<VV> Nader

[HallGrenn at aol.com]

In a message dated 9/30/2009 7:15:47 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
wrokit at hotmail.com writes:

Actually, a car  magazine article from 1960 or 1961 (Road and  Track??)
entitled "why doesnt the corvair handle" explored the  weight bias theory 
as well
as different tire pressures than  recommended, and none of those things 
really helped
the  handling at all- what did help dramatically, was to ADD weight over 
the  rear
wheels! It worked because it forced the axels into  positive camber, and 
then the axels  couldnt "jack" because of cornering  forces.
Kevin Nash
'63 spyder (properly decambered! of  course!)



Absolutely correct.  Great article (maybe Sports Car Graphic?)  I  used 
this information when I was assigned to do a class for drivers of M151 Ford  
Jeeps (with swing axles) when in the army.  The drivers were dying on  the 
autobahn's at an alarming rate--they'd lose control, flip and get smeared  all 
over the pavement (no roof, no roll bar).  With the aid of drawings  showing 
how the rear roll center rose as the rear wheels got closer together  with 
more negative camber and then by putting weight behind the rear seats to  
bring the rear wheels closer to positive camber and then have them  drive the 
jeeps that way to feel the difference they got a better  feel for the 
vehicle.  The M151 was fine off road, but on a high speed  highway they were 
tricky (plus there were real problems with inadequately  greased u-joints)--lots 
more rear wheel travel than an EM.  The problem got  a final solution when 
the M151s were withdrawn from motor messenger duty and  replaced with '67 
Chevy pickups.
 
Bob