FWD highway dominance- Fact or Fiction? Options

[awd4kicks]

Yeah..the 144 is is lighter than most FWD's with the traction of AWD and the power plant of a jet plane. All comparisons are off on that one.

Note 2: Josh's 16g never ran worth a sh!+. His well prepaired 14b ran 13.4's while his POS 16g with N2O could only muster a best of 13.8's. So his particular 16g may not have been the best to compare to.

Note 3: I feel that a FWD prepaired with as much HP as the 144 or Natedogg's car would never have enough traction to keep up from a roll with the AWD. The FWD is just a great stock set-up which works well with an additional 100HP or so beyond that it's all up in tire smoke.

Either way I totally agree with the drive train loss being limited to a certain level. At the same time I feel it's obvious that traction also has it's limits on a FWD without serious drag racing modifications.

[natedogg]

Note 2:  Josh's 16g never ran worth a sh!+.  His well prepaired 14b ran 13.4's  while his POS 16g with N2O could only muster a best of 13.8's.  So his particular 16g may not have been the best to compare to.

Quite true. But I think part of the reason for that is, every time we got the damn thing tuned in he'd turn the nitrous on and start messing with the SAFC again, henceforth de-tuning it. I'd have liked to see what he would have run after we had a good tune on it w/o the damn nitrous.

EDIT: The other part is he had a Hughified 16g.

[KOU In3]

The FWD is just a great stock set-up which works well with an additional 100HP or so beyond that it's all up in tire smoke.

This is largely the conclusion I was alluding to. That dollar for dollar it has it's inherent advantages... up to a point. That point being somewhere at about 100hp beyond stock IMO.

But that even from a roll, I don't see them taking down many 11sec cars.

On the previous note, I'm not seeing the 144 as that irrelevant. Part of what I'm driving at is exactly the type of modified car the 144 represents. I think more and more 400hp+ cars have some real lightening work going for them narrowing one of the gaps on the FWD cars.

Now I do agree with JMoushon that in theory even the incremental differences that I'm trying to argue the drivetrain and weight differences should become would (given traction) make a difference.

BUT, there are two counterpoints there IMO. First, my whole initial point, slight advantage is a world away from "highway king". Second is Marcus's point that given enough power, even from a roll there will be traction issues.

I've read storied about FWD cars just burning the tires at 60mph with 20G set-ups. I can only imagine with a truly large turbo.

[JMoushon]

I know that you are not referring directly to me, but I doubt that anyone really believes the "king" theory anyway. An advantage, yes, but "king" is a bit strong. I believe that moniker comes from a certain storyteller spyguy and his Aesop-esque tales. I believe it would be more accurate that they are well respected GT cars, rather than a dominant force to be reckoned with. Have I been smoked from a roll by a DSM? Never. ALSO, I have never raced a truly fast, well-tuned car. I believe that I would be dust in the wake of the 144 or the Nugget. These are also potential 11 sec cars. I would like to go from a roll with an AWD that runs between 13.0 and 12.6. I believe that would be interesting and fun. Any takers?

[xian 1g]

i doubt i'm 12.6 and 13.0 is a hard reach, but after cordova jmoushon, we'll find out and i'm always game... it's just that sometimes sally isn't. sally is a lazy bitch. she knowns i want to launch the hell out of her so she tries to prevent driving her at all costs.
- i can not contribute any knowledge to this debate, but i am very interested in it. If sally ever runs well, i'm willing to put her through the test for some concrete evidence, although she has a long ways to go before she could ever dream of being an 11 sec quarter mile queen... right now, she's just trying to make a quarter mile.

[KOU In3]

Sorry about that JMoushon, I didn't intend it as a dig at you by any means. And you're right, I think Spy definately contributed to idea with "The Legend Of The Factory Freak".

Overall though it's something that is referred to on a number of boards actually, from local to national. I'm just curious overall.

I just realized I might have borrowed a term from your COTM. Didn't mean it as a dig though. Sorry 'bout that.

[JMoushon]

All good, brotha! I didn't take offense. I was more stating that I did realize that you were not singling me out. Are any quick awd's (besides the nugget) meeting at the Paradice to go to SCDC? In my world, that is roughly 90 miles of speculation testing waiting to happen.

[akamiami]

unfortunately analube won't be present tomorrow because I've got to work. You guys will have to bring your own lubricant for when black cherry tears ass down the track.

[JMoushon]

I would write "anal lube" on my windshield to honor you, but I wouldn't want to offend such a profoundly ghey car.

[MidwestDSM]

My vote is that the discrepancy fades way back as the cars double and triple in hp levels. But I'm hoping to find out at some point.

If I ever put a bigger turbo on the FWD I am willing to test this out sometime...although my plans reside in a different place nowadays.

[wortdog]

I ain't afraid of no bloody nugget