Re: Hand brake turn

["Scott F. Williams" <sfwilliams@worldnet.att.net>]

That turn in one and then the other direction, my friends, is called a pendulum
turn or in rally slang, a "Scandinavian flick". In turns of chassis physical
dynamics, what you're doing is maximizing weight transfer to the side that you
want to break traction so that it will rotate.

Here's how it works. Let's say that you want to do a hard left turn. So, you turn
the car to the right and the car rolls to the left -compressing the springs on
that side of the car. Then you turn the car to the left to negotiate the turn. The
energy stored in the suspension makes the car roll to the right even harder. The
right side of the car then loses traction. By modulating the brake you can bias
the traction from front to rear to promote traction up front and break it in the
back.

Do this all correctly and you get a nice predictable tail slide and the car scoots
around the corner rally stylee! I do this all the time because without swaybars on
my car, it understeers like a pig. Now, as for the handbrake stuff, this technique
is necessary only for negotiating the very *tightest* hairpin turns. It can be
combined with a pendulum turn for maximum effect or done separately.

HTH

the mad bastard wrote:

> one way to really get the back end out is
> if you turn the wheel quickly (not sharply) in one direxion, and then
> quickly follow up with a turn in the other direxion.  just before you
> start unbalancing the car in the other direxion, nail the parking brake
> with your finger on the release button so it doesn't stay in the lock
> position.  once the car is spun 90º to 135º, drop the brake down and see
> if you can put the gearstick into 1st (don't force it, it may not want
> to go in).  if you can get it into first, rev it out a bit and dump the
> clutch.  the tires light up, and if you're pointing them in the right
> direxion, you're the man....--

Scott F. Williams
NJ Scirocco nut
Hotrod Rabbit GTI
SCCA ProRally driver



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