Power to weight**

[davey_83]

Me and a good pal was chatting and had different views, the question posed was 

 

"would you rather an extra 30bhp from your Zed or have it weigh 150kg less?" 

 

 

Edited February 11, 2018 by davey_83

[Ekona]

Less weight, every time. Not even close. The car will be much, much more responsive and a hell of a lot quicker than by adding a little bit of power.

[Jay84]

I'd always go less weight too. Sometimes the weight loss is cheaper to achieve too.

[davey_83]

In a straight line possibly both options would perform similar? 

[Ekona]

Maybe, but it's ultimately irrelevent as the lower weight car will stop quicker, turn quicker, be more fuel efficient etc.

 

Absolute no brainer.

[LRF4N]

A lot of people stress weight loss for better handling but I remember watching a short documentary on the GTR and the engineer was saying extra weight for cornering stability was priority over performance 

[OnlyAfro]

1 minute ago, LRF4N said:

A lot of people stress weight loss for better handling but I remember watching a short documentary on the GTR and the engineer was saying extra weight for cornering stability was priority over performance 

That's cos they wanted the GT-R to be easy to drive for everyone - it could corner faster if it was lighter, but more people would crash them.

[Ekona]

7 minutes ago, LRF4N said:

A lot of people stress weight loss for better handling but I remember watching a short documentary on the GTR and the engineer was saying extra weight for cornering stability was priority over performance 

Then why did they make the Nismo version lighter?

 

Engineers are PR people as much as any one these days. Andreas Preuninger is a master at it.

[LRF4N]

Fair points. Don’t worry I wasn’t saying stick in cement bags to make cars handle better  

[Jay84]

I don't think a straight line would be equal. There is bound to be complex maths involved, but I believe less weight will aid in the increase and decrease of speed.  With handing the weight needs to be in the right place.  My mk1 golf was very tail happy without 2 bags of grit in the back.  I guess the compromise would be light weight with effective aero.  

[StevoD]

if we are talking drag racing take 150Kg out the rear of the car and you'll struggle to get off the line as well 

[Jay84]

Hmm good point. The only reason I was able to be beat the tt supra was because of my cars fat ass giving good grip. 

[Stutopia]

“Simplify, then add lightness.”

[AMT]

Less weight always, I could always tell the diff in handling when 'certain weight' passengers got in lol. Even with little fuel you tend to notice a little difference. 

[350Butcher]

To quote the great man himself

 

"Adding power makes you faster on the straights. Subtracting weight makes you faster everywhere"