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Consequence of a rear end breaking exiting under power?

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Old 01-30-2007, 11:53 AM
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Slalom4me
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Default Consequence of a rear end breaking exiting under power?

Circumstances:
Past the apex of a 70º left turn, while a car is accelerating
and just starting to move off the outside kerbing back toward
the main portion of the track, it begins to oversteer slightly
(more sharply to left) and then arcs hard to the right and drives
nose first into adjacent Armco.

The car was in traffic and cars ahead/after were travelling at
similar velocity and cornering attitude without issue. The oversteer
started out as nothing more than a wiggle as the rear stepped out
a bit. The driver counter-steered and may have been at or close
to full opposite lock. The speed of the transition and the nearness
of the barrier meant contact was inevitable, even though the brakes
were applied (the wheels at lock-up just before impact.)
Question:

Is the above an indication of a right side half-shaft failure
or perhaps the differential?

.
Old 01-30-2007, 11:58 AM
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TedDBere
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Sounds like he lifted without pushing the clutch in. IMHO.
Old 01-30-2007, 12:00 PM
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Slalom4me
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Hollinger sequential 6-spd.

Also out of character for the situation: bumper-to-bumper in
traffic as the parade negotiates the turn. The car had cleared
the turn and was in accel mode.

.
Old 01-30-2007, 12:09 PM
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Sidney004
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I am glad it wasn't you. Was this a Corvette? The reason I ask is that when I had worn rubber bushings in the rear suspension, my car developed a snap oversteer under similar conditions when in my opinion, the rear wheel started to toe out under load. If he has heim jointed links, discount this theory.

Last edited by Sidney004; 01-30-2007 at 12:32 PM.
Old 01-30-2007, 12:29 PM
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96GS#007
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I would say suspension related versus halfshaft or differential.

Both could certainly cause that, however....

When a halfshaft goes, there's usually a heck of a racket to go with it as it destroys the rear storage compartment fiberglass on the passenger side, as well as other parts of the body (depending on where the break occured). Lots of other evidence to show what happened as a result.

When the differential goes, you loose power to both wheels or both can lockup. Also much noise and the inside of the differential will look like a grenade went off.
Old 01-30-2007, 08:28 PM
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Bill Dearborn
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Originally Posted by Slalom4me
Circumstances:
Past the apex of a 70º left turn, while a car is accelerating
and just starting to move off the outside kerbing back toward
the main portion of the track, it begins to oversteer slightly
(more sharply to left) and then arcs hard to the right and drives
nose first into adjacent Armco.

The car was in traffic and cars ahead/after were travelling at
similar velocity and cornering attitude without issue. The oversteer
started out as nothing more than a wiggle as the rear stepped out
a bit. The driver counter-steered and may have been at or close
to full opposite lock. The speed of the transition and the nearness
of the barrier meant contact was inevitable, even though the brakes
were applied (the wheels at lock-up just before impact.)
Question:

Is the above an indication of a right side half-shaft failure
or perhaps the differential?

.
I would say it is an indication of driver error. Either it was a wiggle and the driver turned the steering wheel to far into the slide or full lock countersteering couldn't compensate for a really bad slide. Either way driver error. Once the backend comes around and the driver counter steers (to keep the nose pointed where he wants it to go) there is a pause and the car seems to hang in that tail out position for an instance then the front starts to move toward the side the tail is sliding toward and there is a very rapid movement in the direction the front wheels are pointed as the rear wheels finally bite. With the rear wheels planted laterally the car is going to go in the direction of least resistance which is in the direction the front wheels are turned which could be straight into the guardrail. The video's from Germany that somebody just posted the other day show the results of slow steering reaction.

Bill
Old 01-30-2007, 09:28 PM
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ScaryFast
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What about a rear wheel bearing freezing?

Did you see this incident? Was there any wheel lockup?
Old 03-21-2007, 11:05 PM
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LeapinLizard
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Default I ain't skeered! See if you kin keep up!

Uh... I notice this is a little old. Has the question been answered by examination of the evidence yet?

I'm curious because, I reckon it takes a whole lot of "ooops" to get from
Originally Posted by Slalom4me
nothing more than a wiggle
and
the rear stepped out a bit
to
at or close to full opposite lock
!!

And isn't it true that
the wheels at lock-up
make it hard to steer anyway?

Just thinking out loud... And noticing you didn't mention throttle steer & what effect it had on the situation. Seeing as how that involves the drive wheels, it seems somehow pertinent to the question at hand. Of course, that has to happen sometime before you lock up the brakes. Was the driver counter-steering the slight oversteer or the hard arc to the right?

Sounds to me like a good opportunity for the rest of us to borrow someone else's experience. Or something like that

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