Ferrari Mailing List: Re: PFC: Rear Wheel Steering (Fellippe Galletta)

[Charles Perry (charles]

Interesting! I always preferred the look of the Stealth as progressive and futuristic. Thought the VR-4 was a little bland and cliché by comparison.

 

We still have both cars. They’ve been amazing, mechanically, although all the “future” tech they were equipped with is getting expensive to maintain, so maybe cLyDe is right – more shit to break!  J

 

 

From: George [mailto:ygpz4re [at] hotmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, September 19, 2017 11:53 AM
To: Charles Perry
Cc: The FerrariList
Subject: Re: PFC: Rear Wheel Steering (Fellippe Galletta)

 

Bwahahahahaha!!!!  Yet another hilarious CGP story!  😊

 

I worked at a Mitsu dealer for a couple of months in '91 - loved the VR-4!  Thought the Stealth was hideous by comparison....

 

gp

 

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From: Charles Perry <charles [at] carolina-sound.com>
Sent: Tuesday, September 19, 2017 7:02 AM
To: George
Cc: The FerrariList
Subject: RE: PFC: Rear Wheel Steering (Fellippe Galletta)

 

Yup. A friend of mine in high school had one of these Preludes. Us being young and stupid, he would bait cops out of speed traps and then haul ass through clover leafs to leave them wallowing in 80’s Crown Vic body lean and oversteer. We laughed ourselves horse. Amazed we never got caught.

 

My parents cars both had 4WS later in that era – 91 Dodge Stealth R/T Turbo and 91 Mitsu 3000GT-VR4. It was completely transparent in my experience, but hard to tell what it contributed without having an otherwise identical unequipped car to go back-to-back with.

 

 

 

From: Ferrari [mailto:ferrari-bounces+charles=carolina-sound.com [at] ferrarilist.com] On Behalf Of George
Sent: Tuesday, September 19, 2017 6:45 AM
To: Charles Perry
Cc: The FerrariList
Subject: Re: [Ferrari] PFC: Rear Wheel Steering (Fellippe Galletta)

 

Honda Prelude had it way back in the late '80's.  Mechanical linkage - for the first few degrees of steering input, the rear wheels turned in the same direction as the fronts, but beyond that, they reversed and turned against the fronts, hence a very tight turning circle at low speed.  Turning with the fronts with small steering input was supposed to help stabilize lane changes, as I understood it.  I thought it was clever but have no idea how well it held up.  Can't remember the last time I saw one of these cars.  There was a "4WS" emblem at the base of the B pillar, right behind the door glass.

 

FWIW, YMMV, yadda yadda....

 

gp

 

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Curious what everyone thinks of rear wheel steering in general and if
anyone has ever experienced it themselves?

Right now only the F12 tdf and 812 Superfast have it I think? Not sure if
the base F12 has it.

Now Lamborghini followed suit and put it on the Aventador S.

Was one thing when a handful of cars back in the day came with it....300ZX
Turbo I think. But now when Ferrari adopts, it's time to pay attention!

It sounds like a nice way to improve turn in but wonder how it affects
vehicle dynamics going into oversteer and the like?

The purist in me is cautious......however, I think this over AWD any day. :)

FG