RWD vs FWD

[leper421]

Hypothetical question:

If you had two of the same car, with the same engine, only one was rear-wheel drive and the the other was front-wheel drive, what would be the differences in 1/4 mile, 0-60, etc?

[SpeedRacer1]

Probably not much, driver experience would account for the difference in times most likely.

[stickgoat]

RWD would probably get off the line faster due to weight transfer benefits, but other than that, in a drag race I wouldn't think there'd be too much of a difference.

Road course though, my money would be on the RWD.

[Ceptos]

rwd gets the benefit, like stickgoat said, of when u stomp on the gas the weight shifts to the rear and onto the rear tires. fwd loses less hp from the crank to the wheels. there are articles around about this, the main reason that cars are made as fwd is economy, and less parts so its cheaper.

[FrEaK]

I hear cars with a transversely mounted engine make more overall hp then that same engine in a rwd car... apparently you lose some 10 hp through the drivetrain on a rwd car...

[`def-zero]

yea drivetrain loss is an issue however the weight transfer on launch probably makes up for a little bit of that, and because the FF car doesent have the benifit in the weight transfer you might loose a little so they should come out about equal with the same launch, shifts etc.

[PalmerWMD]

def zero is correct.You have a bit less drive train loss on a FWD but the weight transfer during accel onto teh drvign wheels makes up for it.

Fred...

[Ceptos]

other than that rwd has many benefits over fwd, and is just much more interesting to drive, needless to say, rwd is the way to go =)