Bigpower

Aplogies if this has already been covered.

What makes the better track car? Front wheel drive or rear wheel drive?

I know the biggest majority of the users on the forum are 4x4, but having only owned front wheel drive cars i lean towards FWD. Because of the wet weekend i found some old BTCC videos.(sad i know!) Watching cars like Sierra Cosworths and E30 BMW's which were all the rage then, all these cars were RWD. But if you at the line up in todays BTCC they are all FWD apart from the BMW.

Does this mean that FWD is the better option?

Some might say that the front wheels do too much, i.e drive, steer and brake. Where as the rear just drives.

What is too much power through the front wheels? 250bhp? 300bhp? Is there a limit to the amount you can have in a RWD car? If you had 2 cars that weighed the same and around the same power output, what car would be quicker off the line?

Just a thought..........

I think it depends on the circuit/road/track. On small twisty circuits I'd have thought an FWD would more than match a RWD car. When I used to own my Escort (1.8 SI) I could go down country roads at speeds I wouldnt dream of in my FD....a lot probably has to do with my driving ability but I found the car easier to handle. On larger more open tracks I'd have thought the RWD would be quicker.

I thought the limit for FWD was about 250-280bhp, that said there are some mental American Civics that are FWD running over 600 bhp through the front wheels (with drag slicks) and the quarter mile times are sub 10s !

The very fact that all the big manufacturers eg Ferrari , Porsche etc produce high horsepower cars that are RWD means to me that they are faster overall.

With regard to your same weight, same power etc off a drag start I would say the RWD would be quicker and the quarter mile time less, when the cars accelerate I'd guess the weight is thrown to the rear of the car, when this happens the balance of the car is upset and there will be a small amount of traction lost at the front. On an FWD I would think this costs some time, but with the RWD the weight forces the tyres into contact with the track and increasing grip.

Someone will probably say this is wrong though lol

Dont get me wrong, I love the Honda Integras and the Civic Type Rs and they rate as brilliant on tracks plus being blown away by how fast the Golfs were at the Ring but I think I prefer my RWD than FWD.

RWD

You answer the question yourself - theres only so much the front wheels can do at once. Hence why RWD cars have such a severe WEIGHT PENALTY in BTCC that they are no longer competitive. Audi entered with 4wd and promptly won, then got penalised on weight and forced out. But then this is very much a roadcar makers championship and most saloons in this country at least are FWD, in Germany its different and hence the rules for DTM have always allowed that little bit more outrageousness !!!

If FWD was the pinnacle of achievement then F1 cars would have gone that way a long time ago - ie before they started getting regulated to death.

Generally accepted limits for FWD is around the 300bhp mark as past this point even the best diffs in the world cant get the thing to work well. On a normal road car this was more like 200bhp, but they have brought out better diffs to help but even these "Super Hatches" like Focus ST, Alfa, Clio Sport etc, get described as "good for a FWD" or "The best FWD hot hatch" rather than just "This car handles superbly"

Hope this helps.

J.

I would add,

The main reason for cars going FWD is cost and weight. You can build a lighter, more compact FWD car for less money that you can build a larger, heavier more expensive RWD one. Hence why Tarka felt he could go quicker in a hot hatch as its lighter, smaller and more nimble. If the Rex was the same it would have been quicker.

J.

i would agree with both james and gareth.

the current BTCC cars are exactly that, the current models allowed to enter.

and 90% of them are FWD.

now,

i have come from FWD track driving to RWD track driving and have a good argument for RWD.

i had a slightly different slant too as mine was mid-engined too

the thing with gareths escort scenario is it was on the road.

there is a lot more at stake!!

if he ever gets the rex on a track he might find his old escort being a small dot in his rex's mirror.

on the track you can push a lot harder and have less risk.

this would mean to me the RWD choice is a good one.

i am now looking for a front engined RWD car now and look forward to seeing the difference ( and some drifitng :twisted: )

we have a lot of 4WD cars on here as mentioned ( maybe a poll would help? )

and i think you shouldn't include any GTR's tbh?

are you considering a RWD track car then steve??

Rear wheel drive is quicker if the rest of the 'playing field' is level (ie. driver standard, tyre type etc) Simple as that.

Is this an elaborate plan to show Kelly that you really need to replace your Golf with an M3? (Good effort, secrets safe with me)

RWD is quicker than FWD

FWD is safer for the road as tghe understeer characteristics suit limited driver ability.

4WD is all about grip - this can make it quicker in low grip situations and when on the extreme limit of speed, that is exactly what you have got.

All IMHO of course

I've taken my car to its limits, so the next level would be a 1.8t conversion. Depending on what engine i go for (if i did) these engines are quite capable of running 250-275bhp. Just seeing if its worth spending money on the old girl, or if its cheaper to look at other vehicles. Handling wise, i can't fault the car at all. I'm just concerned that all that power would light the front wheels up all the time. (maybe this could control my very heavy right foot!!!)

250/275 is good in a FWD car.

I can go quicker in my FWD car than I would in a more powerful RWD car and also have more fun. On trackdays I can bomb around to my hearts content knowing that I'll have to do somthing really stupid to bin it where as Mr TVR driver is constantly worried about getting spanked by his hairy chested car.


Come to the next meet earlier and you can come round in mine Steve as I'm doing the trackday beforehand. You can make your mind up if 275 is too much(or not enough) for a FWD.

Might take you up on that offer James. Have been in many turbocharged cars but not a supercharged. It might change my

mind on the 1.8t conversion, and go for a G60 instead!!!