<VV> Flip that FC

[Vairtec at optonline.net]

I am thoroughly peeved to read yet again comments that photos of FCs 
with a rear tire in the air somehow demonstrate instability on the 
part of  the vehicles or lack of judgment on the part of the 
drivers.  Those photos actually show how difficult it is to roll one 
of these trucks.

First off, in an autocross setting you generally can't get going fast 
enough.  Think about it, what is the top speed you can generate in an 
FC on an autocross course?  Not very fast.  Secondly, the drivelines 
are self-limiting, in that when the inside rear tire leaves the 
ground it just spins in the air, and there is no more forward thrust 
until that tire settles back down.  Think a Posi rear will fix 
this?  It won't.  Put a wheel in the air on a posi-equipped FC and 
you still aren't going anywhere.

So, let's see, you aren't going very fast to begin with and you can't 
get going any faster.

Thirdly, the CG on these vehicles is lower than you think.

Fourthly, they are Corvairs and they handle quite well.  Independent 
coil springs at all four corners, and all that.  Would you care to 
autocross a 1963 Econoline?

Fifthly, the moment at which an FC has its inside rear wheel in the 
air like a dog at a fire hydrant you will also notice that it is 
leaning very hard on the outside FRONT tire -- the entire handling 
dynamic of an FC is different from that of a Corvair car.

If you want to flip an FC you need to get going quite a bit faster, 
then "trip" it by skidding into a curb or a ditch.  The only thing 
driving one around an autocross course will do is alarm the ignorant.

--Bob