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In a car, weight is everything. Lotus, for example, gets such absurdly wicked performance out of their cars, not due to their big engines, or their trick suspension, but due to the fact that their cars are very, very light. The same general rule applies to Redline. A lighter car will handle better, and go faster. Power to weight ratio is thus a much more important measurement than pure power.
Here we assume the car, a Viper in this diagram, has a balanced 50%/50% weight distribution between front and rear. As such, half the weight is sitting on the front wheels, half on the rear.
The car is not in motion so the weight is balanced evenly.
Acceleration Weight Shifting
In relation to this, is how one drives. Weight is, again, a very large factor, and not only that, the shifting of weight. When you accelerate more weight shifts to the rear axle giving the rear wheels more grip and the front wheels less grip. Grip is dependent on many things, the most important being surface area (of the tire on the ground) and weight.
When accelerating, the weight shifts to the back of the car.
Brake Weight Shifting
If you brake (both in real life, and in Redline) the weight shifts forward. There is more weight over the front wheels than the rear ones (for those of you who are curious, this is why all cars have better forward brakes). When braking more of the weight shifts to the fore axle giving those wheels more grip.
When braking, the weight shifts to the front of the car.
Sprung and Unsprung weight
The reason for all of this is inertia. There are two sorts of weight on a car. Sprung weight, and unsprung weight.
- Sprung weight is the part of the car that is supported by the suspension (body panels, engine, frame, transmission, occupants...).
- Unsprung weight is the part of the car not supported by the suspension including the suspension itself (wheels, shocks, spindles, sometimes brakes, some of the drivetrain...).
Basically unsprung weight is everything that is above the spring in the suspension. As we learned in physics Inertia is: "A property of matter by which it continues in its existing state of rest or uniform motion in a straight line, unless that state is changed by an external force." So, if you want to move the car forward, the sprung weight is going to resist the change in direction, thus lagging behind the unsprung weight and applying more weight to the rear axle as it lags behind. Under braking the reverse is true. The unsprung weight wants to continue on forward, therefore the weight pitches forward on to the fore axle.
| Controlling the Car |  |