Quote:
Originally Posted by AaronMartinSole
Why RWD instead of FWD? What does not holding a drift mean? Ditto on the Metro XFI and the Civic CRX HF, I dream about those cars, but could you explain your other choices? And what's VAG? I searched for it in the glossary.
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When cornering, a FWD car's front wheels have to both power the car and accelerate/brake, meaning they often get overworked during performance driving and in slippery conditions. When a FWD car loses traction on a corner it wants to go straight ahead (understeer).
A RWD car's front tires have to handle only turning and stopping, leaving the rears to accelerate. This distributes the traction across all four tires and gives you better turning power, also allowing you to power out of a corner earlier than with a FWD car. A RWD car will have the tendency for the rear wheels to step out, causing the car to rotate (oversteer). With counter-steering and throttle modulation it can be controlled (drift), as understeer really cannot.
While you can force a FWD car to oversteer by pulling the emergency brake or by braking hard into a corner, any throttle input will straighten the car back out and you will lose the drift. With RWD you can keep your foot on the gas and the car will stay sideways as long as you like.
Understeer: (with an AWD car)
Sno*Drift 2010 by
Tyler Linner, on Flickr
Drift: (With a RWD car)
Sno*Drift 2010 by
Tyler Linner, on Flickr
Anyway, I'm picking up my new gas guzzler on Friday. It's got a longitudinally mounted inline six.
