Winter Tips Part 2

Tuesday, 8. November 2011

If you drive too hard into a corner you will experience what is called ‘understeer’, you lose front end grip and the vehicle continues on instead of turning the corner. The problem here is that drivers will generally apply more lock, turn the steering wheel even more into the corner, it is a natural reaction. This actually makes the situation worse as tyre treads are designed to give most grip in a straight line. So the straighter your car the better the grip. By turning even further into the corner the grip reduces causing you to skid.

You should therefore straighten up a little and take your foot off the accelerator to allow the tyre to start gripping again. In snow and ice it is a good idea to dip the clutch at the same time, especially if you have a rear wheel drive car.

Even on tickover the car can still be driven forward so it would be safer to dip the clutch whilst easing off the accelerator.

Watch a driver as he steers into a corner and you will see his body angle change as his body steers into the corner. This can result in the driver not turning the steering wheel enough.

This tends to happen when you focus on whatever you are attempting to avoid rather than where you want to go. As I mentioned before, if you are already experiencing oversteer take your foot off the accelerator, the same applies if you are looking to avoid an accident if the car is rear wheel drive but if you are driving a front wheel car you should apply a little acceleration, as you should with a 4WD which reacts similarly to a front wheel drive car.

As many of my regular readers know I’m a great supporter of Electronic Stability Programme’s (ESP) as this applies braking and accelerator to individual wheels keeping the car in line. By Graham Hill