Bizz said:
Z06 weighs a couple hundred more than the solstice. it gets around the track pretty well.
Sure a Z06 gets around the track pretty well, with its electrically controlled magnetic shocks and about 400 HP! It also does not have AWD.
AWD can be a performance imrpovement and is now the hot thing to have because of WRX's and Evos. However, its not necessarily the holy grail of performance cars either. It can be a big help in wet or slippery conditions, or the offroading those "rally" cars were originially modelled of of. But on a plain track, there is weight and balance advantages to not having the extra running gear up front. Added weight is always a negative to performance. The more you have, the more the car will want to resist turning. There is some weight that is necessary, as too little will be harmful too.
Its just that there are really no big advantages to putting AWD into a small light weight roadster that I can see making it worth it. Adding 250 lbs to this car to make it AWD would raise its curb weight to over 3100 lbs! Its going to create more of a front end weight bias too, which will hurt its understeer characteristics. It will still get around the track, but it will feel heavy, and will not turn in as sharp or as quick, or respond as quick to throttle or steering imputs. Its also going to feel slow with the base 170 HP motor. Sure it may hold a line in a downpour, but its a 2 seat convertable. Most people will never be holding a line in a downpour to take advantage.
The Corvette, for its size and power is an appropriate weight and not too heavy. But a Solstice is smaller, and if it weight what a Corvette does it would feel like your driving a pig.
AWD is just not all that necessary on this type of car.