Which setup has the greatest handling potential

[Tikked Again]

Rear wheel drive or all wheel drive....regardless of engine placement? Just felt like askin *smile*

[Griffin]

Since were being general I'm gonna have to go with AWD - especially given variable or less than ideal track conditions :)

Griffin

[gto78]

I will have to agree, AWD has so much more potential. Twice as much traction also. As far as power- of course theres more loss in the drivetrain with an AWD, so you gotta add more power to go as fast as front or rwd with similar weight.

[autxr]

For pure handling the driven wheels make absolutly no difference. I'm talking strady state, transitions etc, not power delivery out of a turn.

The most important factor for proper handling is weight distribution. Nothing beats 50-50 with a low center of gravity.

As for pure performance, I would lean towards RWD or AWD with a rear wheel bias.

In a rear drive car if you get off the gas in a turn, it will rotate like a FWD car, BUT, if you have enough power, you can also make the car rotate by applying throttle. Much more useful than a front drive car where throttle application will result in terminal understeer.

Not to mention, weight transfer under acceleration favors the RWD car.

Scott

[Chui]

Originally posted by autxr
For pure handling the driven wheels make absolutly no difference. I'm talking strady state, transitions etc, not power delivery out of a turn.

The most important factor for proper handling is weight distribution. Nothing beats 50-50 with a low center of gravity.

As for pure performance, I would lean towards RWD or AWD with a rear wheel bias.

In a rear drive car if you get off the gas in a turn, it will rotate like a FWD car, BUT, if you have enough power, you can also make the car rotate by applying throttle. Much more useful than a front drive car where throttle application will result in terminal understeer.

Not to mention, weight transfer under acceleration favors the RWD car.

Scott

Precisely. Look at the what is acknowledged as the "best handling" cars in the world today... The Lotus Elise [surprise, surprise...] and the Ferrari 360 Modena. Many people think that they can by simply owning one of the "best handling car" truly drive the cars quicker than someone driving a "lesser" vehicle. The truth is that more skill is necessitated to fully exploit the car. I've not driven either of these cars on a track, but in the Elise it surely wanted to rotate. Initially, it was a bit disconcerting, but eventually, I kinda got used to the rear squirming a bit. Mind you, this was in the wet. If it were dry the speeds would have been much higher and I may not have had confidence to catch the car if it got out of shape. It's the only car I'd swap my ITR for.

[autxr]

I'd love to drive an Elise...

Even better, I really do think the Elise with the ITR motor might be the best car out there, period, no ifs ands or buts...

I neglected the whole argument over the traction circle.

Tires can only do so much. There is a maximum amount of grip they can generate.

In a FWD (and AWD car) you are asking the fronts to do the steering and accelerating out of a turn, hard to do. For RWD, you are only steering with the fronts, the rears can focus a bit more of the task on acceleration.

Also, as Chui hinted in his thread, it isn't just the drive wheels that matter, it iw where the weight is. You want it in-between the axles (mid engined). The less you have on either end the better, all, right in the middle. That is what makes the lotus so potent. Mid engine, very small overhangs, and also very light weight.

I want one.

Scott

PS: Rumor is, Suzuki will be selling their little club racing formula car in the US showrooms (not sure if it will be motorcycle or auto showrooms). $25,000 for a fully supported factory race car. Need parts? Go to the dealership!

[Griffin]

Can't disagree, in fact my intial impulse was to say MR was the best, but seing as how I love AWD cars and rally racing I went for AWD. It also depends on what you define as best too I guess. I'd like to think AWD is the most forgiving in inexperienced or less than expert hands. That and they don't suffer from high polar moment of inertia like MR cars do.... (I used to love my MR2 but I hated it on the ice - one minute your boogeying through a turn and the next your doing 360s and never any warning in between). I think for "real world" street conditions AWD is the superior powertrain. For the racetrack.. well F1 and CART run MR for a reason.

Griffin

[t2000gts]

control - AWD

efficiency - MR

[Chui]

"I think for "real world" street conditions AWD is the superior powertrain."

Couldn't agree more.