Quote:
Originally posted by MazdaspeedZOOM
I don't agree with this, there is a greater loss of power through the drivetrain, hence the reason if you were to dyno a front wheel drive car and a rear wheel drive car of the same fly wheel horsepower, the fwd would have a greater wheel horsepower.
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Yes - slightly. But FWD cars require (or at least almost all have) transverse mounted engines. You usually can't fit anything other than a 4 cylinder in that configuration. Some cars manage to squeeze in a 6 cyl. RWD cars have longitudinal engines, so you have room for whatever you want. 6 cylinders are the average, and 8's are common.
The slightly less efficient drivetrain in a RWD V8 still puts a lot more power to the ground than a FWD V6 (usually). It will also get better traction.
As you said, a lot of people use FWD in autocross because its easier to drive at the limit. 90+% of that is driver skill, so it works out alright. Professional racing uses RWD though - not that that's really relevent for what type of car to buy
