The '99 WS-6 that Dave Shotz drove to 2nd place at nationals last year
weighed 3460 lbs without driver (530 lbs more than Bob Tunnell's car). In
a lengthy cross examination I had with him, he concluded he could lose
maybe 50 lbs from the car.
Here's the reader's digest condensed version of that discussion.
DS: I had the A/C in the Car, and ran a Full Tank, battery was
relocated to the rear (where the Spare Tire was originally located).
The problem is the only place to take off weight is from the front...
and after the A/C... there is nothing left to remove. You need the weight
on the rear to plant the tires.
JW:- Take out the radio, speakers, wiring, and antenna.
DS: My car was a 1LE... so it did have a radio, but with the minimum 4
speakers. So maybe 15lbs when all said and done.
JW: Convert from power doors (locks, windows, mirrors) to the
manual versions.
DS: my car was a 1LE, no power anything!
JW: Find a way to drive my car on nearly no gas vs the full tank
DS: this will save weight, but take from the area needed!
JW: Performance Distributors sells a 13.5 lb battery, which is about a
20 lb savings.
DS: once relocated to the rear, it is where you want the wieght.
JW: Change the front seats for racing seats. Tunnell's weigh 13 lbs
DS: I did that with the Drivers side seat, the passenger had no power
anything, and only weighed 23 lbs... so that is 10 lbs heavier than a
race seat, no a big deal.
JW: FMS sells a light-weight starter, but that may be stock on my car.
DS: GM, has a small starter with the LS1 motor.
JW: I heard that SuperTrapp mufflers are alot lighter than stock mufflers
and tail pipes.
DS: weight from where you need it, however, I only ran a single
3" exhaust... so I doubt I could get any lighter.
JW: the foglights and attaching harware and harnesses.
DS: Fogs don't even weigh a pound on the Late mode F-Body's.
JW: Which hood is lighter?
DS: WS-6 Hood is lightest made, composite from the factory, so no
savings there.
DS: The Challenge you have when you reduce my rear weight by almost
150 lbs...is now I cannot accelerate as early out of the turns. Auto-X, is
carrying speed... and with a car that is that nose heavy, you will never
make it up in the little bit of straightline acceleration. Look at what cars
are winning Jeff... Not the HP cars... it is the cars that are very well
balanced. You can try to get down to their weight, but then you
completely upset the balance of your car. Balance to me, is more
important than weight. The weight differences you are talking are at the
most .2 at a 1/4 mile dragstrip... where you are going in a straight line,
and lifting on and off the throttle. In an auto-x the car must handle, and
unfortunately for a live axle car, that also means, be able to put down
the power. With that weight split your car would be loose under
braking, and either push horribly out of a turn, or have wheel spin.
JW: I thought you could get this back through spring rate changes,
weight jacking, tuning sway bars, shocks, panhard rods,etc
DS: Sure... you would have to lift your front end about 40 inches to get
the weight transfer right! (Joke intended ;-)
If you cannot take weight off the nose (legally) you are wasting your
time. That is the only way you will be able to handle as well as the
Bimmers.
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