(Excerpts)
THE FIRST RULE of driving techniques is to adapt your technique to the vehicle and situation. How you steer a 25-tonne truck is different to how you steer a racecar, which is different to how you steer a classic car, or how you steer a Ferrari on a racetrack. And you might well use a different technique when parking that same Ferrari. So those who say there’s only one way to steer a vehicle are just plain wrong, because “it all depends”. In Part 1 we looked at where to hold the wheel, and now we’re covering how to turn it.
The techniques
What we’re covering in this article are steering techniques for modern roadcars and 4WDs. There’s two main ones to use:
- Shuffle (sometimes known as push-pull steering, or push pull slide steering, or hand to hand steering, or fixed arm steering)
- Rotational (sometimes known as fixed-input steering or hand over hand steering)
The shuffle technique is what you’ve probably been taught when you trained for your licence. Keep your hands pretty much around the 9-3 mark, and make small movements to turn the wheel. Reach up to grasp the wheel, and pull down to turn it, while pushing up with your other hand – that’s why it’s also known as push-pull steering.
The rotational technique locks your hands at 9-3, and keeps them there, even as you turn the wheel, which is why it’s also know as fixed-input steering. Up until 90 degrees either way it’s easy, just fix your hands to 9-3, then it gets a bit more complicated than shuffling, and there’s three parts to it.
Beyond 90 degrees leave your hand at the bottom of the wheel, and continue moving the other hand, letting the wheel slide through the lower hand. As your two hands meet, move the lower hand to the opposite spoke of the steering wheel and pull down.
With this technique the only place you grasp the steering wheel is at the spokes. If you use rotational on a country road or racetrack then you are very unlikely to ever need more than about 110 degrees of steering lock, and if you get past 180 degrees of lock you’re either drifting or on your way to a crash site, so there’s no need to worry about grabbing the other spoke!
A myth about rotational is that if the airbag goes off and your arms are crossed over the steering wheel then they’ll be thrown back in your face. The Audi driver training team told us that tests have been done, and that simply isn’t true. But they said no tests have been done on the silly practice of hooking your hand under the wheel, which definitely isn’t recommended by anyone!
Here’s a video to demonstrate shuffle and rotational:
https://www.Youtube.com/watch?v=wMYvlJme0Fg
Rotational is not easy to understand, or to learn to proficiency, especially if you’re used to another steering method. But stick with it, the technique can be learned and once learned you never want to go back to wasting effort with shuffle. Here’s rotational in practice:
https://www.Youtube.com/watch?v=xRogz9K4NNo What to use when
The
shuffle allows you to use a lot of force on the wheel, handy for older vehicles without power steering. It is also a great technique to use when driving 4WDs offroad because both hands are available to keep the wheel steady over rocks and ruts, and you can easily move a hand to operate UHF radios, locking differentials and all sorts of other controls. Around town it is useful in many situations because you can easily operate the controls such as indicators, because your hands are always close to 9-3. The shuffle or push-pull is simple, safe, and easy to learn but not always the most effective technique which is why most people don’t use it once they’ve passed their test.
The
rotational technique is what you want at once you’re out of the ‘burbs, and maybe even before then. The main advantages over shuffle are less effort, it’s easy to return the wheel to centre so you’re smoother, and the you can turn the wheel. Out on country roads all these advantages mean rotational is the way to go, as it’s just much easier to smoothly control the car than with shuffle.
In motorsports, rotational is always used because of the speed you need to turn the wheel, and necessity of being able to return the wheel to centre instantly without looking. You cannot rely on the self-centring action of the wheel to do that, firstly it may not work, second it’s way too slow. Rotational is always used in motorsports, and it is taught by BMW, Audi, Porsche and every performance-oriented driving organization I’ve seen, so I think that says something.
How NOT to steer a car- Never hook your hand under the steering wheel rim – you don’t need to do so, and you have limited control over the car, plus you are risking injury in the event an airbag goes off.
- Don’t let the wheel slide through your hands – it’s just not necessary, and you have limited control of the car.