Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/06/21
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Hi Emanuel, with modern tyres my opinion is that 4WD is unnecessary for road use unless one frequently has ice and then it does not help the cornering or braking in fact its weight makes both worse! Frank On 21 Jun, 2004, at 19:51, Emanuel Lowi wrote: > Frank Dernie wrote: > >> >> We built a 4WD F1 car in 1981/2. It used 6 wheels in >> total, two at the >> front and four driven wheels as close together as >> possible at the rear. >> It had several advantages such as rear wing >> position, frontal area and >> the possibility of running full length "skirts" (it >> was ground effect >> era). It was the speed of this prototype which >> caused the change in the >> rules banning 4WD. >> I do not think it would have been possible to get it >> down to the weight >> limit though. >> Frank >> > > My favourite auto racing personality, Andy Granatelli, > was behind the design of a couple of 4WD Indy 500 > cars, back in the 60s. > > While none ever finished a race, and they were retired > with mechanical troubles of various kinds, USAC also > banned 4WD for what seem like rather murky reasons. > One wonders how different racing would be with 4WD -- > inherently safer for drivers and fans alike, I'd > guess. > > Granatelli's autobiography, "They Call Me Mister 500," > is one of the great American rags-to-riches stories, > IMHO. > > Emanuel Lowi > Montreal > > ______________________________________________________________________ > Post your free ad now! http://personals.yahoo.ca > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >