Stupid things PETROL HEADS say
Discussion
kambites said:
Bennet said:
kambites said:
"RWD makes no difference on the public road because you can only tell the difference when at the limits of grip". 
Could you talk me through why that's stupid?Antony Moxey said:
At walking pace? Rubbish. If you drive at walking pace and turn the wheel, the car will go in the direction you're pointing it, whether you have front wheel drive or rear wheel drive. I suspect that, at walking pace, it's nigh on impossible to tell whether you are driving a FWD car or a RWD one.
Really, it's not. The first time you drive over a bump you can feel the difference in spring and damping rates between front and rear of the car; as soon as you turn a corner you can feel how much camber and caster the car is running at the front from how the resistance changes. You can even directly feel the drive by how the autocentering varies with small changes to throttle input. Just roll a FWD car along in an arc at walking pace and then bring the clutch up in first and really think about what you're feeling through the steering. It makes no practical difference at low speed, but it does feel different.
Number 5 said:
Saying wing mirrors when referring to mirrors fitted to the doors of cars:
Wing mirrors are fitted to wings
Door mirrors are fitted to doors
Got it?
Saying chairs when referring to the seats of cars, cars do not have CHAIRS they have SEATS
you must be barrel of laughs at a party!Wing mirrors are fitted to wings
Door mirrors are fitted to doors
Got it?
Saying chairs when referring to the seats of cars, cars do not have CHAIRS they have SEATS
They do feel different. They really do.
Much of it is effect rather than cause due to which wheels are being twisted round, but by and large they feel different from the off. It's even subtle things. 2 softly sprung cars: Move off from a standstill and the FWD nose will rise whereas the RWD rear will squat. FWD tends to have a more cab-forward seating position compared to where the wheels are so steering input gives a sensation of lateral movement before yaw rather than the other way around.
It's often subtle, but it's there. The way the steering loads up is fundamentally different, even at walking pace too.
Much of it is effect rather than cause due to which wheels are being twisted round, but by and large they feel different from the off. It's even subtle things. 2 softly sprung cars: Move off from a standstill and the FWD nose will rise whereas the RWD rear will squat. FWD tends to have a more cab-forward seating position compared to where the wheels are so steering input gives a sensation of lateral movement before yaw rather than the other way around.
It's often subtle, but it's there. The way the steering loads up is fundamentally different, even at walking pace too.
walm said:
Radio waves ARE NOT sound waves.
You are right but for the wrong reason.
Even if the microphone could pick up sounds at 430MHz it wouldn't help because RADIO waves at 430MHz don't move AIR around.
Seriously chaps, this is a pretty fundamental difference here.
It is the equivalent of trying to show someone a photo via a mobile phone by holding the picture to the microphone.
Or trying to show how hot something is by holding it to the phone.
This is the EM spectrum. Note he has sound waves shown separately because - well - they have NOTHING to do with EM.
http://xkcd.com/273/
Sorry, you are indeed right. A microphone transduces air movement to electrical energy. I forgot that fundamental point. No modulation or demodulationinvolved in that process.You are right but for the wrong reason.
Even if the microphone could pick up sounds at 430MHz it wouldn't help because RADIO waves at 430MHz don't move AIR around.
Seriously chaps, this is a pretty fundamental difference here.
It is the equivalent of trying to show someone a photo via a mobile phone by holding the picture to the microphone.
Or trying to show how hot something is by holding it to the phone.
This is the EM spectrum. Note he has sound waves shown separately because - well - they have NOTHING to do with EM.
http://xkcd.com/273/
(I'll hang my head in shame, seriously)
kambites said:
Really, it's not. The first time you drive over a bump you can feel the difference in spring and damping rates between front and rear of the car; as soon as you turn a corner you can feel how much camber and caster the car is running at the front from how the resistance changes. You can even directly feel the drive by how the autocentering varies with small changes to throttle input. Just roll a FWD car along in an arc at walking pace and then bring the clutch up in first and really think about what you're feeling through the steering.
It makes no practical difference at low speed, but it does feel different.
I dont believe you. Nothing personal. I just dont.It makes no practical difference at low speed, but it does feel different.
I believe it would take levels of a professional driver to sit in a completely bland, shapeless cardboard box and be able to tell its driven wheels by normal driving. And even then i dont think they could get it right 100%.
kambites said:
I guess it makes no difference to me whether you believe it or not. I'm amazed that anyone who's ever actually thought about it can't tell. 
I've owner the VX220 for a year now, it's the first RWD car I have driven regularly. I also drive a Mazda 3 that belongs to the wife. The differences are obvious, even to a below average driver such as myself.selym said:
kambites said:
I guess it makes no difference to me whether you believe it or not. I'm amazed that anyone who's ever actually thought about it can't tell.
I've owner the VX220 for a year now, it's the first RWD car I have driven regularly. I also drive a Mazda 3 that belongs to the wife. The differences are obvious, even to a below average driver such as myself.fulham911club said:
selym said:
kambites said:
I guess it makes no difference to me whether you believe it or not. I'm amazed that anyone who's ever actually thought about it can't tell.
I've owner the VX220 for a year now, it's the first RWD car I have driven regularly. I also drive a Mazda 3 that belongs to the wife. The differences are obvious, even to a below average driver such as myself.To be perfectly it doesn't get driven at walking pace too often!
Edited to add: after dismissing out of hand the action of a speaker and microphone further up the page, my evidence should probably be inadmissable.
Edited by selym on Wednesday 16th April 14:17
doogz said:
fulham911club said:
well if you say so...
Seems an odd question to ask if you're only going to believe one answer.I take it you don't agree then? Do you think pulling out of a parking space in your 911 would feel exactly the same if it was FWD?
kambites said:
selym said:
Edited to add: after dismissing out of hand the action of a speaker and microphone further up the page, my evidence should probably be inadmissable.
I think basing anything purely on the comparison of a Mazda 3 to a VX220 is probably a little unfair, too. "The GT86 is underpowered by at least 100BHP" - you just don't get it.
"The GT86 is at least 10k too much money" - because a 2 seater sports car with a unique body / chassis / engine combo should cost less than a Renault Clio 'Dynamique' diesel.
"Diesel cars are owned by idiots, don't they known they use far more fuel 'in the real world' except when they're broken down, which they will do every week and cost the owner no less than the value of the car to repair".
"Super Market fuel is cheap nasty stuff made from the crushed bones of Romanian orphans and one day Esso is going to say something about it, but only after all the heathens who buy Tesco petrol's cars explode".
"Fun is speed, and speed is fun" = I like to know that in a hypothetical drag race I could beat my next door neighbour. I travelled at hundreds of miles an hour last month on an Airbus, couldn't even bring myself to smile.
"I love cars, so I must be slightly right wing and align my thought processes with that of an old misery guts in Chipping Norton".
"The GT86 is at least 10k too much money" - because a 2 seater sports car with a unique body / chassis / engine combo should cost less than a Renault Clio 'Dynamique' diesel.
"Diesel cars are owned by idiots, don't they known they use far more fuel 'in the real world' except when they're broken down, which they will do every week and cost the owner no less than the value of the car to repair".
"Super Market fuel is cheap nasty stuff made from the crushed bones of Romanian orphans and one day Esso is going to say something about it, but only after all the heathens who buy Tesco petrol's cars explode".
"Fun is speed, and speed is fun" = I like to know that in a hypothetical drag race I could beat my next door neighbour. I travelled at hundreds of miles an hour last month on an Airbus, couldn't even bring myself to smile.
"I love cars, so I must be slightly right wing and align my thought processes with that of an old misery guts in Chipping Norton".
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff