FWD v RWD

[Mochachino]

Originally Posted by tonto_VTR

so RWD means the power is aimed at the rear wheels ?
so like, if you do a burn out the back ones spin, not like my saxo with the front ones...


wow.

Nono, the steering wheel moves the wheel at the back not the front, unless you have and LSD then the steering wheel moves all wheels..

[mangojace]

Alot of 4wd cars understeer though.Especially standard scoobies. RWD ftw....rx7 yooo

[Tom5190]

Rwd all day long, i love small fwd hatch's for fun but nothing better than a well setup rwd car!

[adamskiTNR]

Any vehicle with power driving the steered wheels will have a big downside of torque application affecting the steering, the response of the steering, and more importantly the feel of the steering. With RWD, all you feel through the steering is the steering, bumps, changes. A very instictive driving feeling and you can almost drive it by feel instead of using sight alone to guide steering inputs.

Rewarding is the best word i can think of

[axsaxoman]

If we have a clean piece of paper to design the car and I am assuming lots of grunt ,then rwd is always going to be quicker on a lap .
being old enough to have been brought up on rwd cars and the mini was something new, then i have driven both types both good + bad
the bottom line is its all about getting the car balanced ,if its a FWD, then no matter how you set it up it is always going to have understeer tendencies as wheels that transmit power and steer cannot have the correct angle to the road at all times --you "cure it" by loosening the back end so the whole car drifts through the corner --all 4 wheels have slide ways slip to a certain extent when on the limit .
this is why it is so important to do your extreme braking in a straight line ,then reapply a balanced amount of power before turning in to keep the entry speed high ,but stable ,then you don,t try to brake the traction by weight moving from the rear to the front and to opposite corner and overloading the outside front wheel and lightening the inside rear.
the reverse is nearly true of rwd .
you brake get back on throttle to even out the weight transfer ,then apply level to maybe increasing throttle into the corner .depending n its tendencies, . i have seen rwd cars set up to purposely understeer a little to balance the effect of the power at rear .
find a video of a mk1 lotus cortina and you will see it lifts inside front wheel under heavy cornering+ lots of power (no independant on rear in those days ) that how they controlled the back
it gets very complicated .but those are the basics .
as a final note F1 cars +all single seaters are rear wheel drive + mid engined .
to me the worst combination is people sticking fwd engine units into the rear of a car --weight is all in the wrong place ,and that goes for the porsche .anybody that has driven one of the older types will know how they could bite very easily and how they did not like "cats eyes or white lines"
things have moved so far with modern suspension that that all well set-up cars of either type handle well -- and don,t bite like they used to

[Tontsy]

Originally Posted by db_sax

Nono, the steering wheel moves the wheel at the back not the front, unless you have and LSD then the steering wheel moves all wheels..

oh i see!
ive seen this once with this guys car...helped him park! was impressive!

[axsaxoman]

Originally Posted by mangojace

Alot of 4wd cars understeer though.Especially standard scoobies. RWD ftw....rx7 yooo

makers set them up that way to scare the normal driver into backing off the gas which will do the opposite and loose speed very quickly and allow control to be regained without alot of drama.
I have never tried it but I have always wondered what happens when you get to the end of what the evo, yaw control can do ,and if you are brave enough it can do alot --my feeling is you will just drift right into the scenery at a speed alot quicker than you would normally ,as you will already be drifting all 4 wheels at this stage anyway,with the turbo fully spooled up and a big handful of opposite lock to boot.

[KamRacing]

In a way RWD vs FWD is a silly question. Its different drivetrains for different purposes. If the chassis is equal then the RWD version is better and will certainly will see faster lap times.
Comparing your modern hatchback to a supercar is useless. Both are built to different ideals. Comparing cars in the BTCC is not very helpful as there are equality rules, but as the RWD cars have to be heavier theres a clue there to what is better when rules standardise the cars to some extent.

With our saxo's, ax and 205's etc they are flawed on paper, but a FWD setup can be cheaper, lighter and the cars are lightweight overall, meaning that they can outclass given certain top trump scenarios. The reality is that each car model on the road is so vastly different its impossible to compare with any real meaningful end result.
Saab probably said 240bhp was enough in 1980. Suspension, differentials and tyres are far superior now, though Vauxhall forgot to read the manual at all and still puts silly engines in shit chassis.

RWD can be fast and so can FWD. Theres little more you can really say. We are not driving formula 1 cars so lets not worry about the pinnacle of racing.

[adamskiTNR]

Originally Posted by KamRacing

FWD can be fast, RWD can be faster. There's little more you can really say.

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[KamRacing]

Originally Posted by adamskiTNR

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try converting your saxo then. I think you will be dissapointed

[adamskiTNR]

I'll take a pass. I'm yet to see a z cars conversion go round a track, but if they are anything like the mini's they will be awful widow makers

[wolf_gsxr]

like a mini a saxo is too short a wheel base for rear wheel drive. a car designed to be rwd is better. rwd wins end of. all the fastest cars are rwd all all bikes are. if my gsxr was front wheel drive i wouldnt take it off my estate.

[dannygti]

People go on about wheelbase as if it's mega short but in reality its only about 6.5cm shorter than a Ferrari 355

Edit: and a longer wheelbase than a lotus Elise... Maybe a rwd conversion isn't such a bad idea

[hard_corejoeboy]

If your bike was FWD it would be engineereing genius!

[Mieran]

Awd >>> rwd >>> fwd

[adamskiTNR]

actually by the 11th commandment that's wrong

[Mieran]

What RWD cars get better times than the GTR on the ring and other circuits?

[hard_corejoeboy]

Zonda F

[dannygti]

Radical sr8lm
Porsche gt2rs

[adzvtr]

Originally Posted by hard_corejoeboy

Zonda F

um no it doesnt m8