Questionhow significantly will changing the onboard weight by 10-50 lbs impact a car's lap time (use a spec Miata on Road America as an example - about 4 miles in 3 minutes ). Thank you for any help on this matter.
Jeff
AnswerHi again Jeff:
Thanks for the kudos. I could stand to lose a few myself.
Here are a few tips for weight reduction in the car that I have come up with, in the order that I think of them.
1) With a saw, shorten all steel fasteners that extend beyond the nut, leave no more than one thread protruding.
Save the scrap and weigh it. You'll be shocked by what you've saved.
2) remove and discard the rear view mirrors, replace with a 3 panel wink mirror inside, and two cheap plastic ones for the wings, but mount those on the cage uprights with an aluminum bracket, that'll keep them from getting knocked off.
3)Any fasteners that are non-critical, like fender mounting bolts, and other unstressed fasteners can be replaced with aluminum, or even nylon or plastic. contact <Metric and Multistandard Coomponents Corp., Norcross, Georgia,> 1-800-444-9560, be sure and ask for a catalog, it has a wealth of info in it. For stressed fastners consider changing to Allen head (Socket head) cap screws, and save the weight of the hex head. Remove non-essential lock washers (!!) use Locktite instead.
4) Buy the lightest wheels you can find, check out Real Wheels from Irv Hoerr Racing Products, (http://www.hrpworld.com/) They are popular in GT-1 and are about $170 each which is compeititve.
5)Check your fuel consumption closely, and put in just enough for each event, if you run out on the cool off lap, you've nailed it. Add a gallon as a margin, but remember it weighs about 6.5 pounds per gallon. If you run enduros too, consider changing to a larger cell for those events.
6) On my IT car, I even drilled the door hinges, not legal but who's going to protest a door hinge, or even think of it ?
7) Use an aluminum racing seat, Kirkys are good, and reasonable and LIGHT . (Steel bolts though, grade 8 ! )
8) Pay the extra 2 or 3 bucks for the aluminum discharge tube for the fire bottle. If you can afford it, get an aluminum bottle too. Your solid fuel lines can be aluminum too. Always use Earls or Aeroquip aluminum hose fittings where allowed.
Here's another thought for you. Not weight related, but for goodness sake use a synthetic racing oil. I use Amsoil, Red Line and Royal Purple are two other good ones, Mobile One will destroy an engine under racing stress. I guess Castrol Syntec is OK.
Final thought about weight, if you save enough ounces, you'll save a pound here and there too. To save weight you have to be THINKING about it. Once you can do that you'll start to feel it in the seat.
Best of luck to you, and come race with us at Sebring sometime, the tracks are a real challenge, and we have started as many as 50 SMs at a time.
Dan Liddy
