-----Original Message-----
From: Steve Ashcraft <ashcraft2@home.com>
To: Bill Fuhrmann <bfuhrman@isd.net>; Kent Rafferty <gs96@sgi.net>;
autox@autox.team.net <autox@autox.team.net>
Date: Friday, September 29, 2000 5:26 AM
Subject: Re: newbies
>Could someone explain the difference between shuffle steering and hand over
>hand steering.
Imagine a left turn....
SHUFFLE: Right hand raises the wheel up to the 12 position, left hand takes
over and brings the wheel down to 6, right hand takes over and brings the
wheel up to 12, etc.
HAND-OVER-HAND: Right hand raises the wheel up to and beyond 12, over to
about 10, left hand crosses over and grabs the wheel about 2 and brings it
around to about 7, right hand grabs the wheel about 4 and brings it back
around to 10, etc.
The knock on shuffle -- your wheel stops at the 12 and 6 transitions so it
is a more jerky method. The fix: if you know that can happen, don't let it.
Don't let the steering wheel stop as you shift hands. Practice a smooth
transition.
The knock on hand-over-hand -- you can get cross-handed. The fix: the loose
hand always goes OVER the hand on the wheel. You make it the habit, practice
a smooth transition.
Proponents of either will argue mightily for it over the other. I used to
shuffle steer. When I went to E.Paul Dickinson's school (first 5-time champ
in the '70s) he broke me of that and got me doing hand-over-hand. I never
quite bought his argument against shuffle, but it was his school and while
there I was going to do it his way, and his way worked well enough it became
my habit.
E.Paul also taught me to "prepare" my turns. I am at 10 and 2, but that left
turn is coming up so my right hand drops down to 4 o'clock before I begin
turning the wheel. I now have about 180 degrees of steering-wheel turn with
my right hand, rather than about 100 degrees. On many turns, it is enough
there is no need for a hand-over-hand. It is just re-positioning the hands
on the wheel before the turn. This works whether you shuffle or
hand-over-hand.
On long sweepers where I am going to be in the turn for a long time, I like
to position my hands so that, in the turn, they are at 9 and 3. Or near to
it. This puts them on opposite sides of the wheel on a line running through
the hub, and makes for much easier control, and much easier ability to make
small corrections. The two hands counterbalance each other.
BTW, to the argument that a student is going to be so busy with other stuff
that hand positions are just extra baggage ... this is a reason for why I
tell students to practice it all on the street. Break the bad habits and
make these techniques habit. At first you have to remind yourself to do it,
but keep reminding yourself. Eventually you will find you are doing it as
habit. Then, on course, you are concentrating on lines and things unique to
the course. How you sit, hold the wheel etc., will be second nature.
Besides, if you drive autox-style on the street all the time, when that bozo
runs the red light in front of you, you will be better able to react to it
and maybe not T-bone him (it's happened to me! I was able to turn and reduce
a grinding T-bone to a mild fender dent).
--Rocky
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