# R35 and Understeer Question?



## misters3 (Jun 23, 2008)

Okay i haven't driven an R35 in anger since Silverstone, so i can't comment from my own personal experiences, but i've read on a few threads that the R35 understeers too much and either nears thickers ARB's or wider front tyres etc to sort this out.

The thing was, when i went to Silverstone, i remember the tall young guy who did the 350z attack lap with me, and i was telling him how since i had an S3 (2001 old one) i wasn't used to the oversteer on the 350z, but that it was fun etc.

He then proceed to take me into the first corner and show me how to make the car understeer and then oversteer on the next corner. His point was that you can make most cars do either - even if some are more predicated to one of the other depending on the weight distribution.

He said the reason most people find fast cars understeer is that they are carrying too much speed into the corners. 

And from when i drove the R35 round the track i don't remember understeer at all, except on the long hairpin before the pit, when i kept missing the apex and coming on the power too early, i.e too fast. Elsewhere on the track, i found the car really well balanced. 

I am not a track driver, don't have any qualifications, so don't profess to know that much about it. But i do know what i was told and what i experienced?

So just wondering about the understeer problems - i.e if it is infact the case or just a down to driving style?

Discuss?


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## kismetcapitan (Nov 25, 2005)

need to upgrade the steering gasket.

more seriously, it's a complex interaction of many things. I run my front suspension soft and try to load my front tires under braking to get them to bite harder. Even tire pressures affect things. Applying power to rotate the rear helps.

Slow in, fast out is a mantra for sport bikers on the track. I find it helps for cars as well. The trick for laggy big-turbo Skylines is keeping the turbos on boil through the corner.


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## Kamae (Jun 15, 2009)

Plus the R35 will use the front wheels to pull it around the corner thereby tightening the line and having a tendency to induce oversteer if you can accelerate hard enough through the bends - certainly works on a few motorway slip roads I've tried it on!


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## SurreyUMSGTR (May 19, 2009)

*Wheel / tyre camber*

i have felt the same, having taken it out in anger a few times, it has a tendency to understeer. Now my wheels are set to get maximum wear (not track setting), and i know David Yu felt the car understeered too much and has had his set to track bias. It might be worth dropping him a message to see what he now thinks? Anyway, your HPC can set the wheels how you would like. Also, you might want to get along to the CADT day on 12th September - i am doing it for the very reason of wanting to better understand how the GTR handles and can be driven.


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## Frosty (Aug 9, 2001)

I was told that 90% of understeer in a car environment is driver-induced. The car will have a natural tendency to do what it will do on the limit (oversteer, understeer, or stay neutral), but this is massively affected by other factors, from driver input, to extra passengers, to tyre heat and pressure.

For example, if you go into the corner still braking (trail them), the nose will become pinned down and the back end will go very light, which will almost certainly end in oversteer.

Also if you drop a load of pressure from your front tyres, the car is also more likely to bit in at the front and oversteer.

Most cars will understeer if you go into a corner too hot with a poor line, so I would suggest that anyone worried about the car understeering before they even have it should wait until they have received the car and run it in.

Drive it, get an idea what it's doing, what you can and can't get away with, and go from there.


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## David.Yu (Jun 28, 2001)

SurreyUMSGTR said:


> i have felt the same, having taken it out in anger a few times, it has a tendency to understeer. Now my wheels are set to get maximum wear (not track setting), and i know David Yu felt the car understeered too much and has had his set to track bias. It might be worth dropping him a message to see what he now thinks? Anyway, your HPC can set the wheels how you would like. Also, you might want to get along to the CADT day on 12th September - i am doing it for the very reason of wanting to better understand how the GTR handles and can be driven.


Yes, I felt the car understeered too much on the delivery settings. I asked Middlehurst to set it to the track setting on my first inspection service and the car is much better now. Very responsive, sharp turn-in and the rear generally lets go before the front under power which is how I personally like it.

My Ferrari F430 arrived with a massive front ride height to help it clear speed humps and prevent the nose grounding out, but it understeered terribly. I got a workshop to lower the front by an inch and set up the toe and camber properly and it handled like a race car!

High end sports cars like these generally have quite a lot of adjustment in their suspension and can be set up to make them behave as you like within reason.


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## charles charlie (May 3, 2008)

Whilst at Oulton Park in my GTR the other week, I spent quite some time getting instruction from the instructor with regards inducing understeer/oversteer.

He explained (and enabled me to experience it myself at the wheel) how to handle the GTR more "expertly" and it was somewhat different to my rear wheel drive cars of old.

Basically dont forget the GTR is a heavy car and as a result there will be a tendency to understeer if you carry too much speed into the corner. Shed speed more than you would expect, turn in, then feed the throttle earlier than you would expect and allow the clever 4wd to provide greater traction out of the corner.

The double whammy of Hislop's followed by Knickerbrook was a royal PITA until I got to grips with the understeer issue. After that some nice 4 wheel drifting up to druids made my day!


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## Steve (Sep 21, 2001)

CC ABSOLUTELY CORRECT ON ALL ACCOUNTS!!

Basically don’t forget the GTR is a heavy car and as a result there will be a tendency to under steer if you carry too much speed into the corner. Shed speed more than you would expect, turn in, then feed the throttle earlier than you would expect and allow the clever 4wd to provide greater traction out of the corner. 

Hence another reason why I haven't messed about removing or locking out the HICASS from my R33 GTR.

Mr Nissan has done a brilliant job of making this one of, if not, the best driver’s car in the world ever and if you can drive and trust the electronics to do what they are designed to do, you can have more fun at more speed than a lot of the "others" (i.e. the 2007 Porsche 911 GT3 RS who couldn’t catch me after I passed him at JP Autodrome on Monday !!)


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