Rf

[Seito4Counter]

I wonder if anyone can answer this... are there any cars IRL that have a rear engine front wheel drive set up? and if there arent.. why not? is it a balance problem? german tanks in ww2 where set up that way.. they did fine.

 

[ving]

AFAIK no

 

[Seito4Counter]

afaik? (sorry what does that mean?)

 

[Sage]

Not a balance problem... it's just, well, why would you? You have to remember that the front wheels of a car are using a lot of traction for steering. That's why front-wheel drive cars aren't used for racing, for example... you can easily overload a car if you have the front wheels do the steering and the accelerating/braking.

FF-setups are only done because it negates the need for a long driveshaft, and because it's safer for most drivers, because the car is more likely to understeer than oversteer. If you had a rear-engine, front-wheel drive setup, it would be even worse, because you would need a driveshaft.

Good enough?

 

[Sage]

Originally posted by Seito4Counter
afaik? (sorry what does that mean?)

As Far As I Know.

 

[ving]

Originally posted by Sage
That's why front-wheel drive cars aren't used for racing, for example... you can easily overload a car if you have the front wheels do the steering and the accelerating/braking.

alot of ppl use FF in racing... there are whole race series based on FF cars her is Oz. there is even a guy who races an FF mitsubishi magna against a field of FR holden commodores and ford falcons... and he does real well

but you are right... generally they dont

 

[Kent]

Well...

Rear engine/front wheel drive is not good for balance. With the engine weight in the rear, the car's tendency to shift weight back would be compounded, then take the front wheel drive that would have even less grip thanks to the weight being back by the engine/rear wheels, and you would just get a car with a funny drivetrain and no grip.

As for front/front racers... Im sure there are tons of alfa romeo, acura and mazda gt drivers that would be sad to hear of the popularity of their racecars is almost totally unknown.