Hondas suck as drag cars. Here's the science.

The fallacy of the 400 horsepower Honda street car:

http://www.sdsefi.com/tech400.htm

I know, I know, tell us something we don't know. :laugh:

- Freed

 

I always thought those things would launch better in reverse

On a very different (and much less enlightened) car forum I had quite a verbal duel with several members about why FWD wasn't a great choice for drag racing or even for road racing (at least on a non-millionaire's budget) and why...I used a Miata as an example, and how you could buy a good used Miata for 4 grand, soup up the engine and suspension for another 4 grand, and make a car that out accelerated and out handled a 30,000 dollar FWD Honda hatchback "racer"...I was told I didn't know anything...when I mentioned things like friction circles and polar moment, the responses got downright humorous
"Everyone knows FWD has better traction off the line because the engine weight is over the drive wheels"

Actually "wheels" had a "z" in place of the "s" but you get the idea :laugh:

 

Makes me sick that I'm too cheap to buy aluminum heads for my SF block that makes 350 hp out of the box..........and there are ying-yangs that will spend $10K on a motor for a Honda?

 

saddening what the streets are filled up with these days im 18 and i think the rice trend is gay i wish all the ricers would go to a huge scrap pile but then again what would there be to laugh at then?????

 

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heh, check this out www.ricecop.com pretty funny, i wouldnt recommend actually putting rice tickets on peoples cars, but sometimes they need it. I printed one im using under a riced-out honda civic model, will help win contest points around here:Brow:

edit: this link MAY contain pg-13 material, but i thought i should share it with.

 

Ah SDS! A Calgary based company that's got the right idea!

 

Yeah right! :laugh:

"EVERYONE knows"

Funny, I didn't know. :error: :grin:

Remember the mentality you are dealing with. If the Japanese stickers say that they will add 100hp, then by God, they will add 100 horsepowerz. :blast: :laugh:

 

The ones that are actually IN Japanese add 100 hp. The crummy American made knockoffs that are in English only add 25. I hear that the little lights on the hood add 5-20, depending on color. And an A-pillar gauge cluster? Fuhgeddaboutit, 200 easy. At the drive wheelz, of course, not on the test stand. When you compare that to 60 or so for some aluminum heads right out of the box for us guys, it's easy to see how we don't stand a chance against the knowledgeable sport compact driver.

 

Did anyone read the hate mails on the ricecop.com site??:laugh:

That stuff is keeping me occupied for hours!!!!

 

the people that write to that website (ricecop) are pretty pisst off!

:laugh: :laugh:

pretty funny stuff...:TU:

 

i love that site i used to go on it when i was in 10th grade almost forgot about it used to pass out rice tickets too in the student parking lot after school cause alot of the ricers would stay after..

 

Hey guys, is weight distribution the only reason FWD cars dont make good drag cars? I want to make a good argument for the dumbasses at school.

 

Broken half shafts, busted CV joints, frame limitations, torque steer.

Simply put, an engineering team with years of training and experience designed the car with certain limits: to be a cheap daily driver.

...but a 17 year old kid with no background will probably know better than them, particularly after all those magazines he's read.

If they're not convinced, ask them why Ferrari, Porsche, Mercedes, BMW, Jaguar, and every F1 car use RWD. Better ride, better for performance.

 

Well, yes, that is why most sportscars are RWD, very good point. But AWD is another thing entirely. Once you get past the weight issues, AWD has serious performance benefits.

FWD is inferior in so many ways, as noted. Another one is in oversteer conditions. In a RWD car, you can break the rear wheels loose to oversteer, and use certain techniques such as trail braking, and throttle steering.

In a FWD car, you must use the hand brake to simulate those things. That slows you down. Curiously, in say, F1, the brakes have been traditionally used for anything BUT slowing the car down! They are used to introduce the car to a turn by using weight transfer. It's an odd concept, I admit, but like Mario Andretti once said:
"It's amazing how many (F1) drivers still thinks the brakes are for slowing the car down"

Hopping off the gas in many FWD cars will produce snap oversteer- but you can't correct with throttle and steering inputs- the drive wheels are the steering wheels. In comparison, a RWD car driver would steer into the turn and add a bit of throttle (generally) to counter oversteer- strangely enough, more throttle would tend to straighten the car. FWD car can't do that.