Location: Around My Corner... and Up Yours Gender:
Posted:
Nov 28, 2011 - 4:49pm
MrsHobieJoe wrote:
What do you all think of top gear USA? I saw part of one the other night, and I'm guessing that the characters would be no replacement for James May for maryte.
I give it - at best - a meh. There is no substitute for Captain Slow.
Wouldn't the goal be to eliminate excess friction to gain traction since loss of traction actually results in increased friction?
Not sure what you're asking, but the goal is to not crash the car, and that usually is accomplished by avoiding collisions. To do that you need to retain the ability to steer, and/or reduce stopping distances as much as you can. You need to be able to accelerate.
Acceleration (in the technical or scientific sense) is the term used to refer to any change in velocity. This includes stepping on the gas (positive magnitude acceleration), hitting the brakes (negative magnitude acceleration), and steering (lateral acceleration). The greater your grip on the road, the more acceleratin' you can do.
Let's say you drive a 2011 Mustang GT and enjoy rounding a curve on the road home that generates 0.94 gs of lateral acceleration (and a small but satisfying amount of tire squeal). Now suppose you try and negotiate that same turn at the same velocity, but the road surface is wet, or has oil spilled on it, or is icy, etc. You won't be able to make the turn, because the reduced coefficient of friction between the tires and the road surface will reduce the amount of lateral acceleration you can achieve.
Where I live gravel roads are pretty common. Avoiding sliding is all well and good, but once you are actually sliding that option isn't on the menu, and you'd better be ready to implement plan B. That comes with practice, not electronics, and that keeps you out of the ditch. On the urban east coast that topic may never come up but around here it's a daily occurrence.
Remind me not to invest in any creative investment instruments that include a slice of your automobile insurance risk.
No, but for the most part, when things go wrong in inclement weather, your car's tires are trying to get a grip on either
Wet pavement, wet ice, or a fairly compressed surface of compacted snow,
So I think that wanting to maximize friction between your tires and whatever they are in contact with using either the help of ABS or manually braking to imminent lockup is the best default option.
There may be special techniques that you can apply in the rare circumstances where you are trying to do a panic stop of hold your line in a turn in conditions that cannot be reasonably approximated by simple sliding friction models, but A, who has time or opportunity to consistently practice this type of specialized maneuver, and B, by the time you use your brain to recognize that such a condition exists and recall the appropriate technique to use, you're already in the ditch. Emergency driving maneuvers are of necessity ones that involve instinctive reactions, and we usually don't have time to do a lot of higher order thinking when white knuckle time happens.
Where I live gravel roads are pretty common. Avoiding sliding is all well and good, but once you are actually sliding that option isn't on the menu, and you'd better be ready to implement plan B. That comes with practice, not electronics, and that keeps you out of the ditch.
If you're wondering I'm not recommending everybody turn ABS or traction control off as a default, but trying to explain that there are situations where it makes perfect sense. On the urban east coast that topic may never come up but around here it's a daily occurrence.
No, but for the most part, when things go wrong in inclement weather, your car's tires are trying to get a grip on either
Wet pavement, wet ice, or a fairly compressed surface of compacted snow,
So I think that wanting to maximize friction between your tires and whatever they are in contact with using either the help of ABS or manually braking to imminent lockup is the best default option.
There may be special techniques that you can apply in the rare circumstances where you are trying to do a panic stop of hold your line in a turn in conditions that cannot be reasonably approximated by simple sliding friction models, but A, who has time or opportunity to consistently practice this type of specialized maneuver, and B, by the time you use your brain to recognize that such a condition exists and recall the appropriate technique to use, you're already in the ditch. Emergency driving maneuvers are of necessity ones that involve instinctive reactions, and we usually don't have time to do a lot of higher order thinking when white knuckle time happens.
Wouldn't the goal be to eliminate excess friction to gain traction since loss of traction actually results in increased friction?
Traction is not a simple quantity on loose surfaces,
No, but for the most part, when things go wrong in inclement weather, your car's tires are trying to get a grip on either
Wet pavement, wet ice, or a fairly compressed surface of compacted snow,
So I think that wanting to maximize friction between your tires and whatever they are in contact with using either the help of ABS or manually braking to imminent lockup is the best default option.
There may be special techniques that you can apply in the rare circumstances where you are trying to do a panic stop of hold your line in a turn in conditions that cannot be reasonably approximated by simple sliding friction models, but A, who has time or opportunity to consistently practice this type of specialized maneuver, and B, by the time you use your brain to recognize that such a condition exists and recall the appropriate technique to use, you're already in the ditch. Emergency driving maneuvers are of necessity ones that involve instinctive reactions, and we usually don't have time to do a lot of higher order thinking when white knuckle time happens.
What do you all think of top gear USA? I saw part of one the other night, and I'm guessing that the characters would be no replacement for James May for maryte.
I love Top Gear USA.. yes it's different, but I can appreciate both the UK and US versions for their own reasons.
