LOL!! Reminded me of a time when a buddy of mine wanted to see how a rear-engined car would accelerate like... with no access to a Porsche, he launced his Eclipse GS-T backwards... took off like a bat outta hell! Top speed was a little limiting though...

 

Haha, what the hell, I guess that's a good idea probably not much like a P-car though. I hope he didn't blow anything, it's such a bad feeling. I had seen reverse AWD donuts in a video and didn't think anything of it since I thought it would be just like 1st gear. Well it's not but the reverse ones look even better than forward donuts, for the short while that they lasted.

 

OK. I've done some research and something doesn't compute. The 996 is designed to send up to 40% torque to the front wheels when the rears are spinning.

That means that the front tires would get the MOST torque when doing donuts. What gives? That's the exact opposite of what we're seeing? Is the AWD slipping during a donut? That would seem pretty abusive of the mechanism.

 

The fluid coupling does slip a lot. It only applies torque to the front when the front and rear axles are turning at a different speeds. From the shop manual, when the rear wheels spin 5 km/hr faster you only get about 200 pounds of forward force from the front axle. You can see from Pierre's video that the front wheels barely spin even on snow.

 

I've managed to do donuts in my 4WD Jeep Grand Cherokee. It's not that hard.

 

With the adjustable center diff you can really understand how moving the power back (up to 65/35 i believe in the STi) affects where the axis of rotation is (directly the down center of the car, or closer to the front wheels) and how much power it requires to keep it up smoothly at different speeds.

If you don't mind getting dirty, just do it in the smoothest dirt or gravel lot you can find which is much nicer on your drivetrain and tires

STi tornado

 

shouldn't even need to pop the clutch. My car would do them stock by just turning the wheel and hitting the throttle. Does it very easily with a tune.


My kids wanted donuts on sunday for breakfast........so we did donuts

 

I guess the PSM was off.

 

The "can supply up to 40% of the torque to the front" is deceiving. In certain cases this may be true. Like when the available traction on the rears is low and as the rears spin the viscous coupling firms up and transfers some to the front wheels. This why the car is so stable in the rain. However if you light up the rears on dry pavement i would guess that there is less than 10% going to the fronts as that is all the viscous coupling is capable of. It never locks, by design it cannot. It will barely spin the fronts in the snow if at all. This lack of froward torque transfer is what makes the car still handle like a RWD car and not an AUDI or Subaru.

 

I have definitely tried with PSM unintentionally On, of course it didn't work. The car sticks like glue! I was half impressed, half depressed. I laughed later when I figured out what happened. I so rarely toggle the PSM button that I didn't even think about it in the heat of the moment. Thank goodness I was alone and no one was there to witness or call me out!

It happens to the best of us... I'm just glad I'm not the only one out there doing donuts in this car. Proud of you guys!

 

:thumbsup:

 

Having owned two tuned WRX STIs prior to buying a 996 Turbo, I can certainly confirm this.

On the same coastal canyon roads, the cars behave very differently. The Subie's AWD system is very active, and can actually be felt pulling the car out of a corner. A very fun and very easy car to drive fast on tight backroads! Even when going in too hot, simply applying throttle will move power to the front and the car will maintain traction and squirt out of the corner.

In the 996 Turbo on the same bumpy (and sometimes gravelly) backroads, I have never felt any power in the front wheels. The car simply squats down on it's rear and catapults out of the corner. Definitely no 'pulling' sensation like in the Subie. But it sure works well for my driving style on my favorite roads.

Makes sense with so much weight out back. AWD systems are definitely not created equal. And I'm not so sure that I would want a Subie style AWD engagement with the 911, it definitely impacts steering feel/feedback.

I can't speak to wet weather or donuts though.

 

easier job for rwd/lsd

 

awd system in 996 are either very strong or near non existent, depends on the VC condition

 

There's a nice black gt2 on ebay I really want to buy. Prior salvage but who cares. Perfect daily driver IMO.