Lift-off oversteer (also known as trailing-throttle oversteer, lift-throttle oversteer, or drop-throttle oversteer) is a form of oversteer in an automobile that occurs when the vertical load on the tires shifts from the rear to the front quickly due to throttle release while cornering. Oversteer is the phenomenon ocurred in an automobile when the rear-end of it doesn´t follow the trajectory of the front-end tending to overtake this one causing the car to spin. ... Karl Benzs Velo model (1894) - entered into the first automobile race An automobile (or motor car) is a wheeled passenger vehicle that carries its own motor. ... In an engine, the throttle is the mechanism by which the engines power is increased or decreased. ...

This decrease in vertical load causes a decrease in the lateral force generated by the rear axle, so the axle starts to accelerate towards the outside of the turn. This steers the car more tightly into the turn, hence causing oversteer.

In layman's terms, this means that easing off the gas causes the rear wheels to break away suddenly, with the potential for the car to leave the road tail first.

The famous American attorney Ralph Nader described this type of handling in his 1965 book Unsafe at Any Speed. Ralph Nader Ralph Nader (born February 27, 1934) is an American attorney and political activist. ... Exhibit featuring the book at Henry Ford Museum, Detroit Unsafe at Any Speed: The Designed-In Dangers of the American Automobile by Ralph Nader, published in 1965, is a book detailing his claims of resistance by car manufacturers to the introduction of safety features, like seat belts, and their general...

This oversteer is often more pronounced in rear-engined cars and cars with swing axle rear suspension. Rearward centers of gravity (such as older Porsche 911s) enhance this effect, though technically any vehicle can experience lift-off oversteer. Various suspension enhancements, such as a Weissach axle or a multi-link suspension, can limit a vehicle's tendency to oversteer in this situation. Even the handling of the Chevrolet Corvair improved in final years of production through the use of enhanced anti-roll bars, according to John DeLorean's book, On a Clear Day You Can See General Motors. In Automobile design, an RR, or Rear-engine, Rear wheel drive, layout places both the engine and drive wheels at the rear of the vehicle. ... A swing axle suspension is a simple type of independent suspension used in automobiles. ... The Porsche 911 (pronounced as nine eleven) is a sports car made by Porsche AG of Stuttgart, Germany. ... The Weissach axle (pronounced Vise-ock) is a special rear suspension arrangement devised for the Porsche 928. ... A multi-link suspension is a type of vehicle suspension design typically used in independent suspensions, using three or more lateral arms, and one or more longitudinal arms. ... The Chevrolet Corvair was a rear-engined automobile produced by the Chevrolet division of General Motors from 1960 to 1969. ... De Lorean featured with his namesake car, the De Lorean DMC-12 John Z. De Lorean (born John Zachary Delorean) is a personality, engineer, and executive in the U.S. automobile industry, and founder of the De Lorean Motor Company. ...

The following is a link to graphs showing effect of lifting off the throttle mid turn, at 6s. The transients in the first couple of seconds are due to the test, which applies the steering lock at 0s, which is effectvely a step steer input. The steering wheel is held at a constant angle throughout. The steady state cornering is at constant speed, with a latacc of 0.45 g approximately. After the throttle is released the latacc spikes to 0.6g, and then smooths out to about 0.54g. The yaw rate plot is more interesting - the spike to 20 deg/s is significant as that would be quite uncomfortable. Note that the inside rear wheel lifts off the ground, this is quite common.

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