Date: Wed, 17 Dec 2008 13:05:29 -0800
Reply-To: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Subject: Re: Weight Distribution
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There are so many 'urban myths' it's funny.
re
"Someone once told me, one bad thing about 911's was that you can loose
control if you're not careful... is that the result of handling too well?"
There's no such thing as a car 'handling too well'..............really,
really good cars do EXACTLY what you tell them to, in any circumstances
almost.
I.e. ..........they just go where you point them,
Early 911's did have significant oversteer for sure. And the tires of the
60's were nothing compared to what we have avaiable now. There are some
early versions of 911's that I've read about having weights added behind the
front bumper to reduce the oversteer affect..........this would be early
models from the late 60's............I don't know if that's true about
wieghts from the factory being installed behind the front bumper, but Road &
Track Magazine said that, and they are quite repsonsible about what they
write.
The 911 is still being develeoped and is one of the very longest running
mdoel of cars in the world. They have it so well developed now, that
Porsche has to be careful their mid-engine newer model cars don't out
perform the almighty flagship 911..
Another factor...........the conring and handling limits on a car like
that........a more modern well-deveopled ( not talking a skinnytire 1968
say, 911 ) car has such high limits that you can seldom get near the limits
on the street. You can crash them of course.............but well developed
cars just do go where you point them pretty much no matter what . A typical
driver will run out of ability before the car does, for really decent
well-developed cars.
But it's all fun.
Now we're up to 700 and even 1,000 hoursepower in very high end performance
street cars. A 500 hp performance street car is low-end these days even !
A Porsche, especially Ruf ...............a master tuner in Germany who makes
hyper high-end performance street cars based on 911's.........his latest,
the Ruf CTR3 has a 239 mph top speed, twin turbo's and 700 hp, yet only a
3.7 liter engine. Crazy.
But a nicely-upgraded Vanagon is WAY more fun and useful of course !
scott
----- Original Message -----
From: "M'obeechi" <obeechi@RUNBOX.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 1:20 AM
Subject: Re: Weight Distribution
Wonder how much all that AW stuff weights. Could you remove it and weight it
for me?
I don't think you flashbacking, everyone says the loafs drove better in the
sand and snow, with its weight more to the rear... though someone here once
claimed that if too many sandbags are placed to the rear, you can spin a
donut in wet weather, unexpectly of course.
Someone once told me, one bad thing about 911's was that you can loose
control if you're not careful... is that the result of handling too well?
From: "miguel pacheco" <mundopacheco@gmail.com>
To: M'obeechi <obeechi@runbox.com>
Subject: Re: Weight Distribution
> Recently, I delivered my 90 Syncro Adventurewagen to Rocky Mountain
> Westy in Ft.Collins, Colorado, for the SVX conversion (took the easy
> route this time.) My son followed me in my 89 2wd GL and, though I
> should have hauled the SVX inside this one, I was not thinking and
> loaded it into the Syncro, above the engine compartment (AW furniture
> doesn't leave much room for hauling motors.) Aside from kicking myself
> for the oversight, I made a couple of observations.
> This is one heavy engine! With it riding so high, I could feel it
> whenever correcting with the steering wheel, though it was not too
> bad. The remarkable thing was that while travelling on the highway, it
> drove very stable and tracked like never before. I wonder if this is
> the result of balancing the load somewhat (since the AW configuration
> has the water tank, sink, cabinets, heater, fridge and stovetop, all
> forward and just behind the front seats.) In short, it seems to me
> that I can expect a more stable ride with the heavier engine in the
> rear........Does this make sense or was it just another flashback?
> Thanks,
> Miguel
>
----- End Original Message -----
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