what the hell is lift-throttle oversteer?

[ls1ac]

Just to through one more piece into the mix, a lift of the throttle with a high compression engine will cause the engine to drag the back tires and cause quick rotation just like grabbing the e-brake. If you watch many of the (hot) sports car wrecks on youtube you will see a driver panic after starting to drift sideways after a wheel spinning start, then lift off the throttle and spin uncontrollably. Continued use of moderate throttle could have saved them.
A good way to practice is in the snow, start a drift, too much throttle will speed up the rotation and so will lifting off the throttle too much.
These cars are very forgiving both on dry roads and on the track. I love this driving experience. You can learn to do it right with out the danger of an expensive oops.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by ls1ac

Just to through one more piece into the mix, a lift of the throttle with a high compression engine will cause the engine to drag the back tires and cause quick rotation just like grabbing the e-brake. If you watch many of the (hot) sports car wrecks on youtube you will see a driver panic after starting to drift sideways after a wheel spinning start, then lift off the throttle and spin uncontrollably. Continued use of moderate throttle could have saved them.
A good way to practice is in the snow, start a drift, too much throttle will speed up the rotation and so will lifting off the throttle too much.
These cars are very forgiving both on dry roads and on the track. I love this driving experience. You can learn to do it right with out the danger of an expensive oops.

Exactly!
Not that I ever do it on the roads but if I were to want to swing the rear end out a bit it is just a quick throttle blip, lift a second to break traction a split second, a little twist of the steering wheel and then gently back onto the throttle to straighten out. Again not that I would do that on a road. (Ya the snow is a blast)

[Sarlacc]

Also a vital part of the RWD Scandinavian flick.
Spectacular and fun way of cornering on gravel and snow.
[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandinavian_flick"]Scandinavian flick - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]

[sledheadguy]

good advice here. I am lucky enough to say we have snow here. unlucky in that it got to - 36 celcius last night, brr.
So the the other day i was playing with the stability and traction control settings to turn them off. wanted to slide the car on the snow and ice. I think I need to read up more on these functions. I did the stopping of caar and holding buttons for 3 secs. But these systems still kicked it when trying to slide it.
Ill read up more on it. closest I got was i the sport mode. Where It would just give a taste of fun then system kicked in again.
Off to the books...

[Tcoat]

Check this one out
http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&...8RRdlNckpvd3Wg

[DarkSunrise]

Personally I've found it useful to have that adjustability at the track. If you're understeering mid-corner, you can lift and get that bit of rotation from the rear, then get back on the throttle.

Just talking about small amounts of rotation here, not massive slides. I think the most important thing is to know that the rear can come around when you lift, and to be prepared with your hands to countersteer as necessary.

[CatDaddysBBQ]

Before my '86, I had a MKV Gti - LOVED to oversteer in a hard turn with some throttle lift. It was the only way that thing ever got any rotation. Fun stuff.

With the RWD car? Not as necessary to have fun, obviously, but it's a testament to a good neutral chassis that it works as well as it does with our cars.

[Dezoris]

Originally Posted by sledheadguy

ok....so is this a positive or negative???
I would think its a negative.
Is it a big deal? what can fix it?

Smoother throttle application, driver induced. Many cars do this even FWD.

[FRSupra]

I just wanted to add to @billwot reference to the SW20's, and I hope this helps explain a little better for the OP.

"other journalists point out that most mid-engine and rear engine sports and super cars exhibit similar behaviour, and that a change to the driver's response to oversteer is really the solution. In any car, braking shifts the weight forward, and acceleration to the rear. When drivers enter a corner with too much speed, and lift the throttle mid-corner, the weight transfers forward causing the rear tires to lose traction (called lift-off oversteer), which can result in a spin. When improper steering inputs were made attempting to correct this non-power-on oversteer, the rear of the MR2 would swing one way, then wildly (and quickly) the other—thus the term "snap" oversteer. Toyota elected to change the MR2 suspension and tires to reduce the likelihood that this would occur, though many drivers would lament the change and claim that it "neutered" the sharp edge the MR2 was known for.[21] Toyota claimed that the changes were made "for drivers whose reflexes were not those of Formula One drivers."

(from Wiki)

[86Tony]

Originally Posted by Dezoris

Smoother throttle application, driver induced. Many cars do this even FWD.

Agree alot of of 90s honda fwd car will spin out if you didn't know how to control it. Happen to me back in the days on the track spun out alot of times in my integra when I lift the throttle and turn in fast

[InspGadgt]

In RC cars we often call this off-power or off-throttle oversteer. Grippier tires or softer rear suspension can help this at the expense of inducing understeer at other points. What we do instead is control the weight transfer by changing the droop of the suspension. Droop being how far the suspension will extend past static ride height. The more droop you have the more weight transfers forward so by reducing droop in the rear you reduce weight transfer and get rid of the issue. However I have no idea how you would limit the downward travel of the suspension on a real car. The physics are the same but in RC we get a lot more options to play with that you don't get on a real car.

[strat61caster]

Originally Posted by InspGadgt

However I have no idea how you would limit the downward travel of the suspension on a real car. The physics are the same but in RC we get a lot more options to play with that you don't get on a real car.

Bump stops, common in offroad and some forms of racing (I know them from NASCAR).

Problem is that in order to install them effectively on a car you have to have a very good understanding of every possible road condition the car will experience, difficult for a road car. And when you hit them it can be very jarring, even worse for handling in most cases.

Instead you engineer the problem away by giving the suspension geometry 'anti squat' or 'anti dive', this thread seems pretty competent at explaining the specifics:
http://www.pro-touring.com/threads/1...-Squat-Physics

[rice_classic]

My ITA car (fwd) is setup such that if I lift in a corner I will be leaving the track backwards. If at anytime I'm not on-the-throttle in a corner, my hands will be 'opening the steering' really fast is direct correspondence with my position of my right foot on the right pedal.

[stevesnj]

Originally Posted by Sarlacc

Also a vital part of the RWD Scandinavian flick.
Spectacular and fun way of cornering on gravel and snow.
Scandinavian flick - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Here's the animation of it