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You said it wasnt directly related, which it is. Of course theres many factors, but anyone who doesnt think it is significant is quite honestly a fool.
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As I have already stated, you're right. What I meant, was that looking at weight/mass in isolation as being the determinant for cornering prowess is as 'fool'ish as the statements that have been made about the Veyron not being able to do certain things (which it apparently has) because of its weight. So, to get back to my original analogy; it is the same as stating that a 4 cylinder can't do certain things in isolation of other considerations.
More specifically, the simplistic (lateral) FBD for a car experiencing a constant radius turn, in equilibrium is a = V^2/R = Ff/m, where Ff is the effective force of friction. This, can be rewritten as Ff = m*V^2/R. When you consider this as a rigid body, as opposed to a particle, you would also sum the moments, which is basically caused by the distance separating the C of g from the contact patches.
All that being said, if a designer does a good job maintaining the contact patch over all 4 wheels during this condition (and this where the benefit of AWD comes in) and the drive to offset the scrub loss (due to the slip angle at, or close to the limit of adhesion) is distributed to fill the friction circle on the contact patches that are maxing out purely with lateral accel., your Ff can actually exceed comparable cars.
As you have already stated, there is an obvious linear relationship with normal force and vehicle weight/mass, as well. So it just comes down to whether the designer can overcome the moment load effect, which will tend to overburden the 'outside' contact patches, with clever suspension design along with AWD.
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We aren't comparing a pinto to the veryon here, we're talking about the freaking enzo..
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evo No. 096, Pg. 101 - continued, Jethro Bovingdon states:
"It blows the Enzo, Carrera GT and Zonda into the weeds. That sounds ridiculous but it's no exaggeration."
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