Re: [DML] Re: DeLorean Handling

["Bruce Benson" <delornut@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

After having had the opportunity to drive the DeLorean relatively hard
around the circuit at Road America on a few occasions I've formed some
opinions regarding it's handling. First, Lotus did a remarkable job
overcoming the rear weight bias of the rear engine. The wide track wheel
base helps a lot but it also makes the car plow through tight turns and
understeer like crazy. The transition point where understeer switches to
oversteer can come on suddenly with a rear engined car but Lotus seems to
have dialed in that transition point quite far up the handling curve. My car
is pretty low and I've pushed it hard and have yet to reach that point on
dry pavement. The biggest problem I found when running around Road America
was the lack of heat dissipation in the brake system. The non-ventilated
rotors heated quickly and after two laps (just over 8 miles) the brakes had
faded to the point they just plane didn't stop. Realistically the car was
never intended to be a race car and the chassis was engineered to keep the
average driver from getting into trouble. Lotus did a great job of
accomplishing that. It's great fun to drive on the road, just keep in mind
that the rear weight bias will ,at some point without a whole lot of
warning, turn into an oversteer situation.

Bruce Benson






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