At 10:02 PM 9/17/98 EDT, you wrote:
>I think it has something to do with 'moment of inertia', if I remember my
>physics correctly. It's easier to turn something that has it's weight
>concentrated in middle, rather than the outer edges.
>
>Bob Donahue (Still stuck in the '50s)
>EMAIL - BOBMGT@AOL.COM
>52 MGTD - under DIY restoration NEMGTR #11470
>71 MGB - AMGBA #96-12029, NAMGBR #7-3336
>
That would be more true if a front-engine car had some massive
object (about the weight of the engine) in the back also. And the car was
rotating in space without the friction between the road and the tires. Even
in the latter case, the engine up front would just cause the axis of
rotation to be farther forward (since bodies tend to rotate around their
CofG), and the moment of inertia would only come into play if you were
forcibly rotating it around some other point (I guess it would still come
into play, but it wouldn't matter whether it was mid- or front-engined, just
where it would be rotating would be different).
I think the real difference is that all 4 wheels bear a lot of
weight in a mid-engined car, since the engine weight is distributed over all
4. In a front-engined car, the engine weight is almost directly over the
front axle, and therefore borne almost exclusively by those two wheels.
More weight over a wheel means it will grip better.
OK, so what did I miss? I'm taking a mech e class this term, so I'd
like to think I know what I'm talking about, but we all know how that works...
As to the pronunciation of BEAULIEU, I have no idea...
:)
-Matt
(the insurance is worked out, and if I can get a freakin' ride to CT, I've
got myself a car...)
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