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Tricks of driving.
First of all I want to tell you that I’m not going to teach somebody how to drive a car. In general I’m not sure that it’s possible to teach. I can explain for example what and how to do. I can show, I can watch, suggest and point out some mistakes. But in the long run everybody learns by his (her) own mistakes.
In this topic I only want to tell IMHO for some peculiarities of driving a car in general and in particular a Subaru. I want also to hear other opinions if anybody wants to speak on this subject, may be to dispute or to learn something new and to try it.
I’ve nearly forgotten to specify that my talk will be ONLY about all-wheel drive cars – I don’t assume other cars.
So, Part I: technical points.
The peculiarity of all-wheel drive is its “zero” turnability. I can remind that rear-wheel drive cars have oversteering i.e. if you make a skidding you have to turn wheels against car’s rotation and also you have to control this rotation bending the throttle and with the steering lock – both doing very promptly. Front drive cars on the contrary are with understeering. I.e. for smooth running in a skidding you have to turn wheels in the direction of going out from the steering and to “hale” your car with slightly surplus gas otherwise the car will strive for coming out. As for me, for front drive cars controlled skidding is a quite relative thing – step on the gas and lock-to-lock turn.
AWD according all indications has a “zero” turnability, i.e. in different situations Subaru can conduct itself as front drive car so rear-wheel drive car. You can check this on ice: a try-on of controlled skidding from rest on Subaru leads to the fact that in the beginning of the skidding Subaru demonstrates an insufficient turnability and you have to turn in the steering wheel in the direction of the desired rotation and to step on the gas. And then the car turns into the skidding flinging its back to the external side of the rotation, thus it conducts itself like a real rear-wheel drive car. The result of this test is that the car spins round and round throughout the ground and the roll axis is right in the mass center – approximately on the driver’s place. If this happens on the road – the car also downs everybody enclosing.
What is the main mistake of the beginners? They forget how the all-wheel dive car’s clutch. I.e. the clutch follows the rate’s of revolution of rear and fore wheels difference. It gives the power to the wheels that rotates slower, considering that their flotation is better. In general the clutch is right, but on ice, giving more gas we ease fore wheels making them rotate faster. In this time the car tries to manage into the skidding and you drive it on with gas and steering wheel. Then the clutch give the power from fore wheels to rear wheels and the car really pops aside with back skidding – and here the wheels start scooping going the whole hog. And if nevertheless you will not lose courage, and you will wait while your car is turning around and around – the scene will change again. I.e. the clutch will switch to the fore wheels and everything will repeat again: the car will try again to go out from the skidding, and if you will return it back – the car will lash out again. You can try this exercise: rotating motion around marked place in the controlled skidding. You will see that the car will move in itself throughout the ground in verticity.
There is only one way out: stable engine speed and forward-looking steering. The first thing that I also recommend is to not tug the gas. If your car is unsteady – forget once for all that you have a gas pedal. In other words – if you begin controlled rotation having 3500 RPM you have to control that during the whole process of the maneuver rounds per minute remain the same. So the first part of the exercise on ice is to get constant revolutions whatever happens. The second part is the forward-looking steering. Put it in a nutshell: you predict your car’s conduct and turn steering wheel to the necessary direction and on the necessary angle slightly earlier than your car will “ask” this.
In the reality this looks something like that:
- you take off on ice and increase revolutions till 3500 (vigorously), and the turn the steering wheel to the left;
- the car starts slowly leaning to the left and in a moment its back goes to the right so the car starts simply rotate to the left almost on one place around the mass center;
- sensing this, you turn the steering wheel to the right to parry rotation, but usually too late.
So here forward-looking steering, sensing smooth fall to the left, is to turn the steering wheel to the RIGHT before the car throws its back.
And vice versa – feeling that your car makes smooth controlled skidding to the left, and you have time to “catch” it with forward-looking steering – you again put the steering wheel close to neutral point and again turn it slightly to the left BEFORE your car dart out from the skidding.
The moments of the forward-looking steering’s beginning and angles of the wheel turning in different situations are worked through on ice in the second part of exercises.
Mastering both things you can easily not only make out eights on ice but even (if desired) make “fan” turns on any surface and without any risk for those around you.
Part II...
