Impreza Weight Saving

Cod · Post by **Cod** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 10:21 am

Don't know whether you read Jap performance but they had an article in there a few months back about saving weight on inertia parts - flywheel, propshaft and cam wheels. It said that for every kilo of inertia you save it's worth 10kgs of kerb weight. They we're using their project Scoob as an example too!

Also unsprung weight is supposed to be a biggy as you get handling benefits aswell as weight loss too. If you're looking into getting another set of wheels for track use you could look for something lighter plus lightweight wheel nuts. Again in Jap performance they put Rota rims on their project Scoob and saved a few kilos.

The seats & bonnet should be good ones though as that should take some weight off the front of the car - have you thought of relocating the battery (very heavy) to the rear or even getting a lightweight one?

COD

duncan · Post by **duncan** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 10:26 am

Lightweight wheel nuts are already there

I am not sure how much the standard Enkei alloys weight on my scoob ... I have a spare set of those so will weight them to see whether it is a potential future upgrade.

Flywheel, and pulleys will only get changed on mine when/if the clutch gives up the ghost

mike-payne · Post by **mike-payne** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 12:44 pm

I'm clearly not serious enough abourt my track days! :?
Firstly weight saving on the car is pointless, if i'm not prepared to loose weight myself! :oops:
Plus i always take a passenger out with me, pointless hogging all the fun to myself....

But that said, i would spend the money on instruction..... as your more likely to get quicker through technique than by removing weight...
As was demonstarted when i took the ESC karting chalenge and managed the 2nd fastest lap time, just a few thousands slower than the fastest, who was clearley 3+ stones lighter than me!

duncan · Post by **duncan** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 12:50 pm

lol @ mike

mike-payne · Post by **mike-payne** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 12:57 pm

:thumb:

Pavlo · Post by **Pavlo** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 10:18 pm

Don't bother with the bonnet, the OE one is aluminium and very light. You could get an RA alumnium rear bootlid. The seats all save lots of weight, and you could get some other RA bits like the bumper bar. An aftermarket lower brace will save a fair bit of weight.

Lightweight flywheel, pulleys etc

My car weighs 1120kg in track spec, 1100 kg in drag spec. That will be reduced somewhat over the winter.

Paul

duncan · Post by **duncan** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 11:08 pm

Thanks Paul - I am guessing that there wont be many places in the uk where I can get the RA stuff from?

benh · Post by **benh** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 9:09 am

Can you get carbon doors for a scoob?

Normally doors are a very heavy item and you can get a good weight saving there.

Also switching out the glass will save you a good bit of weight.

Cheers,

Ben.

mike-payne · Post by **mike-payne** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 9:22 am

I would seriously think hard about changing doors for carbon fibre or any other material, as this is also your every day runaround.
As a closures engineer, i'm only too well aware of all the requirements on a door for side impact and front impact.
Sadly people don't consider that the load path for many vehicles in the event of front end crash is through the top roll of the door.
Without that strength the car buckles and no one want's to consider the results then.
I guess you can ignore this if you plan to go fro the expensne and weight of adding a roll frame.

duncan · Post by **duncan** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 10:50 am

Carbon doors are a little extreme for me at the moment partly due to the reasons mike says but also cost wise - plenty wonker. For the time attack series, I would need a full cage then with cross bar door bars and it then defeats the object and spoils the daily driver ability of my car.

Boot Lid/spoiler and some undercar stuff could be changed to do this along with the seat change.