Mass Reduction & Acceleration Improvement:

[Ads4]

Forget all of it. It's an Audi road car. Apart from rolling radius of wheels, maybe some dynamat and perhaps some heavier brakes, Zerok66 car is much the same as DavidT's in most aspects I'd say. The difference in power and similarity in times point to one thing only IMO - Davids greater experieince. In time I am sure Leon will get his times down through practice if he so wishes.

I was never close to the start line for any of their runs to observe the launches, wish I had now.

Very apt Graham and probably the most important point. Experience. Just keep practicing Leon and your times'll come down. The more you toy with the idea of serious weight saving, the less practical you'll make your car for everyday use. Would be interesting to let Dave have a couple of runs in your car to see what time he can post-it might just show you that with experience and the set up you've already got, you CAN crack 11s.

[DavidT]

You are all missing the obvious one. It's so well known, I'm surprised nobody has mentioned it yet.

Paul

Oh I know

the weight of the countless flies stuck to Leons bright yellow car. There was so many of them yesterday.

Youre right. Silver would be a faster colour!!!!

rubbish........
I would say yr all fat bastards that need to go on a diet ..... hahaha

Harsh but fair in my case 6ft1 & 16.5 stone. A bit hard on Leon though

No need to help with this S4TAN

[saf]

Thats why I didnt do a 1/4 mile.

5ft 7 and 16.5 stone.

I really need to shed some stones!!!!!

[S4TAN]

Harsh but fair in my case 6ft1 & 16.5 stone. A bit hard on Leon though

No need to help with this S4TAN

Don't worry David - you're only half a stone heavier than me at the same height ...

Rolskii only weighs 3 grams - maybe Leon should lend him his car and let him do the 1/4 mile at the next Pod session ...

[DavidT]

Hey guys,

Well... all the talk of the Pole Position seats, this weekends Santa Pod trip has got me thinking.

I would really love to break into the 11 second barrier with my car and I think with pure driving skill (Which I dont have much of) this can be done, but it could be helped with a little weight loss and a few other bits and bobs.

First things first... the seats which have been mentioned... 30kg for the Recaros and about 7-9kg for the Pole Possition Seats. That is one hell of a saving + the Pole Possition seats look gorgeous! Anyone out there who owns a set PLEASE take me for a long drive?

Secondly - a light weight flywheel. This is something my car is crying out for now. I have the standard dual mass flywheel at the moment and this cant be helping matters for me. What flywheel are you guys using out there & what are the weight savings on these?

Nex thing is brakes... I have the brembo 8-pots & 365mm RS6+ disks - all of this must weigh an absolutel tonne... surely a set of 4-pots & 330mm disks would be more than ample to stop the car with a rear brake upgrade too? This again would reduce weight.

I am happy with my 19" BS CH's - weighing about 20kg WITH tyre, they are a very light wheel & suit the car quite well.

I will be having my car's audio install re-done professionally... I may ditch my big sub box and go for something light weight that gives me more boot space. I may consider removing all the dynamat too - all I want is boom boom with fair clarity not perfection.

Then again - I have a ~12.4s / 190MPH car with 4 doors, big comfy seats fully loaded with every gadget & creature comfort in the world, why would I want to go faster?

Whatever you do next Leon, the main thing is that you've spent your cash on the car, then put it (and yourself) on the track to have a go. Fair play to you There seem to be plenty of 'trackside' experts here

[si_hill]

Whatever you do next Leon, the main thing is that you've spent your cash on the car, then put it (and yourself) on the track to have a go. Fair play to you There seem to be plenty of 'trackside' experts here

Nail on the head. I say fair play to Leon for giving it a go. GTI International is coming up in 3 weeks time so plenty more opportunity to record a sub 12 second 1/4 mile. I think I might even give the avant an outing on the strip.

Out of interest what rpms were you guys launching at?

[rolskii]

Harsh but fair in my case 6ft1 & 16.5 stone. A bit hard on Leon though

No need to help with this S4TAN

Don't worry David - you're only half a stone heavier than me at the same height ...

Rolskii only weighs 3 grams - maybe Leon should lend him his car and let him do the 1/4 mile at the next Pod session ...

...

I will happily take any decent car for a run if the owner wishes...
I may be tempted to run mine if I get it all sorted ..... it was a good day out..... much amusement to be had ....

