Originally posted by Amin Ahmadi:
For example it has better performance in snow.

I can and do corner harder in a FWD DSM than an AWD DSM

Originally posted by Dennis Wong:

Quote

I can and do corner harder in a FWD DSM than an AWD DSM

Now this I don't understand. In a hard corner, most of the weight is on the front outside tire. When you get on the throttle, some of the weight will be transferred to the rear, and your inside front tire will start spinning, and if you are hard on the throttle, most of the torque will be transferred to that tire. With AWD, it doesn't really matter. That's why you can get back on the throttle early with AWD cars. Once again, FWD becomes useless. Can you tell by now that I really despise FWD?

"And the entry into a corner is quicker than I believe everybody that we're racing against," Bobby continues. "And where there's a series of tight S corners, a series of rights and lefts, we're quicker in there. It's because of the AWD the car responds quicker. There's corner 8-9 at Mosport, and we can literally drive through that where other people were either on or off the gas. You can really catch people there.

"Tommy and I started racing low-powered cars, and we've always had to be more aggressive in the corners. It [the all-wheel-drive Talon] allows us to be even more aggressive, especially in an endur-ance race. With the Talon, you just drive the car into the off-limits zone and drive through it with all the confidence in the world."……adds Tommy, "because of the capabilities of holding the road, tends to let you go farther into the corner even without you knowing that you're doing it. That was the one thing I noticed right away.

Also, like at Lime Rock, a front-wheel-drive car would go up the hill and probably change lanes without turning the steering wheel, because you're going through a bump-steer mode. The car goes all the way to the top of the suspen-sion and back down. With this car [AWD], you just keep your foot to the floor."

The added stability of all-wheel-drive also has a payoff in safety, which means life and limb, and the side benefit of keeping the car in the running when otherwise it might be out for good. "At Nelson Ledges, in the rain, we were using basically slick tires, and one of the guys slid off into the grass. Usually in a race car if you drive off into the wet grass ... well, you pick up speed! But he pulled it right out."

Tommy got a little closer to the action talking about his own experience, he says, "You slide off even in wet weather, and you can accelerate back to the track. Whereas in most cars you just try make it back to the track, with this car you accelerate back to the track."

"On the race track the Talon drives like a like a front wheel drive car - a superior front wheel drive car. You use the throttle a lot, very similiar to a front wheel driver" (this is due to the 50/50 torque split in case you werent sure a fact my race instructor at Shannonville clued me in on ....the Audi Quattros ran a 30/70 rear split for more of RWD characteristics)

With an even torque split, all else being equal the front end does most of the work during corner-ing, since it usually carries most of the weight entering a turn. (Deceleration shifts the weight forward, which is necessary for big contact patches on the steered wheels.) If the car is designed with more torque going to the rear, then even under severe deceleration the lightly loaded rear drive wheels will still be doing their share. In fact, it is hoped that they're capable of doing more than their share; that way, by proper application of the gas pedal, the driver can induce throttle steer at will.

For example, normally entering a right-handed corner you would try to do your braking before you got to the corner, then tend to get on the throttle and get the car set up right. You continue to depress the gas pedal, and if it doesn't want to turn, you can usually let off a little bit and induce it.

Of course, there are things the all-wheel-drive car can do that a front-drive car can't. Bobby con-tinues, "Perfect case in point comparing it with a front-wheel-drive car: You go into a corner too deep and the inexperienced driver backs out of the throttle big time. Well, [with front-wheel-drive ] the front end stops and the back end keeps going, and you spin around. This car does not have that ten-dency. You let out of the throttle and it tends to steer in the direction that it was going. We have not spun one out yet, and we've run a whole bunch of racetracks and, I think, about eight different drivers."

Tommy Archer says, "In a rear-wheel-drive car, when you take off and accelerate hard, the back end will slide. [With a] front-wheel-drive car, you normally get torque steer. With all-wheel-drive it basically makes it so you can drive the car with one hand. The car is simply smooth. My first impression of it was at Sears Point Raceway, which is one of the hardest tracks in the country, and I drove all the way from Turn 11 to Turn 4 with one hand on the wheel, the other hand talking on the radio.

Originally posted by Jeremy Chin:
[QB]and Vince...go ahead and continue to live in that little cave you call a "DSM". Sooner or later you will see the light.

Maybe I am not the driver for a 12 year old car you call a DSM that does nothing well other than going fast in a straight line, good snow traction and gas drinker.

Originally posted by Jerry Rose:
Quotes from Tommy and Bobby Archer on racing AWD
Talons
[QUOTE]"And the entry into a corner is quicker than I believe everybody that we're racing against," Bobby continues. "And where there's a series of tight S corners, a series of rights and lefts, we're quicker in there. It's because of the AWD the car responds quicker. There's corner 8-9 at Mosport, and we can literally drive through that where other people were either on or off the gas. You can really catch people there.