[Land-speed] Car Spins

Doug Odom dlodom at charter.net
Fri Jun 12 15:23:26 MDT 2009


> Any steering input reacting to caster will load or unload one rear wheel.
> Caster causes spins. There I've said it!
>
> Jack

Jack, I agree that caster CAN cause a spin BUT it can also help you from
spinning.
Think about a sprint car. Short wheelbase and wide tread width with lots of
caster to keep it from following ruts in the dirt track. When the car cuts
left into the turn the driver turns the wheel to the right keeping the front
wheels pointed the direction he wants to go. Now this jacks weight into the
left rear tire and off the right rear that is trying to rotate the car.
The longer the wheelbase and or narrower the tread width the less caster 
weight jacking will occur.
Put a car on 4 wheel scales and turn the wheel from straight ahead to one 
side and see how much it changes the rear wheel weights. Now crank as much 
caster as you can into it and test it again. Or you can just believe me 
because I have spent hours and hours doing this for roundy round set ups.

Big ditch Doug


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