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Originally Posted by John V
I can go around a skidpad in steady-state understeer or steady-state oversteer. Does that mean the car oversteers AND understeers?
The point I'm trying to make is that there is a lot more to it than saying "this car understeers" or "this car oversteers." What are you doing when it over/understeers? Braking and turning into a curve? Going through the middle of the curve? Accelerating out of the curve? Going in a bit hot and decelerating / braking IN the curve? It's not as simple as people are making it out to be. With the Boxster (and several other cars I've been lucky enough to drive hard) you have so much control over what the car is doing, it's hard to just label the car as one thing or another.
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Hi,
You have made your point and no one disagrees with you at all. A Driver can, through the modulation of Throttle and Brakes change the dynamics of the car.
But the Boxster, or any other car can be setup to favor either understeer or oversteer. As is the case with virtually
all street cars, the Boxster is setup (through the selection of Tires, Tire Pressures, Spring Rates, Anit-Roll Bar Thickness and deflection, all Alignment Settings, etc.) to understeer - period.
You can go on and on about how this effect can be mediated by the driver, but two points need be added. A driver must be experienced and knowledgeable in order to be able to overcome the car's
natural tendency (as setup) in a controlled way, as you predict. Most drivers are so experienced or knowledgeable, nor does the manufacturer make any such assumption that they are. So an inherent amount of understeer is dialed-into the car to begin with. And, if an average driver takes the wheel, his control inputs will generally cause the car to understeer as was the Manufacturer's intent.
If you understand suspension setups as much as you appear to, just looking at the OEM suspension alignment settings will prove to you that what I'm saying is correct...
Happy Motoring!... Jim'99