Please share your FWD Driving Tips

[w. leavitt]

Y'all got any FWD RX tips to share? I left a lot of time out on the course. I'm sure some of it was due to tire choice and a new car but I know I was doing a lot wrong. Just generalized tips for FWD or whatever y'all would care to share with me.

[kilgojr]

oh hell. you just opened a can of worms.

[JohnW8]

How to drive a FWD fast.

Step#1: Stiff rear bar, soft front bar
Step#2: Higher air pressure in rear tires, lower in front
Step#3 Lift to rotate, stomp throttle to fix oversteer

If these three don't make you go faster trade car off for a RWD and start over,

wait,... this is for rallycross. Yikes!

Patience has a lot to do with it and not overdriving the course. I've only rallycrossed twice.
Once in Charles Wright RX7 and once in Shea Serians Subie, neither of which are front wheel drive.

[bmwe21]

Rallycross is one of the most frustrating things I've ever done!(reminds me of the monkey and the football thing).. The end of the year last season it started to click, still got a hell of a long way to go! (if I ever get there?).................".be patient grass hopper!" it has more to do with how you drive instead of what you drive!

[w. leavitt]

I'm pretty sure that the awesomenessity of my Honda hatch shows I'm not about "what I'm driving."

Should I try to be closer to the cones? Left foot brake? Use the e-brake to get the rear around?

[EvoLady]

Hmmmm you get could an AWD honda. That would fix a lot.

If not I would get Ron F to ride with you. He is SO fast in his Neon and Civic, I'm sure he could give you a lot of good advice for FWD.

[nicktcr]

I'm no FWD expert, but the few things I've picked up on in the albeit limited amount of seat time I have:

With Rally, you often need to turn in a bit earlier than expected. Especially as surface-based grip decreases, earlier turn in seems to be needed.

Getting the car to rotate, instead of plowing ahead is usually preferred, not overworking the pedals seems to help this. In dirt/mud/grass, you have MUCH less available traction than on tarmac, so if you're asking your front tires to accelerate, brake, AND turn, your tires are just gonna give up be like "Nope. Have fun, loser."

Smoothness. Even though it seems faster to react quicker, simply slowing your input and giving the car proper time to react to what you've asked of it, usually helps. Look ahead, plan ahead, and give yourself plenty of time to give smooth inputs, and still keep some time to react in case things don't go as expected.

I know most of these tips apply to any kind of driving, but you can REALLY benefit from them in the slick stuff. I might not have as much rally experience as most, but I do have many hours of seat time with horrible tires in the rain, and the feeling is a bit similar.

[slowautoxr]

It's been awhile since I've done the FWD thing but some things I remember... do not use the hand brake unless you like sliding to a stop. Know the line you need to drive and drive it at maximum speed. Go too fast and the car pushes. That's my $0.02.

[nicktcr]

I like the handbrake with FWD. But not to actually lock the wheels, but more to shift the brake bias to the rear...

[bmwe21]

Hey Wil wasn't trying to be an @## , don't get frustrated . It was your first even't for the year and your first in the new car. Like Sara said ride with different people. Use each run as an experiment, try different things each run until you figure out what works best for you and your car. And don't forget you are running against the "dirt dog" that always makes the bar very high!

[w. leavitt]

Byron, didn't think you were being an @@@

I'm sure I was turning in too late, not allowing for the lack of grip.

[slowautoxr]

One of the keys to going quickly in both rallycross and autocross is to look farther than the end your hood. Look where you want to go, not where you're at.

[Cholewa]

Looking ahead will help you a TON, but as far as driving around in the dirt: Flat on the throttle, use the left foot to brake/swing out the rear.

Never lift, just keep the front wheels spinning, they're already traction limited.
Hand brake without locking to aide in rotation when you're going slower or have a lot of room on the other side to recoup.


When in doubt, full out.

[slowautoxr]

I left foot brake and right foot brake. Left to slow the car down. Right if I want to transfer weight or if I know I'm going to downshift.

[w. leavitt]

Thank you guys, this is very helpful. I didn't get out to watch but I could hear the difference between Ron, Byron and Damon's runs and mine. The screaming throttle sounded very different between my runs and got me to thinking.