A few lines on steering.

[R_U_LOCAL]

Steering is one of those skills that we don't really think about. Turn the wheel a certain amount and the car points in the direction you want it to go - simple.

Isn't it?

Not if you read advanced driving manuals it's not - rotational steering is a no-no, push pull is best - or is it pull-push? But rotational steering is actually ok sometimes. What about an emergency though? What's the fastest way to put lock on if things go wrong? Isn't shuffling the wheel the preserve of driving schools and people who smoke pipes?

Questions, questions.

Allow me to simplify things for you. I don't actually care how you hold or turn the wheel, as long as you operate it in the correct manner.

I do care if you're trying to pass a Police course or one of the civilian advanced courses which require pull-push of course. In those circumstances, if you don't demonstrate an ability to use the prescribed technique, then you won't pass the course.

But in every day driving, trust me, I don't care one iota how you turn the wheel, as long as you turn it in the correct way.

But what is the correct way Reg?

I've talked about vehicle balance before - I wrote a whole article on the subject - and the basic principles for steering are exactly the same as for any other driver input. If you're rough with the steering, you'll catch the car unawares, which is something cars don't like - roughness moves the vehicle's weight around quickly and results in the car feeling unsettled, and in extreme cases, can result in a loss of directional stability. Modern vehicles - even the more mundane family cars - have quite high grip levels these days, but you can easily use up all of a cars lateral grip very quickly just by being rough with the wheel.

The way to apply steering lock is to turn the wheel slowly at first, build up the speed of the lock application until you're close to having the right amount of lock applied, and then slow down the application again until the wheel is stationary. Starting with a slow, gradual turn of the wheel starts to gently settle the car onto it's springs rather than suddenly chucking lock on and expecting the car to go immediately from travelling in a straight line, to turning.

I don't mean that you should be excruciatingly slow with the wheel - this technique can be used even at very high speeds and on the track. I just mean that at the point you start to turn the wheel, the speed of lock application should build up and then slow down again, rather than just being done at a constant speed.

Imagine a pendulum swinging from left to right. At the very far reach of it's swing, it's momentarily stationary until gravity starts to swing it the other way. It then starts to accelerate - slowly at first - until it's travelling at a constant speed. As it swings through it's arc, gravity starts to slow it down again until it becomes stationary at the other far reach of it's swing.

Keep that swinging pendulum in mind, and now attach a steering wheel at it's fulcrum (is that the right word? It's been a long time since I did secondary school physics). The pendulum can swing faster or slower, depending on the weight and it's length, but the manner in which it turns is still the same - slow at first, speeding up, and then slowing down again.

It's just as important to use that same technique when taking lock off as well. As you're taking lock off when you're coming out of a corner, the steering action should be accompanied by a degree of acceleration, so to keep the car balanced under that acceleration, the lock should come off slowly at first, then quicker, and finally slowing down until you're pointing straight ahead again.

Of course, this sounds simple enough when applied to a single corner, and in reality, when negotiating a series of corners of varying degrees of sharpness, it's more difficult to apply correctly, but all you're effectively doing is shortening or lengthening the imaginary pendulum to suit each corner.

There are techniques which make this type of steering easier to maintain. If you try pulling the wheel down at the start of a turn you'll usually naturally apply a pendulum effect, which is why the Police, IAM etc, recommend pull-push. You can steer correctly with rotational steering, but it requires a little more concentration and practise, particularly if you like to sit with a straight-arm posture. Straight-arm driving requires the steering input to come more from the shoulder, whereas sitting with arms bent means the steering input comes more from the wrists. If you steer from the shoulder, it's less sensitive, and can be rougher.

So, next time you're out for a drive, just pay a little attention to how you operate the wheel, and have a go at imagining the pendulum effect. If you apply it correctly, you should notice an improvement in the smoothness of your drive, and in the stability of your car through corners.

[R_U_LOCAL]

RDE said:

Forgiveness please, but what is rotational steering?

As for driving position, i've seen people say that if you can touch your wrist to the top of the wheel without leaning forward off the seat then your arms will be in more or less the right position. Seems to work OK for me but then I don't get much choice being 6'4" in a Ford Puma (no steering adjustment and seats made for Oumpa Lumpas).

Nice article as ever

Rotational steering is a technique whereby the driver grips the wheel in a set position, usually around quarter-to-three, and keeps their hands in that set position on the wheel whilst steering. As opposed to pull-push, where the driver is constantly moving their hands around the wheel rim.

If I'm being honest, in my every day driving, I use a combination of rotatonal and pull-push. Rotational for more open corners, and pull-push for tighter ones. It's just that, to steer smoothly requires more concentration with rotational steering than it does with pull-push.

As for your description of seating position, that's about right, although I do prefer to have the wheel a tad closer, which in modern cars with rake and reach adjustment, isn't usually a problem.