Why a limited slip differential?
Open diffs (non limited slip) allow wheelspin. In a rear drive car exiting a bend, traction and hence forward motion is lost through wheel spin on the unloaded wheel, in a front wheel drive, the same occurs and the car tends to understeer. In both of these instances the solution is to close the throttle to reduce power to the driven wheels which will result in your car slowing down - not what we want when accelerating out of a bend in a competitive situation!
The real solution is fitting a limited slip diff. In rear drive cars traction is increased and wheelspin become controllable allowing for faster corner exits, in a front drive car the cornering characteristics of the car can be totaly transformed with reduced undertseer and significantly increased exit speeds.
This Months Featured Manufacturer - Quaife
Established in 1965 Quaife Engineering has been in the forefront of high performance transmission technology for over 40 years. Quaife are an OEM supplier to General Motors, Daimler-Chrysler and Ford where the brand new Focus RS is fitted as standard with the Quaife patented automatic torque biasing helical gear limited slip differential.
Quaife produce a large range of differentials formost European and Japanese vehicles. |
