rear wheel drive mini...disadvantages?

[JayParke]

I'm considering building a rear wheel drive mini with the engine in the boot, and I was wanting to hear of any reasons why having the enging in the boot with rear wheel drive would adversly affect the handling qualities of the mini.

Some things I could think of would be that there would be much less weight up front over the tires and perhaps wouldn't track as well through the twisties? Which could also be a good thing because understeer is easier to correct. (IMHO) Also making it rear wheel drive with a high output of power could cause the rear end to slide out a lot if one is not careful with throttle coming out of the corners. "Of course it could be a lot of fun too."

Are there any other disadvantages that one can think of? Handling wise.

Thanks
Joshua

[rentagas]

Porsche 911? Beetle?. Prior to the 993 the 911 was reknowned for it's ability to emulate a roundabout in the wet.
The gertrag 4WD mini sounds fun though

[Paul_Cooper]

Thats an interesting idea; obviously if you were planning to mount the engine in the rear of the vehicle (effectively making the vehicle a 2 seater) i would imagine you would need to change the entire rear suspension setup to accomodate for the driveshafts, differential etc. And as a large proportion of the weight would be at the rear of the vehicle you'd need to stiffen it up quite a bit.

Maybe get yourself a drive in a Renault Clio V6 to give yourself an idea of how it may handle, afterall the chassis was designed to be front wheel drive before renaultsport converted it to a rear engined, rear wheel drive layout. However, my experience of the clio v6 (mk1) was that it tended to understeer; possibly due to the fact that it had such a short wheel base and very little weight over the front wheels. Although it seemed to be quite controllable when the back end did step out.

[flyboy2160]

Quote: Originally Posted by JayParke

....Are there any other disadvantages that one can think of? Handling wise.

that "lower moment of inertia stuff" sounds neat, but unless you really know what you're doing, you could end up with a car that handles way worse than the stock car.

short wheelbase mid-engine cars are notorious for trailing throttle snap oversteer, the fiat x1/9 and first gen mr2s being prime examples. before you start this, take a stock 1st gen mr2 into a parking lot and drive close to the limit in a circle at about 60 mph with moderate to high throttle. then snap off the throttle and see what happens. and this car had a whole engineering team behind it!

but good luck if you try this and be sure to keep us posted!

[robfenn]

Hmm. Sounds like a stupid idea. The Porsche 911 has taken many years of engineering skill to make it work, something i can't see a guy in a shed having (sorry). If you took a 911 and removed the electronic safety nets it would be a handful again. Personally i don't get on with 911s, the front has no weight (duh) so turn in feels a bit weird, something i can't get used to.

The Clio V6 is a different car from the other Clios, it does not share any major mechanical part..its not an adaptation. The Mk1 was engineered to understeer because it was so hopeless, and therefore dangerous in the wrong hands. Awful car in just about every way, and i'm a Renault fan!

-Rob

[RedUn]

wots the point?!?!? or have I missed it??

[pocketrocketowner]

Your best bet would be to build a space frame tube chassis, mount the engine in the front and have a transaxle for a diff in the rear. That would get you close to the 50/50 weight distribution you would need for it to handle well. while you're at it, seat yourself in the middle. Surely you could fab the body out of aluminium or even carbon fibre.
Of course if you are actually thinking of getting a stock MINI and turning it into some sort of a big Smart car, good luck, let us know who you're getting on from time to time.......sure hope you know how to weld well and your trig is not too out of date.

[rentagas]

Gertrag 4WD mini please. Only a prop shaft away.

[MINI-Morgan]

Isnt the best balance Front engine, Rear wheel drive?? The engine in the back will put nearly all the weight and the rear and the car will probably understeer like crazy. But, it will have better rear wheel traction and so have faster acceleration. improve one area always worsens another. Good luck though! Should be fun....I'd day go for four wheel drive and front engine pushing 300bhp

[pocketrocketowner]

What you ultimately want is a mid engine, all wheel drive car, engine ahead of the rear axle, so some of its weight gets transferred to the front, a front diff, fuel tank and battery also on top of the front axle and the driver compartment cheating towards the front.
6 billion horsepower should help as well

[Back2DTM]

AWD mini? no thanks. the car is not so light already. RWD + LSD would be so nice.

[robfenn]

Has no one heard of a BMW M3 then?

[northandy]

Quote: Originally Posted by BOYR4CER

Isnt the best balance Front engine, Rear wheel drive?? The engine in the back will put nearly all the weight and the rear and the car will probably understeer like crazy. But, it will have better rear wheel traction and so have faster acceleration. improve one area always worsens another. Good luck though! Should be fun....I'd day go for four wheel drive and front engine pushing 300bhp

mid engined rear wheel drive can be fun in the right car.... I think the AWD mini sounds great, if they could make it light enough itd be awesome !

[chilibit]

Might be easier to get an Elise. Probably cheaper too. And the Lotus engineering is rather good. Oh, and the Toyota motors are good too.

[Sands]

Quote: Originally Posted by robfenn

Hmm. Sounds like a stupid idea. The Porsche 911 has taken many years of engineering skill to make it work, something i can't see a guy in a shed having (sorry). If you took a 911 and removed the electronic safety nets it would be a handful again. Personally i don't get on with 911s, the front has no weight (duh) so turn in feels a bit weird, something i can't get used to.

-Rob

I've heard the 911 platform describes as a bad idea engineered to perfection.

As I understand it, turn in is all brake application / release timing and weight transfer..