Fwd...

Auto_newb · #1 05-20-2004, 10:58 PM

What makes FWD the ideal drivetrain for autocrossing? I thought RWD had better handling?

ac427cpe · #2 05-22-2004, 09:04 PM

how do you figure FWD is better?
imho:
RWD > FWD
AWD > FWD
mid-RWD > FWD

simply on the fact that your tires can only do 100% total work, if the front tires have to pull to that takes from overall capability. some people like FWD better because it works better with their driving style.

crayzayjay · #3 05-23-2004, 12:11 PM

seriously, FWD is usually inferior to RWD or AWD. That's not to say well set-up FWD cars can't compete with RWD.

Auto_newb · #4 05-23-2004, 04:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ac427cpe

how do you figure FWD is better?
imho:
RWD > FWD
AWD > FWD
mid-RWD > FWD

simply on the fact that your tires can only do 100% total work, if the front tires have to pull to that takes from overall capability. some people like FWD better because it works better with their driving style.

I heard lots of people say that FWD is the best for soloII

MR2Driver · #5 05-23-2004, 07:29 PM

Thats what makes you Auto Newb, you believe what dellusional people say...

Auto_newb · #6 05-23-2004, 07:34 PM

Hey hey, I have been meaning to change this stupid name, I only used this name so people had no reason to flame me in the engineering/technical forum. It's like a safety precaution. But lots of people say that the only good thing about FWD, is soloII and rallying (except for AWD).

ac427cpe · #7 05-23-2004, 07:44 PM

the only good thing about FWD is economy... and rain drifting. it's efficient, but you can't run a lot of power.

answer to your question: it's not.

Auto_newb · #8 05-23-2004, 07:47 PM

Oh, that sucks, but isn't there more drivetrain hp losses in RWD cars?

MR2Driver · #9 05-24-2004, 12:56 PM

Not if its Mid Engine

2strokebloke · #10 05-26-2004, 11:24 PM

Actually, if you're going to be going around tight corners and such RWD has little to no advantage over FWD, especially on a flat course.
FWD has it's advantage in that it pulls the car rather than pushes it, and this has it's advantage anytime you want the car to go where you point it.
The advantage is lost when you have wider turn and straight aways, where you gain enough speed to make understeer in the FWD car exceed that of it's RWD counterpart.
Other advantages have less to do with handling, such as that usually you can get a FWD car for less than RWD, etc.

Auto_newb · #11 05-27-2004, 12:42 AM

Hmm... Cool

MR2Driver · #12 05-27-2004, 01:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2strokebloke

Actually, if you're going to be going around tight corners and such RWD has little to no advantage over FWD, especially on a flat course.
FWD has it's advantage in that it pulls the car rather than pushes it, and this has it's advantage anytime you want the car to go where you point it.
The advantage is lost when you have wider turn and straight aways, where you gain enough speed to make understeer in the FWD car exceed that of it's RWD counterpart.
Other advantages have less to do with handling, such as that usually you can get a FWD car for less than RWD, etc.

Cliffs Notes: In low speed cornering, RWD doesnt have as much of an advantage, and FWD cars are cheap to buy.

But what about a slalom or an S curve 2stroke?

When it comes to high speed performance, when on throttle, FWD cars tend to understeer. That gap between FWD and RWD is less significant in lower power applications, but when the power is much higher than stock, the gap is very significant.

Either way, not trying to start a "flame war." But the debate was that he was told that FWD was superior to all other racing layouts in AutoX and we wanted to point out that he was mistaken.

2strokebloke · #13 05-29-2004, 03:31 PM

No, FWD is not supperior to all layouts, but under many circumstances, FWD can certainly "pull its own weight" at autocross. It depends alot on the driver and what style of driving they want to do, FWD has it's advantages, though I wouldn't say it's the 100% best choice all around, but if you're tight on money it might be.

c32b1 NSX · #14 06-03-2004, 12:03 PM

FWD holds the most understeer among them all. MR is my personal favorite.

2strokebloke · #15 06-06-2004, 07:43 PM

Any car with a front mounted engine will want to understeer. However, that FWD will have more understeer than RR, is somewhat missleading. Once again I'll note that when Toyota's first front driver, the Corolla-Tercel was introduced, test drivers were impressed by the fact that it exhibited less understeer than any of Toyota's other cars (which were all rear wheel drive at this point in time) Generally cars come from the factory "tuned" for understeer, because this supposedly feels "safer" to drivers (remeber the Corvair?).
It's not that FWD has to be so heavy on it's helping of understeer, it's that companies want it to be.

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