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Racing Tips - Drive Systems

Note we cannot be held responsible for any damages,  injury,  death or other consequences of using or misusing the information contained here (or on any other part of our website).  This information is for use at your own risk,  and you must assume full responsibility for it.

Drive Systems

One of the biggest differences between vehicles is the drive system they use,  this can (or should) affect how you drive different vehicles and which vehicles you should buy depending on the type of events you expect to compete in.  Note the comments below are our opinions and are also generalisations,  so use these as a guide but make your own final determinations :

Front Wheel Drive (FWD)

Most modern cars are now produced with front wheel drive systems.  This means that the engine turns the front wheels,  while the rear wheels effectively just get dragged along behind.  Front wheel drive vehicles are therefore excellent in motorkhanas and autocrosses.  These types of events involve very sharp turns,  often at relatively low speeds,  which means the faster you can turn the better your times.  Regardless of a vehicles drive system you can perform a hand-brake turn to turn more quickly and decrease your times,  however front wheel drive cars will (depending on the drivers) always be faster doing this than other drive systems because while the back end is sliding the front end will continue to pull the car forwards.  In a rear wheel drive vehicle you must put the clutch in when performing a handbrake turn in order to avoid both stalling and causing damage to the drive system.  In front wheel drive vehicles the same usually applies.  The downside to front wheel drive cars is that without the use of the handbrake,  and particularly at high speeds (such as track and circuit events) they tend to understeer.  This means that you'll almost always have to use the handbrake on motorkhanas and autocrosses,  which will shorten the life of the handbrake cable and this can be expensive.  At faster events such as track, circuit and closed road events front wheel drive cars often suffer slightly because of their characteristic understeer.

Best for events in the following order :

  1. Motorkhanas
  2. Autocrosses
  3. Hillclimbs/Rallies
  4. Track/Circuit/Closed Roads

Rear Wheel Drive (RWD)

This drive system is favoured by the majority of professional track racers,  such as the V8 Supercars we often see in New Zealand.  During acceleration all vehciles tend to undergo a weight (or more correctly force) shift to the rear of the car.  In the case of a rear wheel drive vehicle this applies more traction to drive wheels and this can lead to extra speed.  Many people believe that 'true' sports cars are always rear wheel drive,  and this is one of the reasons for their improved handling and speed.  Rear wheel drives tend to oversteer when pushed,  which means on motorkhanas and autocrosses you should be able to produce the same effect as a handbrake turn simply by turning the wheel to full lock and applying a lot of power,  however this is not always as fast as using the handbrake,  although it will save wear and tear on the cable.  The down side to rear wheel drive cars is they are often mid or rear engine as well which puts little weight over the front wheels which do the steering,  which means some RWD cars are prone to understeer on grass or gravel,  but will oversteer on sealed surfaces.  Poor suspension can cause the same effect.  RWD vehciles also tend not to be as fast on motorkhanas or autocrosses as loose forward momentum whenever the back end is sliding.

Best for events in the following order :

  1. Track/Circuit/Closed Roads
  2. Hillclimbs/Rallies
  3. Autocrosses
  4. Motorkhanas

Four/All Wheel Drive (4WD/AWD)

Vehicles using this type of drive system can be very different from each other because the power distribution to the front and rear can be different (a bias).  With a rear bias the car will behave more like a RWD vehicle,  however with no bias or a front bias the vehicle will usually behave more like a FWD vehicle.  Most often manufacturers set a front bias or leave the power distribution neutral.  Regardless,  this type of drive system provides excellent traction on all surfaces and in a straight line will often beat other systems, particularly on grass/gravel where other cars may spend a siginificant amount of time spinning their wheels.  Unfortuantely when performing a handbrake turn in these vehicles,  you will still need to clutch in for the duration of the turn which will mean none of your wheels will be driving you forwards so you don't have the advantage of a front wheel drive vehicle.  On sealed surfaces power is often lost due to the mechanisms used to deliver it to four wheels instead of two,  particularly on corners.  This system often involves more diffs which means more parts to break and can add significant weight to a car,  slowing it down.  Because of these factor manufacturers often add huge engines or turbo/superchargers to this type of vehicle which more than make up for the loss of power,  however this often means you end up competing in a higher class.  Sometimes 4WD vehicles are placed in a class of their own and given the increased cost of purchasing and maintaining these vehicles this often limits the size of the class reducing your direct competition.  These vehicles do come into their own on gravel or dirt surfaces,  which are often encountered on Hillclimbs.

Best for events in the following order :

  1. Hillclimbs/Rallies
  2. Track/Circuit/Closed Roads
  3. Autocrosses
  4. Motorkhanas

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