Howdy,

"Fandatstick"
sorry, but I assumed that you would have read all the posts in this thread and the answer was in post number 5.

700kgs.

Quote:

What's the punchline? How much does it weigh?

Howdy,
To go light I:

Fitted a 4 link rear to do away with the leaf springs.

Fitted small disc brakes all round.

Added fiberglass guards, bonnet,front spoiler.

Removed all the glass except windscreen and replaced with poly carb.

Cut out the fire wall, the front half of the trans tunnel and rear panel into the boot and replaced with alluminium.

Gutted the doors and rear panels of every thing.

Replaced the fuel tank with a smaller one.

The roll cage is a six point with a door bar only on the drivers side. does have a dash bar thou.
Less cage = less weight

13" x 8" alloy rims, 15" or 16" rims are way heavier.

Small battery

Min electrics and no electronics.
eg, no headlights,indicators,computers.
tail and brake lights only
The entire wiring loom is about 10 wires under the bonnet and three going to the rear.

No interia, just a drivers seat, not even the dash panel, just a tacho, oil and water temp gauges.
even the factory steering collum has gone.

All quite easy to do. just means it might fall apart if I ever hit anything.

so far so good.

Cheers,

Geoff

I also removed the sound deadening from the floor, it weighed bugger all really, maybe 2 or 3 kilos. hardly worth the effort.

let us know how you get on, it's good to know what bits weigh.
I can't remember exactly what my coupe last weighed, from memory it was around 720-730kg. This is with A15, bigger P510 struts, 60A 5spd, H165 diff, 13x7 superlites (which aren't super light) and 205/60 Advan 032Rs. and simple cage made from 38.1 x 2.5 low alloy steel tubing. One steel framed seat, all steel body panels, plastic side windows and glass screens. no interior, no bumpers, no lights except tail lights, no heater, lightweight dashboard. unsure on fuel level but prob <20L

L18, thanks for the reply: until now I haven't actively tried to shed the weight off the car. I'm pretty much wizzin up a rope as the real problem is I just need to spend more on the engine.........as you know I still have the stock GX cam in the thing BUT as removing weight (allowed in the rules) only costs me time I do a little here and there. By September I should have shed another 40-50lbs. Unfortunately at 130lbs I don't have the option most drivers do in the weight shedding department.

Tom

my old L18 powered 1200 race car weighed 851kg (1872lb) with 1/2 tank of fuel. With L18, Skyline stumpy box, BW diff, front and rear spoilers, flares, 7" wide wheels, and a fairly extensive steel cage, where we used the larger spec tube for rear stays and diagonals as well.

IPRA rules requiered all steel panels, bumpers, full glass, all winder mechanisms, full dash and interior trim below window line (excluding carpet), locks, lights, wipers...

I really didn't do any weight saving work. Still had all the unnecasary brackets on the body and stuff like that. Big heavy lead acid battery, steel frame seat, full exhaust (2.5") with big muffler...

We have a Spec Miata series here in the States but the minimum weight and rules are such that no one has to go to crazy lengths..........having raced a Miata I can tell you they are very fun.

As for drilled out bolts, with my bike background I can say this is nothing new. My 30 yr old MX bike has a couple of hollow bolts on it from the factory as well as some titanium. You can actually buy hardware that has been machined with maximum lightness in mind. Ever notice the dished out heads on motorcycle race bikes and socket head bolts weigh less then the regular...........these are bikes trying to shed mere pounds.

Needless to say the whole Lotus-ifying of a 1200 could get really pricey.

Tom

my bloody goodness drilling bolts is getting pretty hairy!!

In the old forum there is a sub 600kg 1200 coupe from a new zealand racer
he used to post often in the past but havent heard much of him since he
had a scuffle with a zealous member. Its a shame we welcomed his insight.

Hi Tom
We have an MX5 (Miata) series here in Australia that is very competitive. This leads to all sorts of engineering ideas.

Apart from swiss cheesing all of the brackets and running dry cell miniature batteries one of the most amazing tricks I have seen is the centres drilled out of all of the bolts.