[V8] Quattro vs Haldex

[Paul Jager]

Those DTM V8's are cool. Someone on here should do retro-replica of it. I 
mean it wouldn't hurt nothin' not like you are mucking with some coveted 
classic. I volunteer ours!

Tire technology has come so far in the last decade - which has brought down 
lap times of street cars. I don't know how it's affected racing circles, but 
the RWD are faster than ever and small-light turbos seem to be the quickest 
for "street" legal and for racing = which is of course exactly the Miata 
setup Nick is talking about.

That predictability factor of Audi makes sense to me and by welding the diff 
I guess they are splitting the torque 50/50?   Fuel efficiency is not such a 
concern racing, but then in the real world it's huge now.

Back to the V8 ('93) it does drive very well, if not the best I've been in 
and I think handles the road well too. For presence the only thing that 
meets it that i've been in is the $95K (new) Range Rover HSE. I can 
certainly hustle the V8 down the country roads quickly and comfortably. 
Highway it rips too. Street driving I am not hard on the brakes and there 
are no hairpins.  At 120K miles though it's oozing every fluid there is - 
except gas, and that it gulps oil fields whole!

So not to impressed with going back to Audi or BMW or Merc, wanting an 
"estate" with 7 seat potential and performance... what do you do??

V70R and so far week 1 under the belt yeah it's good kit.




----- Original Message ----- 
From: <qshipq at aol.com>
To: <v8 at audifans.com>
Sent: Wednesday, December 16, 2009 7:11 AM
Subject: Re: [V8] Quattro vs Haldex


>
> Hmm...  The days of DTM v8's dominance aren't that far back, and Nick's 
> comments regarding awd on track seem to conflict with Audi's own 'track 
> record' in BTCC and even Motorola cup wins.  Haldex is a good system, but 
> it's not really awd, it's synchro.  Having driven locker/s, torsen/s and 
> Haldex at the track, my personal preference is in the respective order 
> listed.  An all out track/race car can build any of the above to give the 
> advantage over another, but in the world of street cars on the track, IMO 
> the locked center gives the advantage to predictability.  And, as recently 
> as the Motorola Cup, before Stasis modified the center torsen, the winning 
> S4's just welded the center diff.
>
> The real issue with the Haldex, is the majority of manufacturers are using 
> it as syncrho, when it's designed to be a full time awd coupler.  The good 
> news is that it's possible to modify that Can-bus signal to change the 
> part time design.  In fact, the rally team (former Audi S2 Group A) I 
> service for, is looking hard at a Volvo rally car.  In our consideration 
> of that, we have had several conversations with both Haldex and Volvo, and 
> it appears a modified Haldex signal is relatively simple.
>
> All that said, for an out of the box 300hp machine, the volvo's have a 
> good car there.  Unfortunately too, the availability of mods for it is 
> quite limited, which gives that theatre of tweeks back to Audi and BMW. 
> And, the miata is a good cheap track car as well, we have a few that run 
> the midwest q-club events.  They are far from the front of the pack, even 
> equalizing drivers, because they lack the advantage of both hp and awd. 
> That doesn't take away from their fun, it just puts it in perspective.
>
> My own experience comes from building a 5ktq track car (2700lbs, coil 
> overs and big brakes x4), which has demonstrated quite well the potential 
> of the 'big chassis' cars in terms of track performance.  I sat right seat 
> in this car to Randy Probst a few years back, and his comment was the ease 
> of driving the car fast...  Er, and he did.  Walter R himself was known to 
> share this same sentiment back in the 200  WRC rally days as well.
>
> To the v8 specifically, I'm on my 5th (92 4.2 with ABT chip), and find 
> with 255/40 17 wheel tire combo and big reds, it can alpha-dance with a 
> lot of faster cars with personality and ease that defies it's age and 
> heft.  At a fraction of the price of the newer hardware, and still holds 
> it's own quite well in terms of a desired cross country road car in any 
> climate.  Now that the price of them is almost dirt, a track v8 could be 
> good fun....  Hmm.
>
> Misc Wednesday ramblings from a v8 fan....
>
> Scott J
> 92 v8 Abt chip
> 84 urq
> 83 urq track car
> 94 Landcruiser supercharged
> 87.5 cgt
> 86 cgt
> 85 A6 Avant fwd