Re: stock tires do not suck(oh yes they do)

[Bill Hussey <vfrboy@home.net>]

"Ng, Kevin (Bank of America Commercial Finance)" wrote:

> I originally started this thread--saying the GA's were adequate, nothing
> great, but adequate. But this whole RWD vs. AWD thing--sorry Bill, how can
> AWD (all else being equal) not help you corner better than RWD? Have you
> ever watched the WRC? RWD wouldn't get you past the first corner of any of
> those races. Getting power down to the road is paramount when cornering. As
> a motorcycle owner you should know that. The ONLY situation I can see a RWD
> keeping up with AWD in a corner is when the car has ZERO loss of grip. You
> don't see that situation happen too often in real life.

Please don't lose sight of the fact that the ONLY thing AWD will help you out
with is accelerating ... a properly set up performance automobile can corner
better with RWD.  The ability to isolate the front end from the rear end is
ESSENTIAL!!  I know that we've all seen the commercials, "The Audi A4 has such
unbelievable traction, it was banned from racing for having an unfair
advantage."  Then some actor says, "I'll take all the unfair advantage I can
get!".

The A4s were banned yes, but the only real advantage that they had was that they
could pull out of corners harder than everyone else on the field.  In dry
weather, their advantage was minimal at best.  I can't stress enough how
important it is that the driver be able to isolate the front of the car from
rear and do whatever he wished with either end.  With AWD, you are commited to
driving around the cars characteristics, whereas RWD allows you to put the car
in any position you want.

GT2 racing (mainly a Viper vs. Porche battle all year) allows the Porche's to
use AWD vehicles if they choose since they do come that way from the factory,
yet every team, including the factory backed efforts, run the RWD versions of
the cars.  Why do you think that is?

Why is it that today's premeir sports cars use RWD?  Viper, Ferrari,
Lamborghini, Vette, NSX, Porche (i know they use AWD too, but it's, for the most
part, a marketing thing)?

Why is it that the fastest forms of racing in the world use RWD exclusively?
IRL, Cart, NASCAR?

Anything that makes a car faster means that it makes it accelerate better,
corner faster, or brake harder.  While these are very much speed factors, they
are also safety factors.  If AWD was really an improvement over RWD in terms of
safety, why hasn't any governing racing body made it madatory?

Please don't fall into the hype, drive both types of car on the track and you'll
realize how much easier it is to run a RWD car around a track than it is an AWD
car.  And again, advanced track techniques like throttle steering and high-speed
rotations are just NOT POSSIBLE with AWD.

Bill
'98 GLX