4 Things You Should Never Do In A Front-Wheel Drive Car
1. Fail to adjust your driving style
This is a problem that is particularly prevalent in the racing world. When young drivers transition from racing rear-wheel drive (RWD) single-seaters, to front-wheel drive (FWD) touring cars, they often try to carry over their old techniques. Unfortunately, this results in slow and demoralising lap-times.
A big problem is that FWD cars are often regarded as ‘easier to drive’ than their RWD counterparts. But this is simply not the case. Unlike a RWD vehicle, you can’t use the power to adjust the attitude of the car mid-corner; in fact, more power would cause a FWD car to understeer. Instead, you need to be neat and tidy to put together a fast lap.
The best way to drive a FWD car on track is to brake deep, turn in slightly earlier than usual, trail brake - to keep weight on the front wheels - and then straighten the wheel as quickly as possible on the exit. By doing this you reduce the stress on the front tyres, allowing the car to accelerate out of the corner cleanly.
2. Fail to left foot brake
Left foot braking is absolutely vital for a quick lap time in a FWD machine. And before you write this off as a ‘track-only’ technique, it’s not. Learning how to manipulate the brake with your left foot is a skill that will help make you a smoother, quicker, and more importantly, safer driver on the public road.
Left foot braking can be used in a number of different ways so we’ll break this down into three distinct sections: entry, mid-corner and exit. On entry, you can use the technique to trail brake into the corner, basically holding the brake on as you turn in. This has the advantage of moving the weight forward, therefore increasing front-end grip. You can also use the brakes to get the car to pivot, giving you control over your angle of attack, which is vital in a FWD machine that is prone to pushing.
Mid-corner is where drivers lose the majority of their time by getting on the throttle too early. This can cause the car to understeer, pushing you off line - aka power understeer. To counteract this, apply some brake to bring the weight forward and increase front-end grip. This also has the effect of slowing the front wheels down which will in turn stop the car from pushing on. Think of this technique as a form of manual traction control.
Now for the exit. When you see the corner opening up you’ll want to get on the throttle as quickly as possible. However, this will cause the weight to be shifted backwards, reducing front-end traction. This often causes FWD cars to scrabble for grip. By applying some brake - especially in cars with a front differential - you can distribute the torque through the front wheels. This is because the added retardation will cause the diff to lock-up, spreading the power across the front axle. Once grip is regained and you’re in a straight line, come off the brake.
3. Claim that your FWD car can't oversteer
If you’re bored when driving a modern day FWD hot hatch, you’re clearly doing something wrong. Not only are they rewarding to drive quickly, they’re an absolute hoot when you have some free space to play with. Ultimately, oversteer in a FWD machine is one of the great joys of driving, even if it can feel a little strange at first.
To get a FWD car to slide, you can use one of the following techniques. The first is to use traditional lift-off oversteer. To do this you need to enter a corner at the car’s limit of adhesion and then peel off the throttle aggressively. This will pitch the vehicle’s weight forward, causing the car to transition into a slide. To catch it, turn in and get on the gas. Watch Chris Harris master this technique below…
The second approach is to use a Scandinavian flick. This technique involves turning away from the corner and then back into the corner in one quick, continuous movement. This generates instability by moving the weight to one side of the vehicle, thus causing the car to slide on turn-in; a favourite for rally drivers.
The third way to cause a FWD car to slide is to use the handbrake. This technique is the most aggressive of the three and is most appropriate for hairpin turns. Simply set the car up in a similar way to lift-off oversteer, and then yank on the handbrake. The car will come around quickly so make sure that you keep the handbrake button depressed during the slide. This will allow you to take it back off quickly at the exit of the corner.
4. Complain that FWD is wrong-wheel drive
In the real-world, FWD cars are often superior to their RWD rivals. Take a bumpy and undulating country road, for example, and something like a BMW M4 would struggle to keep up with a well driven Seat Leon Cupra. Now granted, in the past, torque steer was a major problem with fast hatches, but most modern high-performance FWD machines now feature clever diffs which help get that power to the ground effectively.
FWD is also confidence inspiring. For drivers who are looking for their first performance car, you can’t go wrong with a well sorted hot hatch. They’re forgiving, you can practice a variety of driving techniques, and they tend to be good value for money. You can even secure one of the best handling cars of all time - the Honda Integra DC2 - for under £5000.
So the next time you write off a FWD car, make sure you remember these points.
Comments
You forgot “Put a spoiler on it.”
Spoilers are useful in FWD cars too. Just look at the Type R Hondas for an example.
1 - Drive one. rest of the list is unnecessary
You shouldn’t drive nothing, then. :)
“In the real-world, FWD cars are often superior to their RWD rivals. Take a bumpy and undulating country road, for example, and something like a BMW M4 would struggle to keep up with a well driven Seat Leon Cupra.”Lol what? The Leon was barely able to keep up with an ANCIENT M3. The M3 shown here is clearly WAY faster through the corners… Also, that “M3” does appear to have 3-4 digits on the back, not 2, meaning that it could at max be a 328i delivering 193hp from factory, likely modified, but still not an M3. And you really think a Leon would outpace an M4?
Even on a bumpy road this makes no sense. First of all, why would an M3 not have decent enough suspension for any bumpy road that’s still safe to drive on? Secondly, even if that’s the case, it’s like saying a Land Rover is faster than an LMP-1 car because a Land Rover will make it through a muddy field and an LMP-1 car won’t… There’s a reason why most racecars are rwd, and not fwd.. It’s because fwd cars have all the weight in the front, meaning the front will skid when the rear still has traction, whereas with rwd it’s more weight-balanced front to back, so with a good allignment, the front will skid only at about the same time as the rear, meaning it’ll go around corners faster. Simple.
“Take a bumpy and undulating country road”
what you seem to be referring to is a track with a stable road, what they were referring to was a hella unstable road. i dont like fwd cars as well, but you’re just getting out of the context
You forgot: install a massive wing on the back of your Corsa!!!!!!!
If you brake with your left foot, how do you shift?
because especially when you enter a corner, you need to shift.
I think its the classic heel and toe technique only the opposite way, lemme explain:
The basic heel and toe is then you use one foot for 2 actions, brake and aceleration, at the start of the technique use your heel for the break, tap it as hard as you want, depends on the corner you take, then as you softly take the break and twist your toe so it touches the aceleration and try to press it while braking, its a hard method balance is key, you press the break too hard while the foot touches the pedals you stop, accelerate too much and you will spin, this is used a lot for drifitng
Now the reverse method is probably pressing the clutch down with the toe and with the heel you tap the brake, as your toe is “resting” on the clutch you gain a lot of control over the break so it becomes easy
#FWDFTW (Y)
Love my ZC32S ;)
i get that a fwd car is good at cornering and good for a first practice car,but imo, i think it makes a terrible car.
now hear me out, im not saying its horrible and that no one should get a fwd car ever, but what im saying is you wont get as much experience and control ability. if youre slightly losing traction in fwd car, its easy and almost effortless to bring it back to control. in a rwd/awd car, its more “challenging” (if you will) because you have to counter-steer in order to straighten it out and not crash. same goes if you lose all of youre traction, except you might not be able to recover in a fwd car, but in a rwd/awd, you can fairly easily gain control again (but in both case, only if you know how), so, pretty much what im saying, is that owning a rwd/awd car can make you a better driver, but only if youput effort in it, it wont come to you by itself
Well cornering needs control, if you imply a fwd is harder to control in the corner than is not good for cornering ( based on your argument)
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