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[resolved] The myth of RWD
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William from NOLA
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GlassWolf
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there's no inclusive answer. that'll depend on the car's balance, or front to rear weight distribution as much as it will on the wheelbase, position of engine, amount of power, etc.
Generally, it's a matter of physics. Look at how the car functions. When the vehicle is moved forward by the drive wheels, weight shifts toward the rear, since objects at rest tend to stay that way. The harder you launch, the more the car is going to squat on the rear suspension when you come off the line, which is why you'll never, ever see a FWD drag car that'll go as fast as a RWD drag car can. The power transfer will always be ideal on the back tires. That's why ya see drag cars with wheelie bars standing on their back tires off the line. Ideal power transfer is putting all of the energy to the rear drive tires, so there's no rolling resistance from the front wheels.
Same reason you see motorcycles come up off the front wheel when they accelerate hard off the line. Yes I'm oversimplifying things, and glossing over other factors as well. I'm just trying to put this into simple, easy to understand terms. If you want more detail, it doesn't hurt to read up on the physics aspects of racing. You'd be amazed how much there is to learn.
Generally, it's a matter of physics. Look at how the car functions. When the vehicle is moved forward by the drive wheels, weight shifts toward the rear, since objects at rest tend to stay that way. The harder you launch, the more the car is going to squat on the rear suspension when you come off the line, which is why you'll never, ever see a FWD drag car that'll go as fast as a RWD drag car can. The power transfer will always be ideal on the back tires. That's why ya see drag cars with wheelie bars standing on their back tires off the line. Ideal power transfer is putting all of the energy to the rear drive tires, so there's no rolling resistance from the front wheels.
Same reason you see motorcycles come up off the front wheel when they accelerate hard off the line. Yes I'm oversimplifying things, and glossing over other factors as well. I'm just trying to put this into simple, easy to understand terms. If you want more detail, it doesn't hurt to read up on the physics aspects of racing. You'd be amazed how much there is to learn.
GlassWolf (aka KikiTheCat)
moderator-administrator
Actually the amount of "squatting" depends on the suspension, wheel base, center of mass, and torque at the wheels, not whether a car is FWD or RWD. All other things being equal the one one with the most torque at the wheels is going to squat the most up until the FWD guy loses traction(and torque) or the RWD starts to emulate the pic above at which point all bets are off, hehe.
Oh and Cadillac did make a couple 8 cylinder FWD offerings. I drove one around(a loaner) for a year or two.
Neat topic.
-Fishy
Oh and Cadillac did make a couple 8 cylinder FWD offerings. I drove one around(a loaner) for a year or two.
Neat topic.
-Fishy
I can't remember. I don't think its it had the Northstar. Isn't that the one that cut fuel off to some of the cylinders in an attempt to increase fuel economy? It did have a goofy size motor though, 4.7 liter I think, and got some awesome fuel mileage on the highway, like 27 mpg. The lil trip computer was one of things I liked about it. I'm a Florida boy, and it was pretty neat watching the outside temperature drop while driving North into a serious cold front. You could also see how much cooler it was in the valleys.
I get off on that kind of stuff. I'm such a geek.
-Fishy
I get off on that kind of stuff. I'm such a geek.
-Fishy
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GlassWolf
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just to clarify, I didn't eman you'll never see any V8 with FWD. I just meant the cars usually, and in large part, using FWD designs are smaller displacement, high RPM engines such as you see in the typical Japaese car, or many domestics from the 1980s. When you get into high performance cars, and go with FWD, when you have high torque and a large displacement engine you're going to run into a lot of problems with torque-steer, which is a nightmare when your drive wheels are your steering wheels too. You'll also run into issues with the transmissions, CV joints, etc being able to handle the torque without failure, and do so at the levels demanded by the drivers of high performance cars. FWD really was designed to be more efficient and as a result better on gas with the idea that having the engine weight over the drive wheels would help at lower speeds in adverse weather conditions compared to RWD, but really with today's technology the best cars being made seem to be going to an all wheel drive platform that gives the good power transfer to the needed tires and gives superior traction, acceleration, and braking in most conditions you'll encounter on the street since the engine can be used to brake the vehicle as well, assisting the brakes at the wheels, and the center differential can be changed out to improve power transfer percentages depending on the car's purpose.
GlassWolf (aka KikiTheCat)
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sinister audio
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ya all toronados are front wheel drive even from the 60's, in the 60's they had one engine which was a 425 that had more power than the same motor in the 442's. id perfer a rwd anyday and i live in south dakota and if any of you guys have ever tried to drive a fox mustang on ice you know how fun that is posi makes it alot worse to try and drive somewhere when you dont want to go all over. its fun messing around though.