front wheel drive vs rear wheel drive

[fillet-brazed]

ok, so me and a buddy had a disagreement. Of course we both agreed that all wheel drive is the ultimate for rally racing, but what would be faster if you could only have one end driving the car - front wheel drive or rear wheel drive?

[MrJan]

Rear wheel drive no doubt. Front wheel drive cars have a tendancy to bog down or understeer. IN any case it's the rear wheel drive which is my favourite out of all three, sideways is best

[shurik]

RWD.. cuz I'm rwd junkie
Still though, lancia 037 and WTCC bimers prove that rwd can be really fast

[ste898]

RWD is for men.......FWD is for Girls!!!!

[MrJan]

RWD.. cuz I'm rwd junkie
Still though, lancia 037 and WTCC bimers prove that rwd can be really fast

Sadly back in the 90s Audi proved that 4 wheel drive can be faster still

[bennizw]

Allthough RWD is more spectacular, in modern rallying days FWD has proved the more effective drive. The last ten years there has been a focus against producing FWD cars, which means the RWD has lost out. Who knows who would be fastest in these days if the RWD would've undergone the same developement?

[Mirek]

RWD with front engine has lack of grip on the rear axle which makes not enough traction. It is oversteery. FWD has better traction but not so much, some understeering and is more stable. RWD with rear engine has huge traction but not enough weight on front wheels which gives them not enough grip in corners. Aerodynamics can solve it only in higher speed. The best is mid-engine RWD as Lotus. But those cars can't be used in rallying since they are not touring cars (somewhere they could be used as GTs).

[leno]

rwd only in case that engine is also rear. otherwise FWD no doubt faster

[urabus-denoS2000]

FWD is definetly faster in modern rally cars

[Steve Boyd]

FWD is definetly faster in modern rally cars

Nonsense - there aren't any modern RWD rally cars to compare the modern FWD cars with, if there were the RWD would be faster.

Away from International Rallying where only homologated cars are permitted & you'll find that RWD is still highly competitive, particularly in the UK & Ireland.

Look at the results of the Galway National Rally that ran in Ireland over the wekend. The first eight places were RWD, 9th was 4WD and the highest FWD was 13th. The winning National car (a Mk2 Escort) was faster than all except the top ten International cars (4 WRC, 5 N4 & 1 S2000), all 4WD.