Re: limited slip

[Chris.Prael@Eng.Sun.COM (Chris Prael)]

> Date: Sun, 01 Mar 1998 10:40:17 -0800
> From: Pierre Pfeffer <pspapc@home.com>
> Subject: limited slip
> 
> A question for you racers and time trialers:  is limited slip an
> advantage on the track?

A huge advantage!
> 
> I know on a wet track limited slip can dramatically shorten the time it
> takes the rear end to catch up with (and pass) the front - not good.  It

I have been hearing/reading this claim for the last three or four years.
In my experience it is garbage.  This is a great excuse for drivers who
haven't learned to be as smooth as they need to be.  A wet track throws
a very bright spotlight on this shortcomming.

> also seems to me that under normal conditions, short of having a very
> stiff race set-up, an open differential might help keep the back end in
> line if the inside rear wheel begins to lift.  Sort of an automatic G
> force limiter.

You describe the effect very well.  Since the G limit imposed by an open
differential is much lower than the G limit of the tires, you go a lot
slower through and out of the turns with an open differential than you
do with a limited slip.  

The same is true in the wet, but the difference between the two values
is somewhat smaller.  Perhaps that is the source of the limited-slip-
is-a-disadvantage-in-the-wet fantasy.  
> 
> Any input, no matter how pointed (that's for you, Fred <vbg>) is
> welcome.
> 
> Pierre

Chris Prael
(chrisp@regenmeister)