Auto Racing: 4WD handling, mitsubishi evo viii, subaru impreza

Question
4WD drivetrains promise great traction. But I heard it creates great understeer. Is it true? Will a
4WD car need more space to turn than other drivetrain cars? Or is the amount needed to turn a
car depends on the steering mechanism?

Thank you very much

Answer
cars come in rear wheel drive, front wheel drive and all wheel drive.

the best car that takes corners is the rear wheel drive where you can let the rear end drift using the throttle and go tighter and tighter into the turn in what is called a power slid. the problem is it is on a knife edge where you can drift too much and go into a 360 spin and lose control. most powreful sports cars are rear wheel drive.

front wheel drive are the wors to take a turn... once you hit the throttle in the middle of the turn then you will get loads and loads of understeer simply because the front wheels can't handle the steering and acceleration at this point so front wheel drive is the safest car to drive. most road cars are front wheel drive.

as for all wheel drive it has the benefits and problems of both... in the begining of a turn it will understeer a little then when powering out it will oversteer... but not dangerously as rear wheel drive, in other words with all wheel drive you get better control on the rear end with sacrificing a little understeer at the front.

a hard core AWD car like Mitsubishi EVO VIII or Subaru Impreza WRX you will have an electronically controlled center differential to control the power going to the front and rear, the differential will sort out any setuations you get in while driving so it will add more power to the rear if you are turning sharply and begin to oversteer and it will give more to the front if you are on the verge of losing the rear in a big powerslide.

the video i give you in the last post shows that the evo can turn much sharply and safly than a Lamborgini... even the Lamborgini went spinning on a tight turn whereas the EVO driver was making a powerslide with only one finger.

as for the turning space... assuming the steering mechanism being the same on all cars, a rear wheel drive can go into a turn sharper than a 4WD (no understeer)but it can't go very sharp or you will lose the rear.

the 4WD will have a little understeer at first then you can play with the car all you want in the middle of the turn and yet have full control over it.

as a rule if you are racing in an open space with little turns on it then the RWD is better but if you have lots of turns in each and avery direction specially on lose surfaces then the 4WD is the car to get.

it is not a question of which system is the greatest to have... where and how you drive is part of the equation too.

MMamdouh