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Thread: Fact vs Fiction: 50/50 Weight distribution is "ideal"

  1. #1
    Relaxing and enjoying life MR2 Fan's Avatar
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    Fact vs Fiction: 50/50 Weight distribution is "ideal"

    I think this has been mentioned in passing here before, but wanted to get everyone's opinion on this.

    In my opinion, since most cars have been front engined...the idea of having 50/50 weight distribution seems to be the best ideal they can hope for, however due to this I think a lot of "experts" dismiss the idea of having cars, usually mid or rear-engined having a slight rear weight bias as being better as they can use that weight shift to get around a turn faster.

    Also, I believe the original Lotus Elan was designed to have more weight in the rear even though it was technically front engined.

    I also think that it's better to have most of the weight close to the center of the car anyway...having a car with a massive amount of weight outside of the wheel base in any configuration is probably a bad thing.

    Of course this is an 'all other things being equal' scenario and I don't know how having AWD vs RWD affects these things.

    Thoughts?

  2. #2
    Director Freude am Fahren's Avatar
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    For what though, a race car or a road car?

    I doubt there are many modern race cars that don't have more than 50% on the rear, outside of maybe touring cars. I think something like a F1 car would be more than 60% rearwards.

    For a road car, especially one not geared towards performance, it's more marketing than anything. Especially with modern stability systems, I think it's probably pretty moot. Great bullet point for an E30 M3. Kinda meaningless on a modern 7 series.

    Having that mass low and centralized is key though.

  3. #3
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    Low center of gravity and mass centralization is better than 50/50

    /Thread.

  4. #4
    Junior Potato
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    And it shouldn't be too compact, some of it needs to be spread over the axles to increase grip. And its centre should be ahead of the centre of aerodynamic force to increase stability.

  5. #5
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    For a race car, sure, but it's probably not a great idea to give average drivers cars with a low polar moment of inertia.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Godson View Post
    Low center of gravity and mass centralization is better than 50/50

    /Thread.
    This.

    Plus good visibility and predictable responses in a reasonably priced, reliable, package is pretty much all Joe Consumer needs.

  7. #7
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    isn't 45/55 (maybe 40/60) ideal for a rwd because of weight transfer during braking and accelerating plus (usually) wider tires in the back?

  8. #8
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    There is a specific benefit of 50/50, which is that front and rear tyres take equal share of the cornering load, and thus they will be tracking the same deflection angle in a turn, so you don't have to wind on more/less lock as the cornering load increases, the steering angle/path relationship stays constant.

    There are other benefits of a rear-biased distribution, it's better for braking, and traction in a rwd car. I question 'agility' to be honest, I think cars with a rear bias almost need wider tyres at the back, I don't think that many people would like steady-state oversteer (ie not provoked by power, lift-off etc).

    I don't think there are any ways that a front-biased weight balance is beneficial to performance, unless in a FF car.

  9. #9
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    Naturally a dragster, F1 car, sports car, passenger car will have slightly different ideals.

    Different drivers may prefer different ideals too.

    Key is achieving the right balance for maximum performance in any given car, track and driver.

    Still, I think 50/50 is a good starting point when you test a new car on a new track with a new driver. I don't really think there's a good reason to purposely design a car to be butt heavy? If so, all sports cars would copy 911!

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Crazed_Insanity View Post
    Naturally a dragster, F1 car, sports car, passenger car will have slightly different ideals.

    Different drivers may prefer different ideals too.

    Key is achieving the right balance for maximum performance in any given car, track and driver.

    Still, I think 50/50 is a good starting point when you test a new car on a new track with a new driver. I don't really think there's a good reason to purposely design a car to be butt heavy? If so, all sports cars would copy 911!
    It only took Porsche 50 years and a boatload of computing power to tame the 911 Turbo's awkward handling and deathly thin limit.

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