Editing Automobile handling (section)

=== Delivery of power to the wheels and brakes ===
The coefficient of friction of rubber on the road limits the magnitude of the vector sum of the transverse and longitudinal force. So the driven wheels or those supplying the most [[brake|braking]] tend to slip sideways. This phenomenon is often explained by use of the [[circle of forces]] model.

One reason that sports cars are usually rear wheel drive is that power induced oversteer is useful to a skilled driver for tight curves. The weight transfer under acceleration has the opposite effect and either may dominate, depending on the conditions. Inducing oversteer by applying power in a front wheel drive car is possible via proper use of "[[left-foot braking]]", and using low gears down steep hills may cause some oversteer.

The effect of braking on handling is complicated by [[load transfer]], which is proportional to the (negative) acceleration times the ratio of the center of gravity height to the wheelbase. The difficulty is that the acceleration at the limit of adhesion depends on the road surface, so with the same ratio of front to back braking force, a car will understeer under braking on slick surfaces and oversteer under hard braking on solid surfaces. Most modern cars combat this by varying the distribution of braking in some way. This is important with a high center of gravity, but it is also done on low center of gravity cars, from which a higher level of performance is expected.