To power steer, or not to power steer.
Posted: 08 Sep 2012 00:42
I had better make sure people realise I am not recommending this power steering system our local guru has developed.
As many know I have a Honda S2000. Unlike many high grip modern sports cars, it really handles very well. It has one main problem however, the electric power steering.
The steering has no feedback at all. I'm sure this is the reason that many of these things end their life disappearing backwards into the scenery. Most of them do this after the tail has snapped back from the first little breakaway, AND KEPT GOING.
Why is this? It's because the driver was chasing the tail, but could not keep up with it, let alone have any chance of catching it.
Cars of my day, up to & including my lovely 7, all had lots of steering feed back. Yes they were heavy at very low speeds, but they also gave you heaps warning, that you were approaching the limit.
The steering would go all light as adhesion was being lost, & a minor movement of the steering, & a slight reduction in speed would have it all back under control, before anything had become apparent to anyone but the bloke mucking about at the steering wheel.
Many very good natural drivers could not tell you how they knew what the car was about to do, just before it did it, but it was this feed back they were using.
I can take liberties with my 7, that I could never get away with with the S2000. The S would spit me off into the shrubbery before I knew it, where my 7 would have said with the steering wheel, "careful mate, you're getting a bit too close to my limit for an old bloke", & I would have eased ever so slightly.
Of course the S would have been going a little quicker around the same corner, it aught to with the rubber it's got on it, but that is not the point.
Many who have only driven with power steering probably need it, & few have any intention of getting that close to the limit, that they would ever notice the difference, but be aware it's there.
The number of stories on BMW & Honda sites, detailing how they wrote off their car, attests to this factor in driving todays cars. It always seems to start with a tail gone a little too far for the driver to get back, funnily enough, even with cars that understeer naturally.
Hasbeen
As many know I have a Honda S2000. Unlike many high grip modern sports cars, it really handles very well. It has one main problem however, the electric power steering.
The steering has no feedback at all. I'm sure this is the reason that many of these things end their life disappearing backwards into the scenery. Most of them do this after the tail has snapped back from the first little breakaway, AND KEPT GOING.
Why is this? It's because the driver was chasing the tail, but could not keep up with it, let alone have any chance of catching it.
Cars of my day, up to & including my lovely 7, all had lots of steering feed back. Yes they were heavy at very low speeds, but they also gave you heaps warning, that you were approaching the limit.
The steering would go all light as adhesion was being lost, & a minor movement of the steering, & a slight reduction in speed would have it all back under control, before anything had become apparent to anyone but the bloke mucking about at the steering wheel.
Many very good natural drivers could not tell you how they knew what the car was about to do, just before it did it, but it was this feed back they were using.
I can take liberties with my 7, that I could never get away with with the S2000. The S would spit me off into the shrubbery before I knew it, where my 7 would have said with the steering wheel, "careful mate, you're getting a bit too close to my limit for an old bloke", & I would have eased ever so slightly.
Of course the S would have been going a little quicker around the same corner, it aught to with the rubber it's got on it, but that is not the point.
Many who have only driven with power steering probably need it, & few have any intention of getting that close to the limit, that they would ever notice the difference, but be aware it's there.
The number of stories on BMW & Honda sites, detailing how they wrote off their car, attests to this factor in driving todays cars. It always seems to start with a tail gone a little too far for the driver to get back, funnily enough, even with cars that understeer naturally.
Hasbeen
