Team O'Neil Blog

Weight Transfer for Driving, Racing and Rally

Written by Karl Stone | Mar 4, 2020 4:42:36 PM
Weight transfer is the most basic foundation of vehicle dynamics, yet holds many of the keys to ultimate car control.

 Any time you apply brakes, add or remove steering, and manipulate the throttle, you're transferring the weight of your car forwards, backwards, and side to side.

Rally drivers are forced to become masters of weight transfer, as driving quickly on slippery roads requires them to be at the absolute limit of adhesion with the road surface as much as possible. Weight transfer can be used to approach corners with more speed than otherwise possible because transferring the weight precisely allows the driver to cure understeer and create oversteer as necessary to force the car around the corner.

This is why racing drivers from across the spectrum of motorsport choose to visit rally school, to spend time learning highly advanced car control skills that are otherwise unsafe or impractical to learn on the track.