<VV> Ludvigsen article

[Kent Sullivan]

I stopped by a newsstand and read the article. Karl claim that the Corvair
(EM sedan at least) has 60+% of its weight over the rear axle. I knew it
didn't hit the ideal but did not think it was this high. Can anyone confirm
/ deny?

Some of the early work done by Tatra and VW established the ideal max weight
% over the rear axle... It's around 50% but I can't remember the exact
figure.

Thanks.
-----Original Message-----
From: virtualvairs-bounces at corvair.org
[mailto:virtualvairs-bounces at corvair.org] On Behalf Of Spencer Shepard
Sent: Friday, November 10, 2006 8:38 AM
To: virtualvairs at corvair.org
Subject: <VV> Ludvigsen article

My appologies to anyone who tried to reply to me about my post about the
Ludvigsen article. My email mysteriously started giving the wrong return
address when someone replied to one of my emails. I was on a chat with an
Earthlink rep (thanks Steve K) for 2 and a half hours last night to get that
fixed. Someone snail mailed me and asked that I scan and post the article.
That may be a tad illegal, but I'm sure Hemmings or Carl won't mind and I'll
try to do it.

The jist of the thing is that Karl Ludvigsen is a very well respected
Journalist and was in a position to test the first Corvairs in 1959. He must
have an Engineering background and is obvliously well schooled in the
Mechanics of vehicle handling and chassis dynamics. At that time we wrote an
article that criticaized the Corvairs he tested as being very prone to
oversteer and at least hinted that were weren't safe for the American public
that wasn't very well versed in car contol. His was probably one of the only
articles that wasn't complimentary at the time. The Hemmings article talk's
about Karl's encounter with Zora Duntov at the '60 Sebring race where Zora
aproached him about the negative tone of his article.

The article states that GM realized the situation and had plans or at least
the ability to install a front roll bar and rear leaf sping as early as the
first models but the bean counters prevailed so that the car could be
advertised at $1999. The implication is that finances prevailed over safety,
no surprise there! It also states that GM purposely put a very slow steering
ratio on the first Corvairs to avoid having drivers over-correct for the
oversteer and crash as a result.

It talks about the Nader investigations and how GM dedicated lots of money
and facilities to fighting it. Karl was associated with GM at that time and
was worried that someone would realize that he had criticized the handling
in that '59 article. Somehow that never happened. He says that one of the
good things that came from the investigation was the giagantic skid pad that
was built and was very helpful in the developement of race cars like the
Chaparal and future production cars. He mentions that fact that the handling
problems were finally solved was part of the "tradgedy".

Spence Shepard
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