More cool car physics

[Norman Albers]

Maybe I can find fame with the Albers accelerative driving force. YOU CAN BELIEVE IT BECAUSE IT'S TRUE, as a gospel preacher said. When you enter a turn there is a second sideways shear force on the tires and car and road proportional to how fast you are changing the steering wheel position. This is IN ADDITION TO the momentary centrifugal force which is proportional to the turn radius at the moment. This is important, because it says that if you need to make a sudden veer, if you jerk the steering wheel rapidly you induce a momentarily high shear force sideways and compromise traction. I have caught myself doing this as I come back into lane after passing. It is a stupid move; never move the wheel too fast. If you have to make an emergency swerve at the limit of what you can, move the wheel boldly but surely. To understand this physics, consider the moment of inertia for 'yaw', or rotation as if you look down from a helicopter. Consider the rotation rate of the car as it relates to turn radius. . . . . . This is not news to race drivers; what do they call it?

[Milken]

A fishtail, where a lateral force comprimises the centripital force's arcing traction.

[Norman Albers]

Thank you, my friend. Is there a name for this accelerative force? As for my recent bad habit, "a fool repeats his mistakes but the idiot does not even realize them!" Hopefully I can claim the first. I'll let you know. . . . . . . You Europeans may have seen this, but I have a Czech couple of friends who had a circus act where he drove a car ON TWO WHEELS ON ITS SIDE while she in sequinns did handstands and otherwise looked good. The video was cool. . . . . . . . . . . SERIOUSLY, a woman who went off the highway ten minutes before I had to detour, said in the newspapers "I overcorrected". This could easily have actually been, "I moved too quickly", in physical truth.

[Milken]

Centripetal accleration? I haven't seen anything with physics in around 7 years.

[Milken]

That's courage!

[Norman Albers]

The centripetal force exerted by the tire is v-squared over 'r'; the accelerative force is omega-dot times the yaw moment of inertia. Packing loads near your center of mass reduces this moment.