shurcooL

I'd say 2wd buggies come surprisingly close to the performance of 4wd ones on most tracks! I wouldn't expect that considering they have half the number of powered wheels. Of course, rear wheels probably do 90% of the work so the front wheels don't add that much. Nevertheless...

JeromeK99

iTrader: (3)

IMO...

A lot of 4wd folks in off-road use a "one-way" front diff... it makes the 4wd handle a lot like a 2wd in the corners..

If you are aggressive with your 4wd in the corners, don't use the one-way and you'll learn to power through every corner like mad!

To me, that's the appeal of running a 4wd...


Jerome

Kobe Yonker

I would have to go with the 4wd. All four tires are pulling, which equals more traction.

tom_chang79

iTrader: (13)

Yeah, I used to drive the RC10CE, then Losi LXT, then B4, then went to Academy SB Pro, then went to BJ4WE.

I can say that with the 2WD, I used to be a "Point and shoot" type of driver, where I would use the brakes going into a corner, then once it's pointed, just gun it.

With the 4WD, it's a lot different. If I enter the corner too slow, I tend to understeer, if I enter the corner too fast, my rear washes out, if I go into the corner just right, it doesn't even have to stop, I can power it through (around half throttle of course) then gun it as soon as the car is straight again... Huge difference in the way it's driven.

Also, the difference in 4WD I noticed are the jumps. It is a lot more sensitive to "corrections" in the air...

In terms of maintenance, 4WD is a pain in the ass... I missed the days of 2WD when the transmission was easily removed and you only had one set of drive shafts to worry about... But for the 60% of the tracks where there are no aggressive jumps or a hard bend, the 4WD seem to just zip along. Even when the car is slightly fish tailing, it's much easier to correct and straighten out then a 2WD in my experience...

That brings me to why I'm starting to be more curious about the DF-03 chassis of Tamiyas. It wasn't meant to be a competition car right out of the box, and some parts of the designs are atrocious (like the hingepins being molded with the tranny case), but the layout is akin to the 2WDs out there...

Oh well, back to building my B44...

yzracer758

iTrader: (18)

I've noticed that my lap times between the two cars are only a second or so faster with the 4wd. I drive my 2wd a bunch more so that may be part of the reason. I know that if the track gets really slick then the 4wd really outshines the 2wd.

Jason Pelletier

iTrader: (33)

I agree i average a around a second a lap faster with my 4wd. I don't think a 4wd should be driven hard whatsoever, in fact overdriving one will just slow you down.

I also think a 4wd is faster in the fact i have more contol in the air when leveling or downsiding jumps.

Start with 2wd learn the skills then go 4wd.

zardoz

Not quite true. I just recently was racing and my B44 broke. Can't remember what it was, but anyways, I switched to my B4. There was only one car that beat me and he got a good jump at the start. Mind you that every car except for 2 were all 4wd. There was one other 2wd out there.

A good part depends on the driver and his (or her) abilities. The other is traction.

zardoz

I've got a one-way in the front of my B44. I drive quite aggressively into corners. But I learned to deal with the rear end coming around with 2wd. I like it break loose a bit. But coming out of the corners, the front grabs hold and pulls the rear in line quite nicely. Depends on personal preference I suppose.

rocket-mtrsprts

iTrader: (1)

What were you doing, running in the Visually Impared Class?

johnnyboy

iTrader: (28)

I bet you times were still faster with YOUR B44 over YOUR B4 though....You can't compare against different drivers at the track due to ability differences.