Quote:
Originally Posted by Z-PDX
You seem pretty sharp on high.speed vehicle dynamics. So maybe I can learn something here.
. What exactly do you mean by unstable?
. How does wheelbase affect stability?
. Is it just wheelbase or does stability relate to anything else?
. What is considered "higher speeds"?
Thanks for the help. Appreciate it.
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it helps to relate wheelbase width to how a person stands. when your feet are close together, it is easy to move you. this means that there is less force required to change direction and that is really fun in a car. if you are in a more ready position, it will take more force to move and you feel more balanced. there is probably some sort of fallacy in that example but i think it gets the basic point across.
the length is a similar kind of concept. the farther the wheels are apart, the longer you have as a driver to react as the rear wheels try to get ahead of the fronts.
i dont want to put a definitive threshold on "highspeed" but look at it as a continuum. as speeds increase, the time you have to react decreases. i would guess the smallest wheelbase a person can manage would be the fastest but at some point the instability will have more and more downsides. just look at the worlds fastest production cars. in the top ten, i would imagine that 4/5 are massive with gigantic wheelbases (think ford gt, pagani zonda ect.)
i should also note that these are just assumptions on my part.