Like a car in reverse or a forklift. What makes it feel so unstable?
In: 4
It’s not the rear steering making it unstable – it’s where the centre of mass is relative to the “centre of grip”.
The centre of grip is a point in a vehicle where if you pushed the vehicle sideways it would slide perfectly sideways without rotating.
In a car the centre of mass is in front of the centre of grip. This means when you turn hard, the car understeers (turns less than intended). This is easy to control – you just turn the steering wheel a bit more. In reverse, the car overseers, turning more than the steering input – it’s much easier to lose control in this arrangement!
Edit: Thrust ssc – the 760+ MPH land speed record vehicle famously had rear steering. It was fine since it was designed from the ground up to be stable as a rear steered vehicle.
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