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Hi,
This subject deserves a thread of its own.
A Saab, any Saab, is a racing machine, and I will tell you what little
I know about racing.
My Russell Racing teachers constantly told me to get my car nice and
balanced. What this means is that even though the car is moving, within
the moving frame of reference the car looks perfectly stable.
So for braking, initial gradual, soft input is to get the car nice and
balanced in a forward tuck with most of the weight over the front
wheels. Then, the braking input is increased to its maximum to set the
speed which the car will maintain throughout the corner. When cornering,
initial input is gradual turn of the wheel to get the car balanced with
most of the car's weight over the outside wheels. Then, the steering
wheel input is increased to its maximum to be able to touch the apex
of the corner. A nicely balanced automobile allows communicative chassis
of the car to speak directly to the driver. If the car is shifting due
to varying throttle, braking or inadvised gear shift, the line of
communication is disrupted for varying amounts of time.
A Saab is actually perfect for manual transmission because of its
wide torque curve. For most of the driving through Infineon Raceway,
I was able to keep my car in third gear, even through turn 11, the
slowest corner at Infineon race track.
So, maybe stick shift is on its way out for BMW or for Audi which
have puny torque curves, but for a Saab, having complete control over
the inputs to the automobile is crucial and allows Saab's communicative
chassis to serve as uninterrupted line of communication between the road
and the driver.
I want to drive my automobile and not the other way around. What is
the point of a communicative chassis if I am not in control over the
driver inputs I can give to my automobile in reaction to what the
communicative chassis tells me.
thanks
Jae
posted by 172.135.20...
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