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Consequently, there may not be enough torque going to the tire on the grippy surface, so acceleration would suffer. This is quite unfavorable when one tire is on a slippery surface like mud, grass, ice or wet track markings, as the tire on the slippery surface will end up spinning, consuming most of the available engine torque. The open diff also allows more torque to be transferred towards the less loaded tire. Notable road car examples on iRacing are the V8 Supercars.Ī completely open differential allows the left and right tires to rotate entirely independently. Spools are typically used in karts, drag racecars, some oval race cars and some road race cars. In terms of handling, this causes understeer when decelerating, and oversteer when accelerating.
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This causes stress (wear) on both tires and the drive train. So, the inside is forced to rotate faster than it needs for the turn radius and hence spins. When going around a corner, the outside tire has to travel a longer distance. A spool ensures both left and right tires rotate at exactly the same speed.Ī spool gives you good traction accelerating on a straight line, but the handling of the car is compromised during turning. Some people weld their differential fixed, for instance to allow easier drifting. The spool is essentially a solid axle connection between the left and right wheels, or a fixed differential. Locked differential (also known as a spool) If you’re interested in the mechanical workings of a differential, we recommend you check out the following videos: ‘ How a Differential Works?’, ‘ Understanding Limited Slip Differential’, and ‘ Working of Limited Slip Differential’. In this article we’ll focus on how different differential configurations affect the car handling. Its configuration determines how much of the torque coming off the engine is transferred to each wheel. The differential (or diff, for short) allows the left and right wheels to rotate independently, which helps balance the car through corners.
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