Driving an Escort RS Cosworth. And the handling traits too.

Here I'll try to give a few tips on how to not wreck your car when exploring its capabilities. When practicing please no so on a track or other closed area where you won't hurt anyone if things should go a bit pear-shaped as they say.

There are a few things that an owner of an awd car should know about his car and its handling:

Handling in turns: When going into a corner and then discovering: 1. That you have underestimated the radius of the curve or 2. That you just came in far too fast here's what to do: Keep the pedal to the metal (the throttle that is), otherwise if you let go of the throttle or start braking the chances of ending up with head-to-tail figures are quite a bit larger than winning in the lottery, if I may put it that way. The reason is the torque transfer between the front and rear wheels as a result of the awd system. More details later

One bad handling trait the Escort RS Cosworth have as it is in stock is that you can not do handbrake slides. The reason for this is that when the rear-wheels is braked from the handbrake being applied, the viscous coupler also locks, transferring the torque of the braked rear wheels to the front wheels so they also start braking and either you lock up all four wheels or you do not lock up any of them, the result is: The car continues in a straight line if the wheels lock up, or continues to turn if they don't lock up. Either way your rear wheels won't slide like you had hoped for.

Remedies for this sort of handling traits is not cheap, but I list them anyway:

1. Buying three electronic diffs and a seven speed sequetial gearbox like in the WRC-cars. Costs like 42.000GBP.
2. Buying or making a system that disconnects the center diff whenever the handbrake is applied. This would have to be some sort of clutch mechanism. I suppose it would be cheaper than the first solution, but still alot of work.
3. Installing a torsen (torque sensing) rear diff similar to the ones used in the Lancia Delta HF Integrale. This would also be quite a bit of work, but maybe the easiest any way. By easiest I'm not saying it would be easy in any way, just easier. Here's how the a torsen diff works: Torque-sensing.

Back to www.wrc-cosworth.org.