GT40s.com - View Single Post - Front Engine vs Mid-Engine

lev_kuznetsov · 04-11-02, 03:15 PM

Just my 0.02$ on everything.

The engine is a rather hard, wont's squish when you run into a pole if you know what I mean, that's why the engine mounts are weak points: to drop it down.

All Pikes Peak cars in the Unlimited class I know of are mid engined. The group B rally cars were mostly mid engined (Stratos, Renault 5 Turbo, Ferrari 308 - I'm not sure if that one got to race before they cancelled the class, 959 ofcourse but that would be rear) with the big exception being the Audi. I think the biggest performance advantage is in the braking as there's less weight shift; grip remains rather even. It makes sense since most cars tend to decelerate faster than accelerate. group A and present WRC class cars were and are subject to homologation constraints. For group A you needed to build 2500 cars, group B - 200. WRC class requires a mass produced car with allowed mods being turbo and 4X4 (but the suspension geometry must remain with end point discrepancies of no more than 20mm). Group B cars were monsters pumping in excess of 600 horses, but the current WRC class cars would outrun them on all but the fastest sections due to the advances in suspenion engineering.

The bottom line is this: in a controlled level playing field you will be stripped out of any horsepower advantage, and even if you manage to get away with it, the guy who can break later and harder won't trade that for horses.

04-11-02, 03:15 PM	#12 (permalink)
lev_kuznetsov Rookie Join Date: Jan 2002 GT40: Boston, MA, US Posts: 17 Rep Power: 7	Re: Front Engine vs Mid-Engine Just my 0.02$ on everything. The engine is a rather hard, wont's squish when you run into a pole if you know what I mean, that's why the engine mounts are weak points: to drop it down. All Pikes Peak cars in the Unlimited class I know of are mid engined. The group B rally cars were mostly mid engined (Stratos, Renault 5 Turbo, Ferrari 308 - I'm not sure if that one got to race before they cancelled the class, 959 ofcourse but that would be rear) with the big exception being the Audi. I think the biggest performance advantage is in the braking as there's less weight shift; grip remains rather even. It makes sense since most cars tend to decelerate faster than accelerate. group A and present WRC class cars were and are subject to homologation constraints. For group A you needed to build 2500 cars, group B - 200. WRC class requires a mass produced car with allowed mods being turbo and 4X4 (but the suspension geometry must remain with end point discrepancies of no more than 20mm). Group B cars were monsters pumping in excess of 600 horses, but the current WRC class cars would outrun them on all but the fastest sections due to the advances in suspenion engineering. The bottom line is this: in a controlled level playing field you will be stripped out of any horsepower advantage, and even if you manage to get away with it, the guy who can break later and harder won't trade that for horses.