[bhtooefr]

FOUND IT!

First, I was wrong, it was 1988, not 1999. Second, it was Portland. But, read on.

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/cvetters3/test1.htm

Cliffs Notes:

...we found the front-drive Daytona exceptionally easy to drive quickly. It inspired confidence, never felt like it wanted to leap out from under us, and always went where we pointed it. What more could we ask for?

Easy to drive quickly... check.

Our biggest surprise came when we climbed out. After just a handful of laps, we were basically up to speed, much closer than we expected. Why surprised? Because we never drove the car beyond a secure level of comfort. Hey, Showket and crew were generous enough to let us drive the cars, the last thing we wanted to do was fall off the road.

Yes, we were trying, but the car's stability and predictability made it easy to go fast quickly.

Goes like stink, and doesn't even feel like it's near the limit... check.

The few laps in Schroeder's RWD Daytona confirmed the difference in personalities. As with any high-powered rear-drive car with the potential for exit oversteer, we needed more laps to creep up on the car's limits, taking little bites and making small changes. Avoiding the big mistake was No. 1 on the priority list.

Harder to drive... while some may consider that a challenge (read: fun), others may want the easier to drive car.

Showket's FWD car was a joy to drive. It told us what and how much to do. If the radius was increasing too much after the apex, common sense said to modulate the throttle a bit. As long as it was headed in the right direction, adding power came naturally and comfortably.

Wait, a joy to drive? That's another sports car characteristic.

And if the ratio of tire to power is about equal, it doesn't seem to matter much which end drives the car. In slippery conditions, it matters a great deal. On a wet or greasy track, better traction off the corners puts the front-driver in a class of its own.

Hmm, a possible performance advantage?

Which Daytona is faster? At this point in the ongoing development program, the rear-driver is still a bit quicker. But it depends on the racetrack. At Road Atlanta, the two cars were within a tenth or two. At tighter tracks, Mid-Ohio, for example, the gap was larger. But on faster circuits like Watkins Glen and Lime Rock, Showket believes the front-wheel drive may give him an edge.

Even in a straight line? (Actually, it's because you can get on the power sooner.)

So it's definitely possible. And even though we're talking about race cars, one could build a sportscar similar to that, and have a performance advantage in poor traction conditions, with inexperienced drivers, and on faster tracks due to being able to get on the power sooner.