[Reed]

Almost if not all of this has been disgussed, but as Curtis said some of like to hear ourselves type so i will respond to the points that really interest me which is stuff about sportscars.

If I were building a sportscar (and i use that term loosely) it would be either mid-engine rear wheel drive (like my spyder yay) or it would be rear engine all wheel drive. it is best for a sports car to have a mid or rear engine so it is heavier in the rear. this is important beacuse the car will rotate around the polar moment of inertia which is complicated but means that the car will start to lose grip at a higher speed so that a car can carry a higher speed through a corner. also with a more rearward weight balance the car behaves better under breaking.

rear or all wheel drive is a no brainer cause they allow for better acceleration out of corners.

as far as cylinder configuration you have to consider the weight of the engine and also space available. an inline engine is lighter than a V engine which is lighter than a flat engine. now if we are talking about an 8 cilinder then an inline engine is too long so a V is much better even though it would weight more cause there is just more metal used for two banks of cylinders and two heads. now a flat engine may be better than a V engine because it has a lower center of gravity than the V8 but it also could weigh more so it may not be better. the flat engine is a bad choice in a car where the engine is a stressed member of the chassis because the flat engine provides less rigidity than a V. I think it was last year that the F1 renalt had a wider angle between the cylinder bank to give it a lower center of gravity but also used carbon fiber supports to reclaim the lost rigidity.

there is sooooo much other stuff to consider but i have already typed too much