Richard Quinn
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| posted on 3/1/09 at 09:38 AM |
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I have considerable experience of both including lots of Class 9 Autograss experience. 240 bhp rwd on grass/soil/mud is good for learning. I do think
that there is an element of rwd snobbery about and we do look back at our early rwd experiences through rose tinted glasses. I'd love to have a
go in a BTCC Civic or similar.
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bob
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| posted on 3/1/09 at 09:44 AM |
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I didnt realise how much i had missed RWD until that spring morning in 2004 when i took my indy for SVA,apart from a couple of cars dave beddows has
mentioned i find FWD cars as loose canons when you try to drive them at speed.
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Simon
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| posted on 3/1/09 at 09:56 AM |
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Lots of rwd driving - SD1's (x2), Capri (3/4 mile drift in snow on public road while all others were stationery ) Vauxhall Viva, ZT 260, toy
car and all my bikes!
ATB
Simon
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whitestu
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| posted on 3/1/09 at 10:33 AM |
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My first car was a Chrysler Avenger 1.6 so I learnt about oversteer before I'd had my first driving lesson!
Stu
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rusty nuts
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| posted on 3/1/09 at 10:36 AM |
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David , theres no mention of RWD and cross ply tyres! Even our old works Morris Minor pick up used to go sideways on them, lucky to get 5,000 miles
out of a set of rears. No where near as much fun when we fitted radials
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Fozzie
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| posted on 3/1/09 at 11:08 AM |
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Good topic!!!!
And some interesting replies 
RWD snobbery?  ....hardly, how can it be when that was all you had to drive! 
Yes...MK3 'tinas for example.....didn't go around corners, they bounced......but the fun was, surely, changing things to improve
them?????
That was certainly my inspiration back then, to learn how cars 'worked' (no, not just engines)...and to carry on learning to the point I
built my own....
I totally understand what David (Jenkins) was saying about the braking/gearing into corners, at speed, totally alien in a FWD........to everything you
had been taught whist learning to drive a RWD.
Having experienced both, I still say that FWD is more point and shoot, whereas RWD you have to take more consideration of the roads and
conditions.....in other words, you really have to think.......
As mentioned above, you have more of a chance to get out of and cope with certain weather conditions than you have in a FWD......but only if you know
how to handle it.....The reverse is also true, hence a lot of us give out warnings when newly sva'd cars go out on the roads at this icy/frosty
time of year. The RWD cars, if not experienced with them, can turn around and bite you on the bum.....hard, very hard 
I still say that RWD gives you the feeling of being a part of the car whilst driving, and FWD doesn't.....
Snobbery? certainly not! ..... caring about you and your cars........YES!!!
All the above IMHO....and as usual feel free to ignore!
Fozzie
Edit to add.... oooOOOooo Cross-Plys......now there's another topic........ramble, ramble, mutter mutter...
[Edited on 3-1-09 by Fozzie]
'Racing is Life!...anything before or after is just waiting'....Steve McQueen
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Slater
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| posted on 3/1/09 at 11:30 AM |
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Only FWD experience for me. Apart from driving my Dad's 1969 MGB Roadster.
So it's going to be a big big step when I get the thing SVA'd on the road. I know these things can bite if you are not careful so I am a
little nervous allready. It will be spring by the time I get it on the road and the driving conditions should be better.
Why do they call Port Harcourt "The Garden City"?...... Becauase they can't spell Stramash.
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David Jenkins
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| posted on 3/1/09 at 12:01 PM |
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The best solution by far is to drive sensibly while you get used to it and, if you can, go to a track day where there are instructors and loads of
run-off space. There you can hoon about to your hearts content, learn what makes the car lose traction front and rear (or both!) and find out how to
correct it.
I don't know what that sort of trackday costs at the moment, but it will £100 or so well spent.
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Ketchup
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| posted on 3/1/09 at 12:29 PM |
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I have had many fwd and rwd cars in my driving "history", have always prefered the feel of rwd, oversteer is always more fun than
understeer! But as has been said, fwd is generally deemed to be more safe, especially for some drivers with limited ability or experience, you are
less likely to get yourself into trouble!
