What are the conditions and steps to do this?

 

never heard it refered to as drop throttle, but the most common throttle related oversteer in a FWD car is when you lift off the gas in mid turn, shifting the weight forward just enough to cause oversteer and bring the tail out. Drop-throttle might be referring to a RWD car where you slam the gas to break traction on the rear wheels, bringing the tail around power-slide style.

 

Not sure on this, but it sounds like induced oversteer by lifting off the throttle in the middle of a corner????? I've had that happen a couple of times. Going into a corner hard, I've lifted off in the middle of the corner and had the back end come out a little. It's pretty fun though....... Just correct the steering and hammer the throttle again and away we go.

*Sigh* Brings back the memories............................

James

 

I've always heard it as "Lift Throttle Oversteer". Allegedly, it's a bad thing.

When your cornering under throttle, the weight is transfered from the front of the vehicle to the rear (which is another reason why RWD cars have an advantage in accelleration). In a FWD car, with a front weight bias - lifting the throttle mid-turn causes the weight to shift back to the front. This reduces the traction on the rear tires and centripital (sp?) force (not "centrifugal") causes the rear of the car to proceed in a straight line as the front continues in the arch of the turn... in an extreme scenario, this causes a spinout, as the rear of the car comes around.

The same thing happens (in terms of weight transfer) when you brake mid-corner.

Generally, FWD cars are better off as "slow in / fast out", or at least maintaining speed through the corner - never wimp out in the middle or (gods forbid) brake in a corner or you'll find the tail whipping around.

I'm sure a more technical explanation will follow.

 

Yup, Valerian (sp?) got it right.

I've always heard it referred to as "lift-off oversteer," but it does exactly as described: you lift off the throttle in a corner and the rear end outruns the front. That's why the rear suspension is less stiff than the front - to try and combat this inherent weakness of the ff car...

You can use it to your benefit if you are familiar with the car - as many autoxers do. I had some fun with it at this past auto-x as well... I guess it even qualifies as drifting if done right... Make sure you practice in a large, wide open area, and be careful in the wet where this condition is magnified!

 

yeah!!!! someone who actually uses the correct terminology.... phew... thanks.

spinouts are fun tho...

D