What road cars are wider at rear than front?
Discussion
When I was doodling sporty cars as a kid I invariably made the rear wheels stick our further than the fronts. I guess it was seeing all those 1970's F1 cars with balloon rear tyres that did it. If you remember back then protruding tyres were all the rage (e.g. the Carlos Fandango Panama cigars advert).
In reality though, were there many road cars with this layout? Plenty of cars have wider rear wheels/tyres than front ones, but the rear axle is usually shorter to compensate, so that there is no noticeable difference between the overall front and rear width of the car.
The reason I ask is that I had a Renault 5 Turbo 2. The rear of the car was noticeably wider than the front, which the rally team later discovered led to very twitchy on-limit the handling. It was only the very last Group B Maxi rally cars that solved this design flaw by widening the front track to match.
I've got a feeling that the Testarossa and maybe Countach 5000S were similar. Any suggestions?
In reality though, were there many road cars with this layout? Plenty of cars have wider rear wheels/tyres than front ones, but the rear axle is usually shorter to compensate, so that there is no noticeable difference between the overall front and rear width of the car.
The reason I ask is that I had a Renault 5 Turbo 2. The rear of the car was noticeably wider than the front, which the rally team later discovered led to very twitchy on-limit the handling. It was only the very last Group B Maxi rally cars that solved this design flaw by widening the front track to match.
I've got a feeling that the Testarossa and maybe Countach 5000S were similar. Any suggestions?
lowdrag said:
IIRC the Renault 4 was pretty unique in that the wheelbase was shorter on the near side than the off side, and the Mk 1 Jaguar was narrower in track at the rear than the front, but I can't offhand think of any that were designed the way you describe.
Apart from other Renaults that used similar transverse torsion bars for the rear springs (the 16 and early R5 come to mind).I'm pretty sure the Lamborghini Diablo (not sure on spelling) was widest at the back, which could make it interesting going through width restrictions and the like, or so I remember reading.
The old twin axle Ford Transits and Bedfords did.
Here the front was narrow enough to go through a 6'6" width restriction and the rear wasn't in many cases
There was a bridge near where I used to live which had a width restriction on each side. Going one way you could get through the first one... just. But the second one wouldn't take the back end. Lots of van and ambulance drivers found that they could go through the first restriction OK, they then just shoot through the send and make a horrible noise
Here the front was narrow enough to go through a 6'6" width restriction and the rear wasn't in many cases
There was a bridge near where I used to live which had a width restriction on each side. Going one way you could get through the first one... just. But the second one wouldn't take the back end. Lots of van and ambulance drivers found that they could go through the first restriction OK, they then just shoot through the send and make a horrible noise
a8hex said:
The old twin axle Ford Transits and Bedfords did.
Here the front was narrow enough to go through a 6'6" width restriction and the rear wasn't in many cases
There was a bridge near where I used to live which had a width restriction on each side. Going one way you could get through the first one... just. But the second one wouldn't take the back end. Lots of van and ambulance drivers found that they could go through the first restriction OK, they then just shoot through the send and make a horrible noise
Used to have similar problems with my old Reliants and car park bollards.Here the front was narrow enough to go through a 6'6" width restriction and the rear wasn't in many cases
There was a bridge near where I used to live which had a width restriction on each side. Going one way you could get through the first one... just. But the second one wouldn't take the back end. Lots of van and ambulance drivers found that they could go through the first restriction OK, they then just shoot through the send and make a horrible noise
Not from the classic era but I think the Elise's front track is narrower.
Unless there is a significant rearward weight bias, a narrower front track is going to be very rare.
Stratos?
On a tangent, I added some 10mm spacers on the rear of my Alfa to help fill out the rear arches and to decrease the front/rear track difference. The negative effect on handling was sublte but noticeable, and moving the spacers to the front improved the handling balance dramatically. Basically, it seems that track width can be used to offset front/rear weight imbalance.
Unless there is a significant rearward weight bias, a narrower front track is going to be very rare.
Stratos?
On a tangent, I added some 10mm spacers on the rear of my Alfa to help fill out the rear arches and to decrease the front/rear track difference. The negative effect on handling was sublte but noticeable, and moving the spacers to the front improved the handling balance dramatically. Basically, it seems that track width can be used to offset front/rear weight imbalance.
ItsaTVR said:
spoodler said:
Used to have similar problems with my old Reliants and car park bollards.
How does one specify, exactly, the track on a 3-wheeler???
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