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Old 09-06-2012, 07:30 PM   #87 (permalink)
Red__Zed
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cossie1600 View Post
The handling came from you spending $60K on the car......

4. Myth: The "ideal" weight distribution is 50/50: The vehicle has the same weight on both the front and rear axles.

Truth: While most sport-oriented cars do have weight distributions close to 50/50, there's much more to proper handling than just distribution. A car with 50/50 weight distribution would handle poorly if most of the weight was at the ends of the car (i.e., ahead of the front axle and behind the rear axle).

Far more important than weight distribution is the location of the center of gravity and polar moment of inertia. (The center of gravity is where a giant could balance the car on one finger. Polar moment of inertia refers to whether the vehicle's weight is concentrated in one location — which makes for a responsive car — or spread throughout the vehicle.) Something else against 50/50 being the ideal weight distribution: Most open-wheel Formula-style racecars, which many people would hold up as being the best-handling type of racecars, have 60 percent or more of their weight on the rear tires.

Source: Edmunds

Definitely true there is a lot that comes into play. I'm pretty sure my mustang has weight distribution that is about as bad as the Z, but steady state balance is much better.
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