[Land-speed] Car Spins

Doug Odom dlodom at charter.net
Sat Jun 13 09:26:59 MDT 2009


Jack, I was using a sprint car to show what caster effect was because it is
the most extreme example. It is easier for people to understand the idea of
what we are talking about by using such a simple car like a sprint car. I
never thought about running one for a land speed record.

Big Ditch Doug


  LSR!

  Put bicycle tires on a 700hp sprinter. and run it for a land speed
record.Then what?

  Thanks Jack




  ----- Original Message -----
  From: "Doug Odom" <dlodom at charter.net>
  To: nt788 at comcast.net
  Cc: "land-speed" <land-speed at autox.team.net>
  Sent: Friday, June 12, 2009 2:23:26 PM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific
  Subject: Re: [Land-speed] Car Spins




  > 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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