Carl Dreher (world's prettiest Europa) wrote:
> Four wheel drive was banned many years ago... late 60's or
early 70's, I
> think. It was too good and that meant many of the teams
would not have the
> technology (and $$) to compete. So it was banned to keep
the competition
> even.
Doug Nye, in his 1978 book on the F1 and Indy Lotus cars,
details the experience with the Lotus 63, the 4WD F1 car.
Here are the pertinent quotes:
#1 "Our Indy 4 wheel drive experience was good, <snip> and
since we had all the bits we thought, OK, we'll have a go.
At the time, tyres were relatively lousy, we didn't have much
download and we had a problem handling 3-liter power, so
putting it down through all four wheels seemed to be the way
to go."
The Lotus 63 was built and driven by Andretti, Miles and
Rindt in '69 with Rindt scoring the only decent finish, a
second at Oulton Park.
#2 "When we started putting a lot of torque through 4
wheel drive we were in trouble because the driver couldn't
balance the car properly. With two driven wheels on the back
he could balance the car with steering against throttle, but
with four wheel drive every time he went off and on the
throttle he affected the corner of both ends simultaneously.
With torque split fixed front to rear, there was only one
precise speed at which he could go through the corners
tidily. If he lifted off, he reduced cornering power of his
tyres and flew off the road - and if he stood on the throttle
he reduced the cornering power of his tyres and also flew
off the road! It limited his options."
The drivers were happiest with the torque split feeding all
the power to the rear wheels . . .might as well drive the 2
wheel drive 49, it was loads lighter.
Both quotes were those of Colin Chapman who also summed up
his attitude with: "the real trouble with four-wheel drive
was that the first time the driver got near the limit he
terrified himself so much he never went near it again!"
Tony
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