Out of the blue, i find myself in this heated arguement with my friend. As i recall, i do see them use it on the occasional tight corners but my friend insists that they don't.....so who is right?

 

You are. Watch some of the WRC events on Speedvision. They definitely use the handbrake

 

It's to get the back end loose, to help negotiate the tigher turns.
Also used by drifters

yoshi - who always wanted to try this in autox'ing

 

They use a hydraulic e-brake.

Warren (who has a few crazy rally friends)

 

Yup they do...watch speedvision tonight and find out

 

wouldnt that **** up the AWD differentials? Somethings gotta give...

 

They have super loose differentials. No, you shouldn't do this in a Impreza 2.5 RS. But in a WRC Prodrive Impreza with computer controlled triple diff, you can do it.

Ever seen an Impreza 22b do donuts as if it was a Z28??? The magic of loose diffs...

 

And they change them at the end of each day ..........in about 15 minutes

Sam - whos going to watch the WRC for real next year

 

they also use left-foot braking as well to loosen up the car prior to entering a corner...

 

OOH where?

 

Dam it's on right now and I missed most of it. The new CR-V's have a "rally style" e-brake. At least I think so.

 

actually I think I read somewhere that when the handbrake is pulled the center diff "seperates" to allow the rear wheels to free wheel.