Left hand drive racecars?

[Lunaboy]

Something i was wondering today, why are most of the BTCC cars left hand drive?

[m0rk]

weight balance & availability of steering racks

[Lunaboy]

weight balance & availability of steering racks

Interesting, weight balance, does it something have to do with the way they race a circuit, clockwise or not?
And what is steering racks?
Sorry if these are stupud questions... ;)

[m0rk]

think about the engine bay layout... big lump of an engine on the right side, gearbox on the left (if you're sat in the car)

So if you position the driver on the same side of the gearbox, you're mitigating the effort to balance it

Do you need me to explain what a steering rack is? http://auto.howstuffworks.com/steering2.htm

[Lunaboy]

I understand the first part and the second but i didn't understand the availability, so there are more left hand steering racks to deliver if there's need to?

[Mark]

With many/most manufacturers the vast majority of the cars they are going to sell are left hand drive, because most countries drive on the right. Therefore the most cost effective way to design a car is left hand drive in the first place. Then for the RHD market they make modifications to allow for the controls being on the other side of the car.

Now when you are building a racing car you don't want the extra equipment to allow the conversion to RHD being in the car, it adds weight and makes it more complicated to build, something which has little importance in a road car but makes a big difference in racing. So teams tend to race the 'native' left hand drive versions.

[Robinho]

plus the WTCC based cars are all built (or come in kits) from the continent anyway, so are based on LHD shells - the BMW's and SEATs at least

[Lunaboy]

Right, now i know ;)