Doug wrote: > ** Reply to message from Andrew Lentvorski <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> on Wed, 01 Oct > 2008 11:29:15 -0700 > > >> Ralph Shumaker wrote: >> >>> I don't know why people call it an emergency brake. You never use it in >>> an emergency unless you want to flip around backwards. >>> >> Really? On the cars I've worked on (admittedly older), I seem to >> remember that the emergency break would engage much more strongly on the >> rear wheels than the front ones. >> >> That's hardly a recipe for for flipping around backwards. >> > > seriously? FYI, the "emergency" brake is connected only to the rear wheels via > mechanical means( cables and levers ). For those interested, we used to call > it the bat-brakes because with just the slightest turn of the steering wheel > and > then the application of the "bat brake", your ass end of the car would slide > around > so fast your head would spin. If you released at 180 degrees, you stop the > slide > and now heading in the opposite direction. If yoiu don't release, you were > going to go around for 360 and more. I used to practice 180 and 360 maneuvers > in a souped up VW beetle with heavy anti-sway bars and 7 or 8 ply sidewalls on > the tires. fun fun fun. >
The slight turn of the steering wheel is so that you have more control of how fast the car spins around and in which direction. But it would likely flip around backwards anyway given sufficient speed and rear wheels actually locked up. Anyone who would like to do a simple experiment need only a toy car with only the wheels in the front free spinning, and a surface for it to slide on. Place the toy at one end, facing the other end. Raise the end where the car is resting. It will start rolling/sliding, and in very short order, it will flip around such that the locked wheels are in the front. If you start with the locked wheels in the front, it will not flip around. -- All belief is based on trust, eventually. --Stewart Stremler -- [email protected] http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-lpsg
