PROOF that stripping out your car makes it no faster

[Speedy88]

Take one heavy modern french car, rip it's insides out and erm... well nothing happens except make it horrible to drive.

http://www.topgear.com/uk/photos/how-fat-is-your-car

Take that Essex boys!

[jtbo]

Same for bigger wheels and lowering too, they may be bit help or do things worse, but with proper set up do wonders.

I remember reading from some BMW M3 model where lowering did mess up suspension geometry, so that original was faster, more predictable and much more comfortable.

Doing something just because it is usually done is not very good, understanding basics why it is done and what it does affect is where one should start.

That is my 2c

[Hell Driver]

Well spotted! Some good lessons there to be learned. But they shouldn't have messed about with the tyres really for a fair test (although thats what most of us do straight away! )
One point though, in a straight line race I'm, sure there might have been a few milliseconds difference

Weight does make a big difference to me in the truck however. With a tonne or so of sand on board she don't pull away from the lights so well But I swear it sticks to the corners better when loaded Empty over very bumpy roads you can feel it bounce sideways

[jtbo]

Well spotted! Some good lessons there to be learned. But they shouldn't have messed about with the tyres really for a fair test (although thats what most of us do straight away! )
One point though, in a straight line race I'm, sure there might have been a few milliseconds difference

Weight does make a big difference to me in the truck however. With a tonne or so of sand on board she don't pull away from the lights so well But I swear it sticks to the corners better when loaded Empty over very bumpy roads you can feel it bounce sideways

That is what setup is all about, your spring rates and dampers are not set so that it would perform well empty, it certainly was build for carrying stuff so it is natural that when empty it behaves bad.

Tuning suspension to work in one specific purpose can yield great results, but there is then always other side of coin, you loose some performance in some other usage, but that is what tuning a car is, ahem was about, turning it from overall compromise to specific purpose machine, getting best out from it to that purpose.

Certainly for straight line there has been improvement with 207 with same tires, Pirelli's, I guess those are ok in bikes, but their car tires have never amazed me

[SteveP]

A few years ago me and Ali had a bit of a drag down a slip road... from 30-80ish

His car: 3 door GLT without PAS, stripped, aftermarket backbox and 'V' Cam
My car: 4 door bodykitted saloon, completely standard

The result? They performed exactly the same

[mat_91]

i realy cant agree with that statement ive stripped out 2 cars now and it makes a difference
specially in the volvo i wouldn't say its massive but it did drift better with all that weight out
and maybe a tiny bit faster but well worth doing if your into racing after all its free

[volvosneverdie]

Personally, I stand at about 22 clem (again )
so even if I binned the interior, spare wheel, panels and every non-essential piece of equipment, id still be running at over full standard kerb weight.

So........................................... better pump up the horses and put a roofrack on then.


Comfort+speed= happy fat man.

[Speedy88]

i realy cant agree with that statement ive stripped out 2 cars now and it makes a difference
specially in the volvo i wouldn't say its massive but it did drift better with all that weight out
and maybe a tiny bit faster but well worth doing if your into racing after all its free

Don't get me wrong taking the interior out the back is going to make the rear end lighter, making the back end easier to get out. But for racing? As has been proved, you don't gain anything noticeable. Fair enough if you're going to make your car a track car, you might shave a few tenths of a second off a lap time but as a daily? More hastle than it's worth tbh.

[kds19]

maybe doesnt make it faster but it doesnt half skid alot better lol
either that or i have no balls

[kds19]

although saying that in my last 340 i had 3 big bags of rubbish in the boot for about a week or so (interior intact)
but when i eventually took them to the skip i fairly noticed a differnce in the power it tended to pull alot harder
obviously it wasnt doing 9 second quarter miles but you know what i mean
it was noticable
the old 340 was a good un it used to wipe the floor with a colleugues saxo vtr
the joys of 1.7 engine and 1.4 diff and gearbox combo

[Speedy88]

Heh, in a time of more idiocy (last year ) I used to race my mates vtr. Of course the 1.7 was a good match. I'm more sensible with the F7R, I feel like I might actually die if I'm silly. Car means a lot more to me now, if I was to curb clip it I would be devastated.

[jtbo]

It is not because of coolness that battery is moved from front to back, it is 12kg or something like that of weight moving up front to lower rear, weight that you remove from 360 is mostly further ahead than battery's location at boot (offside), then using spare wheel well for new location for proper safe fuel tank gets some more weight towards rear and if you think about, most of weight comes off from front of rear axle, these two are placed rear of rear axle, making much bigger weight shift, so that weight balance with full tank can be very close to original, especially when also front area is stripped. Rollbars tend to bring it back towards front again, but then replacing hood and front wings with lighter versions can move it bit back towards rear.

For good overall track car some 48-52% of weight at front is good, for drag racing rearwards bias might be better, for drifting it might be best to leave all sound insultaion to front, also battery to front etc, as there weight bias towards front is good.

Scale that is capable of doing some 400kg would be ok, then put bricks under tires and weight with scale each corner to find out how much weight there is in each corner, after that one cam make decision towards where to tune balance of vehicle, so it is done right with some purpose and not just because it's cool or because have heard that it helps.

Getting that tired motor running properly by resetting fueling and ignition will probably do much more to performance than just throwing weight off, same for servicing brakes with new parts, in old car it can make stopping distance to drop almost to half alone, that is what did happen with my 360 and on track that makes up more time than any weight saving alone, for drifting, I don't know, they do strip probably brakes from rear too? Sorry

[mat_91]

well its never going to make a massive difference is it relay think about it
you lot seem to think its going to make a massive difference the main point is it makes a difference
on your theory that it makes no difference why are ALL racing car stripped out if it makes no difference

[volvosneverdie]

well its never going to make a massive difference is it relay think about it
you lot seem to think its going to make a massive difference the main point is it makes a difference
on your theory that it makes no difference why are ALL racing car stripped out if it makes no difference

A full interior is a fire hazzard and seriously hampers access and would impede the cage.

[jtbo]

A full interior is a fire hazzard and seriously hampers access and would impede the cage.

Correct, if one check FIA rules, I'm sure there is mention from this, at least our local rally governing association that makes rules for national events has had this requirement to remove any flammable material from inside of car. Of course depends from classes, but that is main reason.

In DTM there was weight ballast system, I remember how one driver had full set of ballast and still he won