All I want is a car that turns me on when I look at it & makes my heart beat faster when I drive it, of course it has to red and have a 4000 race win pedigree....
Sent from my iPhone FG:
It all depends what you want to do with the car as to what is “best” from a engine layout/location perspective.
Daily driver to abuse and pass on with deferred maintenance issues? In cocaine white with the logo plastered in 16 locations should you forget which car you are driving?
Sporting gran turismo that can cover long distances in more comfort than flying cattle class? While wearing an ascot?
To “fit in” at the staff parking lot of the local medical center where everyone really does make their car buying choices by reading Road and Track?
Track toy? Real or pretend? Short track with lots of turns? Long track with minimal downforce needed? An autocross in a parking lot with young professionals that have put their entire life savings (read: $5k) into an E36 M3? To rev at the stop light when the inevitable 5.0 GT Mustang pulls up next to you wanting to race causing you to void the warranty and push the launch control button and hoping that the electronics hide the driver’s lack of talent?
Something to impress he Gucci loafer crowd at the next Cars & Coffee event? To make them green with envy? To make their mail order eastern european bride realize that she left money on the table?
Something that gets you that primo spot with the valet at your local overpriced steakhouse on a Friday night, the one that still is pushing a $85 tomahawk ribeye as their preferred cut, whose shape/performance/color/sound you think attracts the “ladies” (not the working variety), but only makes you look like a pedophile since really only 12 year old boys are attracted to it like moths to a bug zapper?
Well, what do you want to do?
Respectfully, Erik
C'mon Lash.... for all it's faults, the Pantera puts a nice heavy motor low and well ahead of the rear wheels!!
FG, I believe PP is referring to the flat 12 (or 180 deg 12) having its trans underneath the motor as being less than ideal.
Mid engine, either rear (308) or front (Viper or modern Corvette), would be ideal from a platform standpoint when executed properly.
LSJ
central wines-spirits est 1934
625 e street nw
washington, dc 20004
202-737-2800
Peter,
I wouldn't dismiss the mid-engine layout and call the front engine superior.
From what I gathered in the rags back when the 550 Maranello came out, front was good enough for 99% of drivers (even really good ones).
Over time we moved from tactile sensations in our exotics (manual steering, heavy shifters and clutches) to outright delivery of performance (semi-auto transmissions primarily), so front solved the liability issue.
Also, front was/is better for packaging. This is the bigger reason for it, with the above being the justification to the enthusiasts.
Mid-engine was mostly relegated to the exotic-ness of it, looks wise, sound wise, etc. There's a practical limit to the exotic look a front engined car can have, which is why all the hyper car Fs are still mid-engined, even though I'm sure they could/would engineer a front engined beast to compete with the 918 or P1. Since there's no practical element whatsoever to those line of cars, it will forever be mid engined.
At the same time, hard to make that proper gentleman's GT in mid engine I think. Which is why you'll probably never see your derivative Aston Martin in anything but front engined configuration.
FG
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