Re: driving in rain and snow (Re: 4000 Quattro Question

[Eliot Lim <eliot@u.washington.edu>]

On Mon, 14 Nov 1994, Bruce Bell wrote:
> >i also recall that the victorious quattro racing drivers (hans stuck,
> >hurley haywood) also said that because of quattro they had a braking
> >advantage over their competitors.
 
> OK,  I can see how 4wd will help braking if you are using engine
> compression. I  use this technic in the snow because it is more stable and I
> have more control. Of course in that situation, I'm not looking to brake
> that much faster becaue I'm allowing extra room. On a race track where
> picking up a couple of hundreths of a second can make the difference between
> wining and losing I can also see the value. These cars also have stiff
> suspension that helps keep the weight from pitching forward to the front
> tires.

just to nitpick a little, the overall time advantage that the audis
had was not in a few hundredths of a second but a second a lap.  this
is under *dry* conditions on tarmac.  in the rain, the cars would
finish at least one lap ahead of the next fastest 2wd competitor.
this was seen on all three series of racing where quattros raced on
tarmac.. 

> On the street, I don't beleive the difference in braking is enough to
> keep you from slamming the car in front. If any of you guys have numbers
> that show a significant (meaningful on the street) difference I'll roll
> over. Until then I hesitate to give someone a sense of security that could
> be very expensive in terms of lives and $$$. 

i don't think there's any disagreement that we should all drive with
proper caution on the street.  however i do think that people in more
capable vehicles can drive faster without compromising safety in bad
conditions.  

 
> Eliot, I'd like to hear more about your experiences at the Skip Barber school. 
> 

it wasn't a skip barber school that i went to.  audi sponsored a
publicity track event and hired skip barber instructors (plus bobby
and robbie unser) to show the way.  we were invited to test drive
various quattros in the "safety" of a race track.  as luck would have
it it turned out to be a rainy seattle day.  of course it was an
absolute blast to drive these cars to their very limits.. that's what
sold me on the v8.. it feels slow and cumbersome on tight corners, but
boy, wait till you try it on a track!  it blew all the other audis
away in a big way.  this was back in 1989, before the 20 valve turbo
engine appeared..


eliot