Quote:
Originally posted by AaronM
Sorry, but no. Some people may well be faster in FWD because they feel safer, but the basic physics involved dictate that, all else being equal, it is best to power the wheels that are not steering the vehicle. If the front wheels are steering the car, a RWD vehicle will be better at the limit.
That's not to say that FWD can't be fast. And it's not to say that FWD can't beat RWD when the rest of the setup is not equal.
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DUH! You don't design a FWD to be exactly like a RWD. The best FWD car's for an pliaction are not going to have the same setup. I think that would be common sense.
There are tons of variables. In my case, with my race car(Not the 944) FWD is horrible. The TOrque at the wheels is almost impossible to keep from excessive wheelspin - even with RWD. The suspension is not setup for FWD either, but is built for weight transfer to bite into the dirt on the side that needs to do the work. Make the front the driving wheels, and the weight shifts to the back, and you just spin tires and through dirt in the air. RWD isn't much better at low speeds, get too throttle happy and you power into nice tiny radius 360's. At higher speeds where torque at the wheels is less, its a very nice setup. I mostly run four wheel drive, which lets me push throttle through a corner.
I am wondering if we should also remove the brakes from the front of your car, as your front wheels eed to jsut do steering. Would it help? I think not.
FWD first came out on outright race cars, they allowed a lower center of gravity for better handling. Previously, you had to run things over the drivetrain that went to teh rear wheels. The fastest race cars back in years past where FWD at the Indy 500.
In higher horsepower applications, FWD starts to lose out a lot due to weight transfer. But in a car designed for smaller engines, it can be made to get around corners quite nicely. The problem, si when you have a driver driving a FWD likes its a RWD, they aren't getting the most out of it. Rally driver's tend wring more out a FWD then most. I've onyl driven them in sims or not in conditions to test the handling. I do love my 944's balance though.