Weight reduction???

[Glynn]

on the subject of weight, does anybody know the weight ratio of the starion? (front/Rear)

replacing the bonnet with a cf one would be an excellent way of moving the 'COG' back, i think the engineers at lambo aim for 48%front 52%rear
it would be interesting to find out more about the actual weight balance of the staz.

[CussCuss]

53:47 f:r stock. Id be interested to know what happens when everything comes out, i can think of some heavy things in the front, air con, squirters. But the seats, spare and rear squirter are in the back, so id say it would stay close to the same.

lambos get nowhere near that, not many mid/rear engine cars do, lambos are closer to 60% rear at best.

[Glynn]

CF bonnet's the go, on the average a 110 Kg bonnet will weigh just 16Kg
a good way for the girl to lose some weight

thats a weight saving of 94kg in the front only.
if the staz is 53%/47% (front/rear) than that brings us to 49.3%/50.7% (front/Rear)

nah bad :D
lotus aim for 50/50
(i understand this figure is not often reached, but it is an ideal figure)

p.s. lambo engineers compensate for that by having wider rear wheels (for the imense power as well) they introduce understeer (a car heavly weighted to the rear will tend to oversteer)

perspex for the hatch would be a good weight saver, but it would invariably upset the weight balance further to the front.

[flappa]

umm, since when do bonnets weigh 110kg?

[SpidersWeb]

Perhaps they really meant 110lbs *shrug*

[Glynn]

yeah thats a good point
maybe TD05 did mean lbs. i didn't really give much though to it actually, bugger... forget my ealier post. now that i think about it i rekon it probablly would weigh around 50kg.

dammit... now i have to think of how to loose 60kg from the front (50-16)

[avandull]

Mine weighs 1200 Kg, I have a heavy rollcage, and a Wallaby bar to protect the intercooler.
I also still have the heater, because in Tasmania it is cold, and the windows woll fog up. Everything else has been taken out.
It would be a prick of a thing to drive if it was my road car. Removing everything makes her noisy and rattly. Roll cage makes her difficult to get in and out of. All of these things give it a lot of character though.
I would find my Starion very uncomfortable if it was my only car.

[SpidersWeb]

I remember those hot days, and hitting that A/C switch, and feeling my freezer cold air con chilling my legs, mmmmm was so nice

I am never removing my aircon unit, ever, Ill add NOS before I remove it.

[Xentro]

My staz is 1215 kg all stock with even the spare in the boot.
No A/C but does have the headlight washers, leather & rear wiper

so I guess that makes the airco about 35+ kg?

By the way if you just take off all that fat layer of black tar from the bottom together with all the rust and put a new thin layer on it wouldn't that save some weight witouth loosing some comfort?

How about taking off the bumpers and drilling some huge holes in those bumper supports? they are quite heavy.

[SpidersWeb]

Yeah the black tar (sound deading) is a common item to remove. It does effect comfort, but nothing drastic. Its there to prevent road noise etc

Eaisest way to get it off on most cars is Liquid N and a hammer, you can do it with a heatgun/chisel also but just takes longer.

[CussCuss]

bonnets do NOT weigh 110lbs, i can lift a starion bonnet by myself easily. Id say 20kgs at most.
A car heavily wieghted towards the rear will understeer like a mutherfucker then snap oversteer when you let off, Will can attest to this 1st hand (mr2 :D ) and having more grip on the rear will only produce more understeer.

having less weight will always be better than having a 50:50 setup, getting that number is not important when your within 5 or even 10 percent if it means that youve just taken 10% of the weight out of the car.

[Glynn]

having less weight will always be better than having a 50:50 setup, getting that number is not important when your within 5 or even 10 percent if it means that youve just taken 10% of the weight out of the car.

IMHO i disagree with this, more weigh can be offset by power... weigh ballance will drastically affect the handling charaterristics.

(glenjoe can attest to this when he had the 2.6)

[4g6beat]

I'm inclined to agree with this, the latest best motoring highlighted the diference between the evo8 and avo8 mr on 4 kgs lighter on the roof and you could visibly see the handling diference. when they put the 4kg mat back on the mr handling was much closer to the evo. apparently the 4kg roof reduction equates to lowering the centre of gravity 30mm !

now imagine how much effect things like air con removal can have.

that said if it's your daily driver don't get rid of the air con 2 boiling days without it and i was regretting it muchly :(

[Will]

bonnets do NOT weigh 110lbs, i can lift a starion bonnet by myself easily. Id say 20kgs at most.
A car heavily wieghted towards the rear will understeer like a mutherfucker then snap oversteer when you let off, Will can attest to this 1st hand (mr2 :D ) and having more grip on the rear will only produce more understeer.

Bonnet can be lifted by one person - its not that heavy. More awkward rather than heavy to lift.

Rear weight biased cars are less friendly on the street and some understeer is tuned into them to make them a bit friendlier. However, when you get the hang of them and get them on the track --- now that's fun :D. Main advantage of mid engined is not just the front to rear balance, but the fact that more of the weight is near the centre of mass so it makes the car very nimble (low polar moment of inertia). So you can have a 50/50 split, but if the weight is all at the ends of the car, it will still have poor turn in compared to a car with all the mass near the centre of the car between the two axles.

I prefer what S2000's and RX7's do which is place the engine in the front still, but behind the front axle line. For me that's the best of both worlds.

[CussCuss]

I prefer what S2000's and RX7's do which is place the engine in the front still, but behind the front axle line. For me that's the best of both worlds.

and corvettes :)

yeah your right about the mass closer to the center, its basic physics.