Quote:
Originally Posted by MetroMPG
As a youngster, I was slightly disappointed the first time I drove a Nissan 240 and 300 (RWD both) on a skidpad: we were circling at gradually increasing speed, I was expecting (hoping for) oversteer as the tires passed their traction limits. But the fronts always let go first, leading to understeer.
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I could be wrong, but those look like their front engine vehicles with more weight on the front. Hence the understeer. Accelerating can make it worse, unless overpowered.
That's the way a lot of these cars work. Slightly accelerating or decelerating can cause one condition and slamming on the throttle or brakes another condition, as long as there's enough power (braking or accelerating). It's when people that make abrupt changes that things can go out of control.
I noticed the Teslas have a bit more weight on the rear than the front, but are close to a 50:50 weight distribution. I suppose that's what we're going to see from now on. With the weight near 50:50, even if there's slightly more on the rear than the front, it's much easier to maintain stability and for stability control to work.
But on the other hand, a car with 60 or 65% of the weight on the drive wheels will have better traction from a stop than a car with around 55% on the drive wheels. Of course accelerating in RWD will help, but only once the car starts moving and if you're accelerating forwards. A car that's stuck won't get the weight shift onto the rear wheels because it can't accelerate.
The problem with a car with 60-65% of the weight on the rear wheels is that potentially nasty oversteer even when not touching the throttle. The correct procedure through corners in such a vehicle is to slightly accelerate and to be smooth in your transitions from braking to cornering to accelerating. But most people in a pickle from coming too fast into the corner will naturally try to instantly decelerate, which is better if you have more weight on the front.
Maybe someday we'll have invented vehicles that can move the wheels forwards and backwards, depending on the circumstances.