Rear-wheel steering is not a new idea. In fact, it’s been in intermittent use ever since the days when people ceased calling automobiles ‘horseless carriages,’ and constant use in agricultural applications where as small a turning circle as possible is very desirable.
Nowadays, even front-wheel driven Renaults can be specified with an active rear steer system, but it’s the really fast stuff that grabs headlines. That’s why there’s been a bit of talk about the way it works in the latest Porsche 911 GT3, and its effects on the car’s dynamics.
If you’re not familiar, the first of the videos posted below shows how it works statically and sans wheel mounted, while the second focuses on how it improves its track capability.
It’s a cool idea to have on any moderately-sized car (it would be silly overkill to fit this to an already agile city car) and it offers no drawbacks other than the increased complexity of the vehicle as a whole – there are more things to break/go wrong.
By Andrei Nedelea
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