Quote:
Originally Posted by Totti
What exactly is wheel hop? Is it the 'chirping' in between shifts when you dump clutch?
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No, it's usually in 1st gear when the wheels break traction, but due to the road surface and tire condition, instead of just spinning on the ground, they get traction on and off, which causes the tires to hop up and down. So you send sharp shocks of force into the drivetrain and suspension bigger than you get from any normal max-throttle driving. It tears stuff up pretty quickly if you don't recognize the problem and ease off the throttle. The rubber bushings in the diff, trans and engine mounts help absorb some of the shock, along with the rubber driveshaft guibo, but it will find any weak points like bolts that weren't torqued properly.
This is not something you see in normal road racing that you could argue an M3 was kinda meant for. It's also not a fast way to get off the line, so you won't see it often in World Challenge or DTM, even though they have to do a hard launch to start each race.