I need to go on a diet - Printable Version
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I need to go on a diet - 333pg333 - 10-16-2012
Do 968's weigh more than 951's? I think contrary to popular belief street 951's often weigh up close to 1400kgs (3080lbs) or more. That's with leather, motorised seats etc...
I got mine down to 2629lbs with cage (through firewall to struts), glass all round (except small 1/4s) and stock gutted steel doors. So clearly a LOT of other parts were removed to get down to that level.
With lexan rear hatch and c/f doors coming that should get us almost another 70-100lbs but then adding rear wing and struts. I lifted the box with all the old stock wiring recently. Now that was much heavier than I expected.
So there is quite a bit that can come out of these cars especially for track only versions.
I need to go on a diet - 94SilverCab - 10-16-2012
Front page of the Forum:
Curb Weight:
Manual Coupe: 3086lbs
Jay
I need to go on a diet - Cloud9...68 - 10-16-2012
[quote name='333pg333' timestamp='1350384945' post='133861']
Do 968's weigh more than 951's? I think contrary to popular belief street 951's often weigh up close to 1400kgs (3080lbs) or more. That's with leather, motorised seats etc...
I got mine down to 2629lbs with cage (through firewall to struts), glass all round (except small 1/4s) and stock gutted steel doors. So clearly a LOT of other parts were removed to get down to that level.
With lexan rear hatch and c/f doors coming that should get us almost another 70-100lbs but then adding rear wing and struts. I lifted the box with all the old stock wiring recently. Now that was much heavier than I expected.
So there is quite a bit that can come out of these cars especially for track only versions.
[/quote]
Carbon fiber doors? Where are you getting these, and (I'm afraid to ask), for how much? I saw a set on a 911 at the track several years ago, and asked the owner how much they set him back, and the answer was staggering, even beyond my most pessimistic estimate - something like 6 grand! But there is a LOT of labor to creating them.
I need to go on a diet - flash - 10-16-2012
yeah - it's going to be very hard to get a hardtop race car down below 2500, even with carbon fiber panels. the body panels on the car just aren't that heavy. you might get another 40 or 50 out of the body, and another 40 to 50 by running lexan, but the main problem is that you have to add so many more tubes in the cage of a hardtop than you do in a convertible. the body lines dictate where they have to go, and that is not always strong enough, and you end up having to add more tubes. a halfway decent hardtop cage is about 150 lbs, whereas you can usually get done at about half that in a convertible. tubing is heavy.
I need to go on a diet - Cloud9...68 - 10-16-2012
I just checked, and the curb weight on a 1984 944 was 2601 pounds. That's a very basic car, with no AC, manual steering, manual sunroof (a beautiful thing!), 15" wheels, 5-speed, 2.5 liter engine, no Variocam, single-mass flywheel, no power seats (let alone leather), no cruise, etc. Add the 150 lb cage, and you've got a reasonable starting point for a 968 race car of 2750 lbs, plus a few for the larger displacement engine, Variocam and the extra gear, so maybe about 2800 lbs. So I can see that getting a race car down below 2500 pounds would be a significant challenge.
But there's a bigger factor that packs pounds onto 968 racers - the rulebook!
I need to go on a diet - 333pg333 - 10-16-2012
We had some c/f doors made down here. Yes, they're expensive, but you're paying for the molds as well.
Apart from that as mentioned we rewired the whole car with very light milspec wiring. Stripped all the internal insulation. Didn't dip the car so there is still some on the base of the chassis.
F/g dash with all the heater/air con removed. Oem brake system removed and replaced with pedal box. Turned car to non sunroof (not quite as light as a ragtop Bob!). Changed brakes to floating 2 piece rotors which would save a little weight. Motorised lights removed and associated hardware. We should lose a few pounds by replacing all the 1/4s with f/g ones but as pointed out, the stock metal isn't as heavy as you'd think. Also adding dry sump with the 3L motor so that will add a little bit of weight back in.
Overall, it depends on how far along you are with the transition from road to race you are as to how desperate your quest for weight loss is. The easiest things have already been mentioned. Like horsepower, the further along you get, the more expensive it becomes. Carbon here, expensive lightweight cage tubing there (mine's not). You can reach a decent loss up to a point. The best way of improving your times will probably still be seat time and with decent coaching. I need more of both.
I need to go on a diet - Cloud9...68 - 10-16-2012
Those are definitely some serious mods. Like you say, cutting weight out of your car makes sense to a point, but when it starts getting really expensive, and then you have to add it back as ballast to meet class weight rules anyway, you have to start questioning the value.
I need to go on a diet - RS Barn - 10-16-2012
Chassis stiffness can be more important than minimum weight in a race class. The Rothmans 944 Turbo Cup cars tubs were seam welded to reduce flex. I,ve heard 15lbs (6.8kilos) of welding rod were used.
I'm guessing if Porsche felt it was important-it was.
I need to go on a diet - 333pg333 - 10-16-2012
Absolutely for sure. Dealing with your class systems seems very harsh for an n/a 968 from what I’ve read in this thread. For me, it’s different. We can run in Improved Production and then there are different classes within that realm. I guess with you guys you have either DE’s or door to door racing. We have something in the middle which is more the Super Sprint or Time Attack category. This is basically racing against the clock but in some events you can run pretty close to the guys in front and overtake in certain parts of the track or if waved through. Also if you want to do Time Attack the rules are very open and some of the cars become highly modified and fast. E.g a really quick Cup Car on slicks at our home track would do a 1:30-1:32 and the fastest Time Attack car (modified Evo, what else) did a 1:25 flat…on R specs in it’s first real meeting!
Once you go to door to door the costs seem to grow quite a lot. The advantage you guys have is parts, cars and work is a lot cheaper than elsewhere in the world.
Agree on seam welding. Had mine done too.