Quote:
Originally Posted by MontegoblueE92
Weight distribution has a lot to do with it. It completely changes the way a car feels on the road depending on where a large portion of it is. The 50-50 gives it minimal understeer while not making it as spin happy as a 997. It is just an easy car to get in to and drive hard even if you're an amateur.
|
I still disagree. 50-50 does have some benefits but it by far NOT the most important factor. Again the 997S is a strong counter example. It has absolutely wonderful handling and even is forgiving once physics takes over and that heavy tail begins to move around. A rear weight biased car does get handicapped and it takes design "work arounds", mainly in the suspension design, to overcome this inherent limitation. But it CAN be worked around and it is. Really fast and the best handling cars (race cars, F1, etc., not road cars) also tend to have a rear weight bias. Another counter example is Ferrari. Many of their cars have a fairly large rear weight bias. The F430 is 57R/43F. You surely don't hear much complaining about the handling, either below, at or above limit with that car. BMW loves to advertise 50-50 as the key thing but it simply isn't. This is more a marketing short cut to the very good engineering and specification BMW does do. Yes 50-50 contributes but it is not THE most important factor. Suspension design, spring and damping rates and tires are far more important.
BTW, tires are more important in being neutral on the under/over steer specturm than 50-50. This is one reason P cars tend have such staggered wheel and tire widths. A full 60mm (about 2.5") of difference on the 2009 997S.