Before we can go and look at some cars to choose from we have to make some major decision on what kind of drivetrain suits your drivingstyle and driving needs. You have to understand that each of the three drivetrain types has its own advantages and disadvantages and therefore one or the other might not be what you want in a sports car.
Best Motoring – 4WD vs 2WD Touge Battle von s13racer316
Ok first of all we take a look at the FWD configuration.
To be honest with you I really do not like having the steering and power all on just the front wheels. All fwd cars I ever drove had big issues with understeer and that is probably the first thing I want to get rid of in a car. So naturally my opinion might be a bit biased.
Front wheel drive cars have the advantage that they are really common. Most everyday cars are built like this today since it is the cheapest and most compact way to fit and engine, gearbox and drivetrain into a car. So this will give you a wide variety of cars to choose from and costs will be lower since aftermarket and second hand parts support will be available on a big scale.
A lot of engineers will tell that fwd cars are safer since understeer is cured with lifting the throttle which is a natural instinct with most drivers.
On a race track a fwd car can be quite fast. There are certain platforms which I have seen clocking crazy lap times. Those cars can hit the throttle really early in the corner and therefore be quite fast.
Should you see any other positive aspects of this drivetrain type, just let me know. As mentioned, I am not a fan of FWD cars unless they are converted to another type. 😉
Even if it is a Spoon creation, I probably will not like it. 😉
So lets come to the next type: All Wheel Drive
All wheel drive is said to combine the best of both worlds, but I am not so sure about this. Awd is for sure the fastest thing on a tight track and in slippery conditions like rain or snow. The added traction gives you a great advantage in corners since you can just step on the throttle really early. It also has the disadvantage of understeer though and added wheight due to the additional drivetrain parts.
Depending on the power distribution from front to back AWD cars can be set up to oversteer quite a bit and therefore also make lots of fun. Today there are great AWD systems around which are controlled by computers or just mechanical differentials. They really perform well and can make a car really fast.
So if you want to be the fastest in most condition on a track this is the way to go.
This GC8 aka the Gobstopper did not crash track records out of no reason
Then we have one drivetrain left: RWD aka the fun thing
Real wheel drive to me is the one which gives you most joy to drive. You have the possibility of having a lot of influence to the way your car goes just with the throttle and of course you can only really go about drifting in RWD car.
Having the engine setup in a longitudinal way, meaning from front to back instead of left to right, also makes it easier to work on in most cases.
Downsides are that the driveshaft and rear drivetrain setup give more weight to the car and mastering oversteer is a bit harder then understeer in most cases.
If you want to drift or just have fun this is probably the way to go for you.
Fast and fun, RWD oh what a joy 🙂
Whatever you choose you have to be aware that the ideal racing line for each layout is different. You should not try to copy the line of a different layouted car if he really goes at it since it might end in the gravel or barriers.
You can find additional interesting articles on this topic in these links:
Driving Fast (great site for various driving techinques)
Wikipedia (where every dork can drop his knowledge on the world 😉 )