Visit to Axminster Power Tools Show last weekend

[Doctor Drivel]

Lord Hall, you lack knowledge me son. The in-line 6 is perfect for balance. On a flat you put in extra crank balancers. A far better car when a flat is in it.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

So therefore all FWD cars go round corners like they're on rails?

And, of course, that's why all F1 cars are FWD because of the superior roadholding. Jaguar, Aston Martin, Ferrari, etc too. It's so nice to get the benefit of your extensive knowledge.

[Doctor Drivel]

Lord Hall all will be outdated as electric and hybrids take over. The new all electric Mitsubishis will have motor in hub wheels.

[Doctor Drivel]

Richard, the same reason the superior Stirling/electric hybrid is superior and that is not used either.

[Matt]

I'm not brainwashed by front wheel drive at all. It probably comprises 20% of my road miles a year at the most. 70%+ of my miles are in RWD cars, virtually none of them are in BMW's or Mercs!

[Doctor Drivel]

Richard, they have the engines in the centre.

** snip senility **

[Matt]

No, the Mini was just a minor step. Perfection in front wheel drive arrived about 30 years after that.

[Doctor Drivel]

Lord Hall, It would be, if it was.

[Doctor Drivel]

Lord Hall, no. The Mini pefected it as before they had to arrange the steering so the wheels slanted on turning - Citroen. Handling was poor. All after the Mini refined it.

[Roger]

The message from "Doctor Drivel" contains these words:

I am well aware of the prewar antecedents of the Citroen Light 15 and I am sure that with a little bit of research I could probably find an even earlier example.

The Mini didn't roll much when it cornered but that was due to the transverse layout of the engine. It didn't actually get round corners faster in the hands of Joe Public, it just seemed that way to the driver.

ISTR that the prototype Minis had their engines facing the opposite direction so unless the direction of rotation was also reversed they must have been real dogs to drive.

[Roger]

The message from "Dave Plowman (News)" contains these words:

Agreed, saving space saves money, as does fitting small wheels.

[Roger]

The message from "Doctor Drivel" contains these words:

I don't go along with Dave about the flat 4 being particularly poor. It is after all (along with 6 in line engines) one of those configerations that balance at both primary and secondary level. Dribble of course gets it wrong. Contra rotating out of balance shafts (which is what I assume he means by crank balancers) is what is used to cancel out the secondary vibrations in engines that don't dynamically balance.

[Doctor Drivel]

Roger, alas you are wrong again. Sad but true.

[Doctor Drivel]

Roger, that was very good, as you got some of it right. Good try.

[Roger]

The message from Matt contains these words:

You certainly gave that impression.

So what do you actually drive?

FWIW I spent almost all of the last 25 years driving 4WD cars (3 of them over the period) and would still be doing so if I could have found another to my liking.

[Roger]

The message from "Doctor Drivel" contains these words:

Perfection in FWD is an oxymoron. All you can do is minimise the torque steering and tyre wear and hope the poor weight distribution and weight transfer aft on acceleration don't cause too many handling problems. (Incidentally Colin Chapman {no relation} was very keen on 50/50 weight distribution and AFAIK he was not Bavarian).

I have no idea what you mean by "wheels slanted".The Citroen used universal joints which introduced a slight variation in otherwise constant motion but when I ran a SWB Landrover for a bit without a rear propshaft in the 60s it wasn't noticeable.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

So you're now suggesting a flat six needs balance shafts?

Any more pearls of wisdom today?

[Dave Plowman (News)]

So the 'superior' Stirling/electric hybrid was around when the flat four was popular as in the Beetle?

Wonder why Toyota have dropped the Stirling engine...

[Dave Plowman (News)]

So has a BMW. And virtually all cars. A Vespa doesn't.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

They swapped it round because of carb icing - hence the idler gears.