How dry I am... (aka AWD performance)

[AUDIDUDI@delphi.com]

>    If you've ever had your car on the track, or at extreme speeds in
> corners, you will see a difference between AWD and any other type of
> car.  Quattro definately had the advantage!

Hmmm ... to be honest, if you unhook the rear driveshaft and lock the center
diff so the car is FWD, I'd be surprised if the quattro version CORNERED any
better than the FWD version.  Yes, if you compare a FWD Audi with a quattro,
you'll find there are differences (many of which are the result of different
suspension geometry, lighter weight, etc.) but if you do a back-to-back with
the above, I'll bet the actual difference in performance is marginal.  A few
percentage points at best...

I've been doing some research about the Audi SCCA/IMSA cars that raced back
in 1988 and 1989, and recently found an interview with one of the engineers
that was *very* enlightening ... he said AWD didn't improve their cornering
at all (he even referred to this as a "popular misconception"!) but allowed
the cars to EXIT corners much quicker and minimize tire wear.  BTW, I found
some photos of the 1988 5k TransAm cars and it's clear they were built on a
factory bodyshell ... in one of them, you can even see the OEM engine rails!

Fanning the flames, no doubt...

     _             _             
    / l       l o l  \       l o   Jeffrey Goggin
   /__l l l / l l l  l l l / l l   AudiDudi@delphi.com
  /   l l_l \_l l l__/ l_l \_l l   http://people.delphi.com/AudiDudi