Been thinking - the first thing many track day people do is rip out part of their dash board,door panels,carpets,spare seats anything that might weigh something they bin it. This is all well and good on a focused,trailered track only car - it doesn't matter. Some of us, use our only mode of transport for the once a month track day, it's a compromise, on my car, it's still got a full dash, all the carpets, all the sound deadening, hell it's even still got a CD player I'm not daft, I know less weight = better performance, better acceleration, better handling blah de blah. What I'm wondering is how much quicker are these fully stripped cars are compared to a car that you can use on the road on a daily basis - given the same mechanical spec? I know it's hard to quantify, but I'm wondering if anyone has done any secret timing before and after binning all creature comforts whilst searching for out and out performance. Edited by: GVK
You can lose over 100kg from stripping the interior, so turn that into your power:weight ratio. Makes the difference really. Obviously, its totally pointless on a daily driver unless you are hardcore. But then you already drive with a fixed bucket seat.
Stripped cars feel quicker, which is purely in the head (more noise = ...) I guess there are some maths to it: 100kgs off 1000 kgs = a fair proportion. Next question is where does it really count - low speed or high?
Exactly Chris. It's a no brainer the lighter car will be quicker, anyone knows that - but *how much* quicker is the question I'm asking I think it was Ian saying that jomannjo's brother Duncan who works for Evo in advertising used to run a mk1 track car before he got a Superlight Cat7.. He seemed to think that fitting plastic windows made more difference than going 2 litre 16v rather than 1800 16v (don't know spec of car.. Lizard are you reading this?) Edited by: GVK
Could you not derive it from the power/weight ratio somehow? I always remember watching a British Rally Championship vid from a few years back with Gwyndaf Evans driving the "kit car" Escort RS2000. "The boys have done a great job prepping the car", he said, "but the biggest gains were had by putting Howard (Davies - co-driver and big bloke) on a diet"
Think you've started a good thread here Gary - plenty of scope for ideas. The window theory is interesting. It's going to make a difference in straight line, but particularly corners because the weight is high up. Just to lob a spanner in the works, Joe Fulbrook happily left the glass in his Bora (the car was built for 2003 regs, but was not then used, then sold, and Joe didn't change to plastic) - although I know that car was a proper build, so its inherent advantages may have outweighed..
My stripped out mk2 13:75 1/4 mile my corrado with the same engine/box etc etc but a full interior 14.3 1/4 mile that's a HUGE difference.
makes me laugh when you see these rice.chav cars and they've got a full cage, buckets, fuel cell, carbon bonnet, the lot......and a 50Kg bass box with 2 15" subs in it......and 30Kg of amp wiring........and 20" chromed wheels......
I remember Ben Leach stripping his Mk1 4x4 out at Santa Pod to drop the times. I still wonder where it takes most effect.. Say 30 to 60, or 60 to 90?
Gary- yeh I remember Dunc saying that, went from KR to 2l bottom end & thought ditching the glass made the biggest diference, I know finchy has said it made a big diference too. Still didnt seem to make finchy quick at Cadwell vs a mk2 lard bucket still with glass & shock horror even front carpet! 'eh Awaits finchy abuse.... I did see a formula from a saloon car race team ref kgs of weight & time on average UK circuits, can't honestly recall it exactly now & obviously it applied to racers where every miliscond counts, but I do have a figure of roughly- 10kg = - 1 sec in my head but it might be absolute balls I am keen to loose the weight the cage is gunna add, est 30kg but ive done the easy stuff & to loose significant amounts now will cost
Makes a change for me Pity they scratch like feck and you have fit sliders or those twisty type helicopter vents [:^(]
Ahh, I wasn't dreaming it then. You're in for it mate! That seems a bit OTT - You been on the wine again? ) Thinking cap required there. Time for some proper seats mr Lizard, normal seats weigh 16-17? kg each Edited by: GVK
LOL- I remember that vid! VW Golf mk3 kit-cars breaking plenty of gearboxes and Alistair McRae's roll in Ireland or Manx
Yeh think I weighed my pas seat at 17kg before our brunters Golf+ frenzy- you remember the one where i thrashed ya & thus it stayed at home However yes proper seats are light but whats the actual total weight with mounts & I'd need sliders too for 2 diferent driver heights, is it that much lighter then? Plus ive got that faff that with the helmet on im too tall for most seat mounts, unless I hack away that cross member thingy under the front seat. Oh and 2 decent fibreglass seats- not the steel framed tat you can buy cheaply- + mounts are not cheap either.
difficult to say as the next time someone visits a track they will probably have changed several things and not only have stripped it out, also theres a possibility of running different tyres, temp etc etc. I think some would possibly over play the advantages of better lap times after stripping the weight out and not consider the little things that may have helped, thats not so say it wont help just that the gains may be overstated for me loosing some weight out of the car makes me feel less guilty for my size
My jetta is fully stripped out, well it was until yesterday when I fitted 2 front door cards, luxury Yes it is noisier but its still useable as a daily driver. It makes my Mk1 feel like a Limo when I drive it Was chatting to the lad with the red Lupo GTI in the bar the night before mallory about this. He reckons losing 50Kg is equivilent to 10 Bhp The lad I bought the car off actually weighed the carpets, trim etc as he took it out. Came to around 41 Kgs. Remember Top Gear from 3 ish years ago when they had a Simitar or something, sprinted it, then stripped it out and sprinted it again. It was quicker but can't remember by how much. Then they gassed it up and it went like the clappers Edited by: nickvw