A case in point, i recently sold my s13 to a younger driver, it was 3 weeks ago, very cold and frosty, i asked him if he had driven rwd before, he
says no... i told him i didnt want to preach, but i said he needed to drive with caution on his way home, and to pick a few warm dry days to drive
more "spirited" to learn the car and how different it is to fwd.... he nods and says he will take it easy... he lives 5 miles from me and
made just half that before he crashed it into a tree backwards
[Edited on 3/1/09 by Ketchup]
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quinnj3
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| posted on 3/1/09 at 01:30 PM |
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I have driven mostly FWD until i bought a 2.0L sierra a while back to strip for a locost but it was too good to destroy. Had a few sideways moments
in the wet due to bad tyres. Great fun. I now have a 320d for this past year. Definately requires more concentration in these greasy conditions but
also when you want it to be its much more fun. When I was 17 and just past my test I was a real holigan in my old 1991 MK2 astra 1.4. Looking back
now it was dangerous but i learnt how to handle a car that way. I also recently went to a rally driving experience in which i had 3 15min sessions in
a MK2 Escort set up for gravel. Very Very good for teaching car handling. Consequently I have no fear of any car especially on track, just respect
for the road conditions.
my aim is to build my own locost wether it takes me a week or 10 years to get started, i'm sure i will sometime
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Stuart_B
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| posted on 3/1/09 at 08:41 PM |
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hi,well seeing that i am 17, and only past my test about 2 months ago, i have driven my saxo (fwd) car, and the first rwd experince was my indy on
some private land. and i did not push the indy, i noticed the differance stright away(well i new it was going ot be different). sence then i have had
a little drive in my dad jag, on private land, but i was scared of driving that.
so once it indy is on the road, i am going to drive it sesible, and pratice in bigg emoty spaces and see what teh limts are before i try it any
where.
right here is my cars taht i have driven:
sj410
range rover 2.2 deseil
rover rover 3.5 auto
larder niva
mg something or other
ford fiesta
saxo
vaxuhall astra
rover 820
not a car but a 6 ton dump truck
indy
jaguar s type
not bad for a 17 year old.lol
stuart
black mk indy, 1.6pinto on cbr600 bike carb's.
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DIY Si
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| posted on 3/1/09 at 10:20 PM |
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Before getting my Indy, 2 years or so ago, I had only driven an old MGBGT relatively carefully. Then I got the Indy and started learning how to drive
it. I still don't know how to rive it at much more than 75%, and I dislike driving it in the wet. But that's mainly because I wear a crash
hat, and I can't see where I'm going! I think I drive my car quite sensibly, and I rarely have the tail out, although it doesn't
worry me when it does go. Having said that, I have gone for a few overtakes and been a bit ambitious with the loud pedal and gone past a little bit
sideways.
“Let your plans be dark and as impenetratable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.”
Sun Tzu, The Art of War
My new blog: http://spritecave.blogspot.co.uk/
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dhutch
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| posted on 5/1/09 at 07:42 PM |
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The westfeild is my first entry to RWD after a pair of 306's.
- Unless you count four years of schools karting, which i dont.
Daniel
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flak monkey
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| posted on 5/1/09 at 07:50 PM |
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Much of my early motoring was in FWD cars. Learnt in a Rover 414 and then moved onto various Fords.
My first car (as in the first that was registered to me) was my GTS... which was also the first RWD car I had driven.
My second was my Mk1 MR2 (RWD mid engined) which sadly had to go.
The daily driver is now a Mini Cooper S. FWD, but does handle very well indeed, very balanced.
Also driven RWD mid engined single seaters as part of formula student at uni which tought me a lot about controlling RWD on the limit.
Had a few hairy moments in the GTS, but thats through lack of concentration for a split second, and thats all it takes. I have since learnt a
lot...
David
Sera
http://www.motosera.com
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