Sorry i don't frequent this board but I am having trouble explaining to someone that RWD really is the best way to go for building a track/handling race car. He has proceded to tell me that FWD is the best....blah blah blah. It's really getting frustrating trying to explain so i figured you guys/gals could help me out here.

thanks in advance!

the user in question is torredo.

http://www.8thcivic.com/forums...11611

 

Ever see a FWD F1 car? How bout NASCAR? OK maybe SCORE? I rest my case.

 

that is exactly what i said in the thread if you noticed. but to no avail. lol

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mister x &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Ever see a FWD F1 car? How bout NASCAR? OK maybe SCORE? I rest my case.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Not to mention JGTC, Super Taikyu, D1, World of Outlaws, NHRA, and many others.....

 

RWD is the WAY!

 

lmao. RWD&gt;FWD and i have owned way more FWD cars then RWD.

The moderator says this from that site.
"Agreed. One of my favorite cars is the DC2 GSR. One of, if not THE, best handling FWD vehicle to drive straight from the factory."

I guess he has never heard of the DC2R? Wow to think someone thinks a GSR handles better than a ITR. Someone get Honda on the phone and tell them to stop making R's cause the GSR is better.

 

While RWD is wicked sweet and i do enjoy it on the whole more than FWD, it depends what your building the car for. Look at that new Si that took 4th on the OLA this year, FWD is capable. With some classes though you may be able to build a more competitive car that is FWD than RWD due to various rules and such.

If your building an endurance car/tube chassis/spec miata etc, a RWD would in my humble oppinion be easier to fix in a crunch (or after a crunch).

 

wow

i couldn't even read past page 1...i don't have an account there, and don't feel like making one, but i wanted to comment on half of those posts

i can't even believe that they are talking about handling characteristics being better on a fwd car - i will agree they are safer for the *average* driver

but in all honesty, i'd venture a guess that most of the guys saying that fwd &gt; rwd have little to no experience with rear wheel drive - as far as performance goes, i don't see how someone knowledgeable about the subject would prefer fwd (especially in handling/drag situations - as i said, i can understand weather/safety issues)

 

do you even understand how much MORE you have to put into fwd to make it "capable"?

 

Torque steer is a big problem on front-wheel drive cars with any real horsepower. Nothing like getting hard on the throttle coming out of a corner when the torque steer is trying to pull you off the side of the track. Your best drivers will tell you that you want to do as much of your braking while in a straight line so that you can maximize your steering capabilties. You'll steer far better without the brakes applied and the same is true with acceleration on a FWD car. Drive and steering should be seperate for optimum steering capability. As someone already said above...if FWD was better, then wouldn't F1 and IRL be using that technology? It takes more skill to drive a RWD vehicle on the "envolopes edge" where FWD is more like "training wheels" which is why FWD is safer on snow than RWD.

 

it is quite simple... when you begin to accelearate the weight of the vehicle moves towards the back wheels. only makes sense to put the power where the weight/traction is.

additionally, you only have 1 unit of traction. if you're using 50% of that to steer, you can only use 50% of it to accelerate. that isn't to say you can give 1 full unit of acceleration to the rear wheels when in a corner, but you can give them more since they're doing less work than the fronts (on a typically setup car).

 

RWD sucks when you only can afford a 8th gen civic Si, seriously no one there knows what the heck are they talking about.

I don't blame then, when you just turn 16 and everyone been telling you the Si is the lambo replacement from hell. Si is a great car but seriously, every chassis has limitation regardless of the drive train layout.

I stop reading when someone said the best handling FWD car was a GSR, too

young to know about the ELAN, i guess.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MuleS2K &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Torque steer is a big problem on front-wheel drive cars with any real horsepower. Nothing like getting hard on the throttle coming out of a corner when the torque steer is trying to pull you off the side of the track. Your best drivers will tell you that you want to do as much of your braking while in a straight line so that you can maximize your steering capabilties. You'll steer far better without the brakes applied and the same is true with acceleration on a FWD car. Drive and steering should be seperate for optimum steering capability. As someone already said above...if FWD was better, then wouldn't F1 and IRL be using that technology? It takes more skill to drive a RWD vehicle on the "envolopes edge" where FWD is more like "training wheels" which is why FWD is safer on snow than RWD.</TD></TR></TABLE>

dont forget the tires being wasted cause your turning with the front and using them propel the car forward.


Modified by JDM knowledge at 10:16 AM 8/2/2006

 

yeah I also agree RWD is better than FWD but i get paranoid when im going up the steep hill, making sure i dont accelerate too much XD

 

a front wheel drive car has a lot of excessive heat to the front wheel and hub, the rwd setup allows for more torture at a longer interval while being reliable, also allowing a better balance, but this is in a race situation,on the road fwd is a good daily driver especially in bad weather...but i believe the question was in reference to performance....

i guess honda screwed up, when they wanted to produce a sports car with good handling they made it rwd to tune down the performance...not to mention most sports cars and all high horsepower cars are rwd, unless they are awd.

 

The DC2-R is one of the best, or the best FWD cars ever IMO.

From what have many say, they are the NSX's of FWD, and that is something to be proud of.


BUT, RWD&gt;FWD all day.

 

Regarding the 8th Civic forum thread - there is no speaking intelligently with some people. RWD is my favorite, but I chose to buy the 2006 Si because it was practical and fun to drive. A compromise for sure, but an acceptable one for now.

 

I would like to second the point that half of those guys are 16 year old nubkids who don't know jack diddly about cars. Period.

I actually read all of it, and about 98.7% of that was either retarded/dumb/or didn't have to be said.

The GSR comment made me want to track the IP, visit his house, and punch him in the face.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mykcuz &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">a front wheel drive car has a lot of excessive heat to the front wheel and hub, the rwd setup allows for more torture at a longer interval while being reliable</TD></TR></TABLE>

how many fwd race cars do you see losing races due to "excessive heat in the front wheel and hub?"

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mykcuz &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i guess honda screwed up, when they wanted to produce a sports car with good handling they made it rwd to tune down the performance...</TD></TR></TABLE>

huh?

 

The second one is sarcasm Mike

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Mr. Nishant &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The second one is sarcasm Mike </TD></TR></TABLE>lol

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Mr. Nishant &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The second one is sarcasm Mike </TD></TR></TABLE>

can't be so sure after reading something as goofy as the first statement i quoted.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Mike C &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

can't be so sure after reading something as goofy as the first statement i quoted.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Well you can't listen to people who say goofy things, period!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Mike C &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">how many fwd race cars do you see losing races due to "excessive heat in the front wheel and hub?"

huh?</TD></TR></TABLE>

if a fwd car sees excessive track time it is common to lose braking and acceleration and handling performance in the front end, if you watch honda track events you would already know this since it is common for an equal civic and s2k to battle all race but after a while the civic starts to put out slower lap times due to heating issues in the fwd platform, where the rwd platform allows for a consistant race all the way through.

 

ummm nope, sorry.