Over Steer, Under Steer, Throttle Steer

“Speed Kills!”  The politically correct solution to all of our highway problems.  If everyone would just slow down, things would be just peachy.

Well, maybe.  But there’s a teensy problem with this simplistic little solution.  As a driving society, we’re not going to slow down!  When 80% of the driving public is pushing seventy five to eighty in that cute little fifty five zone, they may just be telling us something - and maybe its time the politicians started listening.

Speed doesn’t necessarily kill.  People do it safely all the time.  But driving fast without having the skills required to do so?  Yup. That’ll kill!  So what’s the “Driverthink” suggestion?  If you’re going to drive fast, it behooves you to develop the skills to do it safely and if you don’t have an understanding of basic car handling concepts, you simply don’t have the skills.

Vehicle handling is mostly about curves and turns.  How does the vehicle respond when entering a turn at high speed?  Let’s start with some definitions and examples.
 
Hard Steering:  This is the stuff you do with the steering wheel.  The actual wheel input.
Under Steer:  You steer into a left curve but the car doesn’t steer quite as far as you wanted it to and drifts toward the right of the lane.  It’s “Pushing”.  It still wants to go straight and you have to add more input to stay in the lane.  This would also be described as “tight handling.”  Your car is “tight”.

Over Steer:  Also called “Loose”.  Same scenario into the turn but this car tends to go further into the turn than you wanted.  Also, the rear tires can begin to break loose and start to skid, thus the term “loose.”
 
Neutral:  Your car neither over steers or under steers at a given speed.  It does exactly what you want it to do when you hard steer.  (It may, however, get loose or tight at higher speed.)

Throttle Steer:  This is what’s killing our kids.  When a car enters a hard curve at speed, it will throttle steer.  It will turn not only based on steering wheel input, but also from input to the gas pedal (or brake).  Throttle Steer is a wonderful thing if you understand it.  It’s LETHAL if you don’t.

Wonderful Thing Throttle Steer:  You’re boogying down the highway and you start to enter a reasonably tight, left turning curve.  You hard steer into it but your car still wants to go straight and starts drifting to the right side of your lane.  It’s tight.  Simply bleed off a little speed.  Not a lot - just a touch.  Your car will lean slightly forward placing more weight on the steering tires.  As they dig in, the car will turn ever slightly more, and center itself in the lane.  Once it’s centered, continue to adjust it by adding or decreasing slight power or by light hard steer.

Lethal Throttle Steer:  Same situation, inexperienced driver.  As driver is hard steering the curve, traffic slows or suddenly stops in front of him.  Driver immediately lets off the gas or worse, brakes hard without an immediate, hard steering correction.  Car immediately Throttle Steers, going from tight to loose as the front tires bite in.  POW!  Right in to the divider, an adjacent car, or worse, a bridge abutment.

Politically correct reason for the fatality:  “He was such a nice kid – but he was speeding”.

Reality:  She was driving fast without having learned the necessary skill sets.  It killed her.

Most of today’s road vehicles are set up a little loose.  A higher performance rig is probably going to be more neutral until it really gets going – but it’s also going to be far less forgiving.  Every car or truck you drive will be different – but if you understand the concepts and focus on how to react to them, you’ll be taking your curves safely – and with a lot more confidence!

Okay, so we now understand these concepts and skillfully throttle steer through our turns.  What’s next to Driverthink about?  The cars around you!  Are they sliding from one side of the lane to the other, or invading the lanes next to them?  Do they weave from side to side in the turn, constantly over-correcting until the road straightens and bails them out?  If so, they don’t have your skills.  They’re road hazards.  Give them room.

For our more sophisticated driver, we’re not hitting apex’s here.  This is the highway, not the track – and that driver next to you may not hit his apex with you.  Instead, he may hit you if he invades your lane.  The objective on the highway is to keep it centered.

Responsible drivers are skilled drivers – at any speed they may choose to drive.

Please Add your COMMENTS BELOW.  What do You Think?


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Posted by Frank Miller at 10/1/2007 2:15 PM
Categories: Driving Experience, Know your Machine, Driving Skills

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