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Old 19-07-2008, 10:06 AM   #41
ohzone
Dent Removal
 
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Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: 32°09′40″S 116°01′12″E WA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by xbgs351
It looks like 50/50 is the most popular choice, although a hefty 70% of people believe that the ideal static weight distribution is with a minimum of 50% of the weight on the front wheels. A paltry 8% have chosen 40/60 and nobody has chosen 35/65.

It is now time to dispel some myths. 50/50 is not ideal and it is now accepted practice to place the majority of the vehicles weight (60-65%) on the rear wheels. The reasons for this include:

The more weight on the rear wheels, the greater the traction capacity of the rear wheels. Even the difference between 56/44 and 50/50 can be worth around 1/3 of a second over the 1/4 mile for cars with power and weights in the Falcon/Commodore range.

By placing more weight on the rear wheels, the rear wheels can do more braking and thus the braking is more evenly shared between the front and rear wheels. Remember that whilst braking load is transferred from the rear tyres to the front tyres by longitudinal weight transfer.

Reduced weight on the front tyres reduces the amount of power wasted to front tyre scrub whilst cornering.

When steady state cornering 50/50 should provide the highest cornering forces, but this is only if the front and rear tyres have the same width. If the rear tyres are wider, you would need more weight on the rear tyres. Even so steady state cornering is usually only a small percent of the time spent cornering as most cornering is transitional. When a car with 50/50 weight distribution enters a corner it is slowing down and weight is being transferred from the rear to the front, which will cause it to understeer. When a car with a 50/50 weight distribution is accelerating out of the corner it won't be able to generate as much traction compared to a car with more weight on the rear tyres.
I guess it boils down to what a person is really expecting or wanting from a car, is it drag racing, circuit racing, just A to B, fast with good feel or a bit of everything, there probably is no definitive answer to cover them all.
For me it is fast with good feel so closer to 50/50 is better for me, others will be in a different range
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