[GrahamS4]

Get your names down for GTI International guys, take 2...............

[buzzard]

last years quickest car at gti inter was a mk 1 golf
but it did have a blown 5 pot audi lump with 4 wheel drive
that was one quick peice of engineering!!!
i think brett was one of the quickest audi's but was struggling with aquamist.
he was still low 4secs for 0/60
his launch was good to watch ,, the whole car seemed to lift .

[S4TAN]

ummm ... can we have a discourse on technique for a total thicky like me...?

Sundays Pod session was the first time i've been to anything like that... it was great fun and i want to go again, and next time i'd like to see what my Panzer will do time-wise...

I went to the start line and watched the light sequence. From what i could make out it goes: staged (1st set of little amber lights), then staged again (2nd set of little amber lights), then a bunch of 4 big amber lights - and when they all go out you launch ... yes/no?

Question for the dudes that ran on Sunday: what were you doing rev-wise during the light sequence? And how were you launching (sidestep?) ... at what revs?

OT question I know ... but i'm interested, and need to know some technique to practice if i'm going to run ... so not gonna apologise ... hahaha!

[GrahamS4]

You were meant to use a technique? Now you ******* tell me!


From http://www.rwyb.co.uk/beginners.htm

2) Roll up to the start line slowly when the starter beckons you forward. Try and stay roughly level with your opponent.

3) As your front wheels reach the start line, a pair of orange bulbs will light on your side of the starting "tree" This means you are "pre-staged" and you are just inches away from being in the right position.

4) Roll forward a fraction more, and another pair of orange bulbs will light below the first pair. This means that you are in the right starting position.

5) When both you and your opponent have all staging lights lit, you are ready to go, so lift you engine revs, and get ready to drop the clutch..the starting tree lights will flash orange and then immediately green. Now is the time to GO! GO! GO!

The starter I found not quite as helpful as described. Glad I read this before I went and also had a talk with a guy in the queue just before. To be honest after staging I never saw any lights flash, I just saw green, it does happend quite fast.

I was happiest pulling up quickly and getting staged first. That was my revs were set and I was ready.

[DavidT]

ummm ... can we have a discourse on technique for a total thicky like me...?

Sundays Pod session was the first time i've been to anything like that... it was great fun and i want to go again, and next time i'd like to see what my Panzer will do time-wise...

I went to the start line and watched the light sequence. From what i could make out it goes: staged (1st set of little amber lights), then staged again (2nd set of little amber lights), then a bunch of 4 big amber lights - and when they all go out you launch ... yes/no?

Question for the dudes that ran on Sunday: what were you doing rev-wise during the light sequence? And how were you launching (sidestep?) ... at what revs?

OT question I know ... but i'm interested, and need to know some technique to practice if i'm going to run ... so not gonna apologise ... hahaha!

It is off topic here, you're right. Why not cut and paste the questions into a new thread in general car chat? that way, anyone interested can read and contribute, rather than just us in here who are are already reading this thread because of the title and subsequent content ?

I have a good link with lots of info. I'll find it and post it.

[S4TAN]

Thanks Graham.

paste the questions into a new thread in general car chat?

Done!

[DavidT]

I've read through the thread and summarised the weight reduction suggestions with a guess at the saving for each:

Easy to do:

Recaro Pole Positions: -40 kgs

Lightweight Flywheel: -6 kgs + 30 ft lbs of torque

Smaller brake kit: -6 kgs ?

Lighter wheels: -20 kgs ?

Smaller battery –3 kgs ?

Carbon fibre bonnet –15 kgs ?

Carbon fibre front wings –3 kgs ?

Carbon fibre bootlid –5 kgs ?

These add up to 98 kg and dont significantly impact on the useability of the car IMO


Not so easy / practical:

Removal of: carpets, sound deadening, headlining, stereo, window motors, headlight wash system

Replacement of glass with plastic,

Air conditioning removal -30kgs

Replacement of underseal -30 kgs

[lemond]

Then start grinding all the excessive lugs off things.... cut all the bolts to minimum length.... And then alloy fastners in the non stressed bits

How about MMC composite discs or ceramic ones..... save that rotational mass.... Oh it can get as daft (expensve) as you want..... to be honest though he first few things I've mentioned are pretty simple to do... O aye and fit a tiny washer bottle or drain most of the water, plus run it on minimum fuel