Spun my Backdraft!

[Tommy]

Originally Posted by hauss

I try to think of it as a mater of traction equals A. Everything else takes away from A .Speed, braking, accelerating, decelerating and cornering. Try this in a safe area, put the car in neutral at a good rate of speed and coast in the corner. now will know the maximum speed your car can go in a corner. I have tried this and it has saved my life. IN both the rain and the snow and even once in a cobra while being foolish.you will be amazed how well these cars stick with good tires you will also be amazed how easy they wont stick when you take away from A.

While I don't disagree with the basic premise of this interpretation of how traction between a rolling wheel and the ground works, it does get complicated when you introduce variations in downforce on each of the tires. The amount of force a rolling tire can generate before it starts to slide is directly proportional to the down force on it. So accelerating out of a turn simultaneously demands the rear tires provide traction for both cornering and accelerating while the effective weight transfer to the rear provides them with more downforce. And, of course, there is side-to-side effective weight transfer that means the tire on the outside of the turn is getting more downforce that the one on the inside. Managing effective weight transfer to optimize traction from four different tires in a dynamic environment is most of what race car drivers do. It's a great skill to learn at an autocross or track day event, but not so much on Interstate highway exits.