<VV> NCIS-LA 1955 Porsche Spyder understeer ?

[Charles Lee]

Bill and Sharon -

Thanks for the enlightenment - the TV show (obviously not "reality" depicted 
a memory of painting the road with her Porsche "back in the day" so it was 
ostnsibly an original.

A friend of mine who still loves Corvairs but races BMWs (and loves his old 
Bavaria) says that great thing about poor handling cars is that you get to 
the "interesting" situations much sooner and at lower speeds, with the same 
thrill, and much less expensive !

You can get really exciting in a Ford Falcon without going nearly as fast !

Probably not what what we want in a car though ?

I prefer oversteer, since you can always turn the wheel less, but once you 
hit lock in an understeering car, what do you do ?  (Besides a lot of prior 
heel 'n toe to prevent getting there in the first place ?)

Charlie

Anymore, in reality (not TV land), no one has enough money to actually
drive a real 550 on the street, so it was probably a replicar, and who
knows how a replica might handle without some empirical testing of that
particular vehicle.

The few real 550's I've seen have all been vintage racers, not counting
the 'Lil Bastard" replica, which again, is a replica.

No idea if real 550's understeer or oversteer, probably some
Porschephilic book addresses it, but I do know that mid-engine cars are
a tad less than predictable once you've gone past the point of full
control ...  it's just harder to get there, which makes the results all
that more "interesting".

Bill

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "S M" <shaun_mcgarvey at shaw.ca>
To: "Charles Lee" <Chaz at ProperProPer.com>
Cc: <virtualvairs at corvair.org>; "Eric Prosise" <eprosise at hotmail.com>
Sent: Friday, March 19, 2010 4:52 PM
Subject: Re: <VV> NCIS-LA 1955 Porsche Spyder understeer ?


> Hi Charles, severe understeer can occur in some instances even in 
> Corvairs. A good example would be taking a right onto a sidestreet (too 
> fast) with the brakes on. If there's the slightest amount of dust, sand, 
> or other adhesion limiting factor like rain, you will run straight off 
> across the sidestreet into the curb, ditch, or other car waiting at the 
> stop sign. The trick is to hit the brakes in a straight line before the 
> turn to get some weight transfer to the front wheels, release the brakes 
> before you turn in and gently get back on the power going through the 
> turn.
>
> yea, Vairily ... Shaun
> 2x CORSA Ntl. stock-class Autocross Champ.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Charles Lee <Chaz at ProperProPer.com>
> Date: Friday, March 19, 2010 12:26 pm
> Subject: Re: <VV> NCIS-LA 1955 Porsche Spyder understeer ?
> To: Eric Prosise <eprosise at hotmail.com>, virtualvairs at corvair.org
>
>> In a recent episode of NCIS-LA, the director claim she wrecked
>> 1955 Porsche Spyder (in Monte Carlo) because she could not not
>> get used the "understeer" ?
>>
>> Should that have been "oversteer" - I've never driven one, but I
>> think it's oversteer that makes a car fun to drive, right ?
>>
>> Understeer is "safer" mostly for people who don't know how to
>> drive, or if you DO know how and know how to use it to your
>> advantage, but oversteer is problematic for people who are
>> accustomed to understeer.
>>
>> If I remember correctly, many Corvair "problems" were
>> encountered when drivers would use the Corvair "in a pinch" when
>> their Buick was in the shop or something, so they had to drive
>> their "other" car ?
>>
>> So, I'm thinking it would be oversteer that caused her to paint
>> the roadside with her Porsche Spyder ?
>>
>> Charlie
>>
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