Talk:Opposite lock

Much Faster?

"Overall, the bend will have been negotiated much faster than driving through it in a normal manner"

I think this needs to be clarified. It is not always much faster, Rally drivers are the only ones that use it because they are on low traction surface. I have never seen any road course driver use it, as it is not faster than a proper racing line on a road course. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.58.1.6 (talk) 02:17, 24 April 2007 (UTC).

I agree with this concern. A non-skidding approach should almost always be faster on tarmac. My understanding is that turning involving a purposeful loss of traction is only beneficial on low-traction surfaces (where the front tires would not have enough traction to execute a fast turn) or specific instances on road tracks when the geometry of a given turn does not allow a good traditional line.71.207.221.21 (talk) 05:08, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

On the contrary drifting round a corner can be as fast or perhaps faster than a grip approach, the truth is hard to work out because it is is much about the skills of individual drivers. Skidding or drifting into a corner tends to have a higher entrance speed, and later braking over grip driving, however grip driving tends to have an advantage on the exit as they can accelerate sooner exiting the corner. Ultimately by ensuring that the drift is limited to the minimum necessary, the disadvantage of the exit speed of grip driving is minimised. Although it is likely that the exit of a grip driven car will always be quicker, drift has the advantage that you can conserve a greater amount of momentum and speed through the corner than driving grip. The greatest difference is that a perfect drift is far more difficult than a perfect grip line through the corner. An inexperienced or poor driver using drift may use excessive counter steer leading to an imperfect exit and the car then needs to be corrected, the car needs to settle, before the car can accelerate from the corner. In this case as the drift will fare poorly against good grip driving which will be able to accelerate from the corner sooner.

The ideal driving is somewhere between the two methods of grip or drift. Or using both, one or other where appropriate. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Very little gravitas indeed (talk • contribs) 14:23, 26 December 2009 (UTC)

Would not the definition of "low traction" need to take into account the amount of engine power, braking ability and the traction characteristics of the tires on that particular surface (as well as other factors)? If the engine or brakes cannot break the tires loose, that surface would presumably not be 'low traction' for that particular vehicle.

The ability to break the driven wheels loose and to deliver thrust (and thus the optimal turn strategy) for a particular range of surfaces will be very different for cars with e.g. 80 HP, 400 HP or 2,000 HP. 2601:601:9A7E:C70:15C8:38E7:5C14:A3BA (talk) 16:12, 23 February 2024 (UTC)