[SVXRide]

Originally Posted by Blenderhead

Years ago, when my dad owned the SVX that he recently gave to me, I borrowed the car while he was away on a business trip. I was taking an exit ramp at around 80-85, and everything was holding perfectly, right on the edge. As I approached the end of the ramp, the thought briefly crossed my mind that if anyone was coming up the road that I had to merge onto, I would be totally screwed! I lifted off the gas and just barely tapped the brakes before I could think about it and stop myself. As soon as I tapped the brakes, with the tires already right on the edge, the back end swung out almost instantly. I countered, and then when it caught it snapped the other way, then I countered again and it snapped back, spining the car 270 degrees, and smashing the rear wheel into a curb. This left me with 3 days to call every junkyard in NJ looking for an SVX, getting the whole rear suspension from one junkyard, the wheel from another, and getting everything fixed in the driveway before he got back home. I somehow managed to get it all accomplished, and afterward felt the need to confess to my dad what happened. Since the car was all back together already, luckily he wasn't too pissed. Anyway, so given that experience, I would say yes it does have snap oversteer. It was definitely less predictable mid-slide than my cougars are. I would also say that it would be extremely difficult to roll one, as I was going sideways at 80mph, and it stayed perfectly level.

You "trail braked" into a dynamic instability where the weight transfer got ahead of you. I did something similar in Ben and Dave's "RaceCar" a couple of years ago....
-Bill