Let’s see if I can dumby it up in different words;
Tires produce grip in two directions (longitudinally (Fx) in braking and acceleration and laterally (Fy) in cornering). They cannot do maximum of both at the same time.
[quote=“MPD47,post:48,topic:24501"”]
AWD is much easier for the less skilled to be fast.
[/quote]
So let’s say you have two novices, same tires, same curb weight, same horsepower one RWD one AWD. For any given instant of acceleration AWD is going to be using half of the Fx of the RWD car. Both drivers are taking the same corner at the same speed so the slip angles are the same and Fy are the same.
This is way over simplified…
Novice RWD goes through corner:
Fy: 50% of available tire grip
gets past apex mashes full throttle
Fx: 75% of available grip per driven tire
Driven tires over loaded (@ 125%), looses time.
Novice AWD goes through corner:
Fy: 50% of available tire grip
gets past apex mashes full throttle:
Fx: 37.5% of available tire grip per tire
All tires being used 87.5%, looks like hero.