4wd or 2wd
11-21-2003 | 05:57 PM
#1
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Joined: Dec 2002
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From: Madrid, Spain
4wd or 2wd
Sorry I could not search the forum for previous discussions on this topic: not enough letters (only three:4 W D).
I am addressing this topic to the racer's forum as I would like the opinion of the more "extreme" drivers.
I always have been driving 2wd cars . I have always been happy with this type of transmission. I have even drove Rallyes in my youth. Having owned lately two Porsches with 4wd, a C4 and my present car is a 996TT. Also very happy with this in the few occasions that I have track driven it as well as in my daily use and travel. Its true that I have not seriously driven a 2wd Porsche so it's impossible for me to compare.
I have read that a 4wd Porsche does not oversteer as pleasantly as a 2wd. The fact is that I trottle steer my TT and the back - when needed - moves in what I feel is a nice manner. In a track, with my previous C4, I did it so well that I succeeded, without really wanting to , to find my self in a 360º spin.
I have also read that the problem with a 4wd is that, when you loose the rear, the front has a tendency to exagerate the traction in order to compensate all which creates more understeer. Funny enough I felt this problem with my C4 and do not feel it in my present TT ! THis surprises me as the rear tyres section and the total back width is wider in the TT that in the C4 . Shouldn't this create more oversteer ?!! ( keeping the front equal )
What is the forum opinion on 4wd vs 2wd: Weight handicap, handling , ..a question of principles ? Any "scientific" data : track times,etc,, avalaible ?
I am addressing this topic to the racer's forum as I would like the opinion of the more "extreme" drivers.
I always have been driving 2wd cars . I have always been happy with this type of transmission. I have even drove Rallyes in my youth. Having owned lately two Porsches with 4wd, a C4 and my present car is a 996TT. Also very happy with this in the few occasions that I have track driven it as well as in my daily use and travel. Its true that I have not seriously driven a 2wd Porsche so it's impossible for me to compare.
I have read that a 4wd Porsche does not oversteer as pleasantly as a 2wd. The fact is that I trottle steer my TT and the back - when needed - moves in what I feel is a nice manner. In a track, with my previous C4, I did it so well that I succeeded, without really wanting to , to find my self in a 360º spin.
I have also read that the problem with a 4wd is that, when you loose the rear, the front has a tendency to exagerate the traction in order to compensate all which creates more understeer. Funny enough I felt this problem with my C4 and do not feel it in my present TT ! THis surprises me as the rear tyres section and the total back width is wider in the TT that in the C4 . Shouldn't this create more oversteer ?!! ( keeping the front equal )
What is the forum opinion on 4wd vs 2wd: Weight handicap, handling , ..a question of principles ? Any "scientific" data : track times,etc,, avalaible ?
11-22-2003 | 05:42 PM
#2
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Joined: Mar 2002
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From: Highland Park, IL
Not sure you could consider this information conclusive, but the fastest C4 qualifier at this year's Club Race at Road America posted a 2:41:6, while the fastest C2 went 2:41:9. The C4 driver is an instructor out of the Northeast and has been driving the same car for almost a decade, while the C2 driver has had his 964 for just over a year (his previous race experience was in a Viper). This was the C4 racer's first trip to Elkhart Lake, while the C2 pilot had previous time on this track.
It looks like the cars/drivers are pretty close. Of course if it rains, game over.
It looks like the cars/drivers are pretty close. Of course if it rains, game over.
