was done on purpose (wrong ackerman
angle) because Collin whats-his-name figured it would actually help
handeling on specific Lotus cars. (Was it a Lotus 7 that this was done on?)
Is this true and can anyone explain his reasoning?
In my experience, carefuly applied induced oversteer can indeed overcome a
myriad of built in handeling woes. It is amazing what you can do with a
full size american sedan on a twisty road assuming you know the car and the
road well. I've surprised many sports car owners on Crow Canyon Road in
the bay area. Of cours I never knew for sure if I was actually outdriving
them or if the sight of 4500lbs of '63 Mercury getting sideways in the turns
distracted them and gave me an advantage.
>At 05:28 pm 2/6/97 +0100, you wrote:
>>Jim,
>>
>>A very succinct explanation of the Ackerman issue. I was discussing
>>this with an associate and he replied "Hell, my Lotus had the wrong
>>Ackerman geometry. Never bothered me, just wait till the front starts
>>acting up and steer with the gas pedal".
>>Jay's Dad
>Steve,
> The biggest daily problem is turning very sharp into a parking space
> at slow speed and having the tires scrub on the pavement. At high
>to moderate speed it slows you down in a fairly sharp corner very
>quickly. I tried steering with the gas at a few autocross meets.
>There is a fixed amount of traction available, which if you apply
>too much vector force ahead, (hit the power) plus the vector force
> that is turning you, you exceed the traction of the rear tires and
> suddenly have major oversteer and spin out backwards. I did it
> a few times. A sway bar on the rear made it much worse.
> So I took that off after one day of trying it.
> Jim Barrett Tiger II and others.
>
>
>
Frank Marrone MK I Tiger B9471116
marrone@wco.com 1966 LTD
Series I Alpine (2.3L powered by Ford)
Yamaha Seca 900
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