<VV> FWD etc

[James P. Rice]

All: I followed the discussion, insults and acquisitions about the merits of
FWD etc with some amusement and bewilderment.

How do you guys who claim no experience in FWD cars know so much about them?
Pray tell!!  Seems to me the most vocal critics of FWD are not known for
their prowess behind the wheel.  Don't recall them doing any autocross at
conventions or track days or the like.  But I have not gone back thru the
Communiques to verify this impression.

For my part, I have no experience in 4WD.  This possibly impacted by Glenn
Dillard, an engineer at Cat, who lived out in the country with a long
driveway and yet somehow made it into work everyday, who said of 4WD:  "The
only thing 4WD will do for you is to allow you to go so far out in the
boonies that when you finally get stuck, no one can come rescue you."  Plus
the fact that hauling around a couple hundred pounds of mechanical bits and
pieces all year (@15k miles per year) for the 10 seconds I might need it
once a year seems wasteful.

It is the illusion of safety and skill which puts 4WD SUV's off the roads on
snow days as someone noted.

The worse - and only - snap spin I ever experienced was in a Corvair w/posi.
Unbelievable.  To tell the truth, I was trying to find it's traction limit
on wet snow.  Found it, and it scared me silly.  Sold the car ASAP.

I learned to drive in RWD cars in SE Michigan in a '58 Chevy Belair
w/6cyl/3sp by sliding around my neighborhood late at night coming home from
driving my dad to work so he could go out in the slop to drive salt truck.
I have years in RWD cars and years in FWD cars and years driving both on a
regular basis...including FWD one day and a Corvair the next.  I have
autocrossed all of them.  And I continue to explore the limits of myself and
our cars as I have opportunity.

The driving technique's near the limits are different for each combination
of engine and drive wheel location.  You just have to know how to drive
each.  Normal driving on dry roads in today's cars the differences between
them are indistinguishable.  On snow and other serious slop, I prefer a FWD
car.  For speed events, I prefer RWD.  For daily driver's for my family
members, I prefer modern FWD with ABS and traction control.  On it's worse
day, the onboard computer is smarter and faster and more skilled than they
are or I am.  But the object is to drive so these systems remain unemployed.
Modern cars also have built in roll cages, crash/crumple zones, three point
seatbelts and 6 airbags in case something goes seriously wrong, regardless
of who is responsible.  And they get better MPG using cheaper gas than a
Corvair.

If you find yourself in deep dodo in any car, under any conditions, you are
driving to fast for your skill level, the cars capabilities and/or road
conditions.  Yes, I have done all of the above, once or twice all of them at
the same time.  And learned from it.  With more to learn I'm sure.  But when
I explore any or all of the above, I'm not around other cars.  Otherwise I
tiptoe around, being cautious when near anybody else, all of whom I
consider, at best, driving morons.  Even when it is clear and dry.

If I may paraphrase a quote I think I first read from Dick Rutan, who with
Jeana Yeager flew the Voyager (designed and built by his brother Burt Rutan)
around the world non-stop w/o refueling in 1987.  He was speaking of pilots,
but it is applicable for us as drivers.  It is:  "A skilled driver uses he
skill to avoid the situations which would require his skill to get out of."
Go and do likewise.  If you don't have the skill or knowledge about your
self or your car, develop it.  Autocrossing is a great way to do this.  But
you have to do it more than once a year at the convention.

Some of you leave me shaking my head in wonderment over what you know about
Corvairs.  Likewise some of you also leave me shaking my head in wonderment
over your opinions, which seem, in this case, to be unfounded, unresearched
and unreasonable.

So, shall we now start a discussion on if the earth is flat?

Youallhavefunnow.

Historically Yours,
			James