There is a BIG difference between a road car and a formula car. I race F2000 and can tell you all that we usually dial in a slight bit of oversteer. This is different from power oversteer.
To get the car around the track fast most of us drivers try to get the car to rotate a little faster in the corner.
Understeer on the racetrack is very bad, since if the chassis has a tendency towards understeer then your braking will also be effected. So with reduced braking capability you will not be able to dive into the corner as fast or maintain as much speed through the corner.
BUT! too much of a good thing can be bad in this case. If the chassis is setup with too much oversteer (mechanical or aero) then the car will become "twichy" at speed. That can lead to you having to lift too much to control the car and slow your pace down.
Also with oval racing, which I do not do much of, oversteer is the preferred. Backing the car into the outside wall is always preffered over driving straight into it. There is more car to absorbe the impact at the back then in the front.
i believe that most racing cars and high performance cars dial more oversteer in because its faster. but in racing i think its how much the driver prefers. i do not believe that someone races with alot of oversteer because that would mean they were driving a car that wouldn't be able to go in as deep into the corners. it might possibly come out of the corners better but i do not believe so. but generally oversteer is better. its usually just a lil bit away from having a neutral setup
as always it depends....on driving style on track on circumstances.
For a traditional driving style with distinct straight ,braking cornering I´d say a understeering (slightly) car is a good approach.You come early on the throttle and neutralize the understeer on corner exit.
With trailbraking and sharp turning on the apex I´d say you want all on the front you can have and a rearend that changes direction easily,so you can position the car for corner exit
Hi guys,
can anyone please explain to me, how can you setup oversteer/understeer on normal road car? I have a slight idea how to do it on formula 1 car, but no idea on the road car...
Location: Covilhã, Portugal (and sometimes in Évora)
Post
Well one way is by changing the weight distribuition....which isn't too easy on a road car...unless you fill the trunk with lead (for oversteer) or fill the engine bay with lead (for understeer).
The best way would be fiddling around with the shocks and springs....or even using a anti-roll bar.
since most road cars are dialed in for understeer, you can balance some of that out with a rear strut bracing.
its not just matter of "dialing in" for under or oversteer. (my car was understeering very badly, so i added front and rear strut brace, springs, Koni struts.. now it handles beautifully).
basically you have to change griplevels front to rear to change the balance of the car.
changing tyre pressure from optimum grip will of course change the cars balance,and it is dead cheap.But you donot use the tyres to the max running them with low or high pressures.
Increasin/decreasing rideheight on one axle is another possibility,putting more weight on the axle (lowering) increases grip potentially(if your camber,toeetc are readjusted)
Changing toe and camber may help influence balance too as does
CG moving ,or the introduction of front or rear aero divices.
Changing springrate split front rear has effects (stiffening leads to loss of grip as a rough guide) and then there are dampers.
For a badly understeering car you have to take into account that the wheels are in fact falling over (the shoulder) when cornering.In that case increasing springrate will in fact increase cornering capability .So you first have to make sure what´s happening...
In fact everything you change in the setup influences the understeer oversteer in a special way.that´s where the good guys excell...getting the most out of the package....
