Got speaking to a source who plays a pretty important role in the area of vehicle dynamics for one of the world's most respected sports car makers the other day.
Inevitably talk turned to oversteer. It always does in the end . . .
At this point my source let slip on a new ESP (electronic stability program) device that's being developed in a co-operation between German electronics giant Bosch and BMW (not the company he works for, by the way).
My source saw the device attached to a 5-series prototype testing in Arjeplog, Sweden and began asking some obvious questions.
I won't go into specifics - it's way too complicated to explain here. However, the basic idea is based around a military grade GPS (ground positioning system) that's used to measure slip angles and allow a certain degree of oversteer before the intervention of the ESP.
Bosch and BMW have placed one GPS at the front of the car and another GPS at the rear. They are used to measure the speed, angle and severity of a drift. Only when ESP really needs to apply engine and wheel braking it does. The idea being to allow more oversteer more of the time than existing systems.
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