Ever see a cheetah or gazelle whose front legs were more muscular than its rears? The fastest animals, like the fastest cars, rely on their hind legs to generate the, ahem, "lion's share" of thrust while their fronts provide control. It's a simple matter of physics and geometry. All of the forces employed to accelerate, brake, or turn a car must be delivered through four small patches of rubber. Each has a finite amount of grip to work with, determined by the size of the patch, the weight pressing down on it, and the friction of the tire and the road surface. If a front tire is providing acceleration, then less of the total amount of available friction at that contact patch is available to turn the car. Less cornering…
