Adding Lightness

[Jeff 8]

What do you people do to make your vehicles lighter? Drilling holes in things, titanium bolts, removing things, smaller battery?


Jeff

[rcarr]

Not eating before the practice and the race

Going to the loo before you go out, every ounce counts!

Exchanging metal panels for GRP or carbon fibre ones, where possible.

[phoenix]

Removing everything you don't need - underseal, sound deadening, door internals - they can weigh an enormous amount, trim, excess wiring, instruments and switches, heater, air-con, spare wheel, jack!

Replacing as many items with lighter materials/components as you can - as in the battery, window glass, tanks, radiators, seats, body panels, wheels, tyres, brake calipers, suspension components. Steel floors and bulkheads can sometimes be replaced safely with alloy.

Holes are good - in the right places!

Carrying the minimum amount of fluids.

Don't overpaint - have you weighed a two and a half litre can of paint?

I'm sure the list can be added to - but I have to go to work now!

[AU N EGL]

Loose the beer gut and 20 lbs.

Rember many race classes have minium wt requirenments*. Loose as much wt as possible, so balest can be added in approprate places, close to the center of the floor pan, to lower the CoG.


* Measured after the race, with drive and fuel, in the impound period or post race tech

[tristancliffe]

Don't just drill things randomly - make sure there is enough material to take the stresses imposed, make sure it doesn't encourage stress raisers, and if necessary reinforce around the drillings.

Even better, design the part with lightening drillings already in place.

[GORDON STREETER]

Initially it's easy to get rid of a fair bit of weight by all of the above including race tyres if allowed . It then all starts getting rather silly and really expensive to get rid of a small amount . It depends like anything in motorsport, how much money you can afford to throw away.
I've never heard it called "Adding Lightness" though !

[AU N EGL]

Originally Posted by GORDON STREETER

I've never heard it called "Adding Lightness" though !

"It gets hard to add in any more lightness"...Don Garleits

American Drag racing legend.

[Dennis.Doyle]

I'd thought it had come from one of the 750MC legends, Chapman, Mallock or someone like that - but I guess a few people lay claim to it.

[Jeff 8]

Originally Posted by GORDON STREETER

I've never heard it called "Adding Lightness" though !

I always thought the term was Colin Chapman's, but I cannot find any thing at the moment to back it up.

I don't have a beer gut, I lost 10kg last year and we're still quite a bit over the class minimum. I'm trying to shave bits off for minimal cost as it's probably cheaper than trying to squeeze out more horsepower.

Jeff

[coln72]

You could also cut off any excess threads on the end of bolts, drill the centres of non structural bolts, use cable ties instead, remove any wiring from the loom that is not necessary, replace steel brackets with alloy. If you want to get really serious, you could take to your block with a grinder and remove unecessary weight from it. The list is possibly endless.

[terence]

Like the Colin Chapman story of making someone strip a car after building it,the reason being that the builder had used washers on all fixings!!

[tristancliffe]

Also, you will gain more from moving as many components as possible lower in the car to lower the CoG (including the driver) than lightening a few things. Lower CoG is more important that lowest possible weight, especially as reducing weight can start to effect reliability.

Can you move your fuse box lower, the battery to a lower point. Can you shave off 1cm off the seat mountings, so the ~75kg human is 1cm lower?

[zefarelly]

adding lightness . . .seam weld box sections and fill them with Helium

I've heard of all sorts of extreme and daft ideas, but one thing nobody in historics does is go on a diet !!!

[AU N EGL]

Originally Posted by zefarelly

I've heard of all sorts of extreme and daft ideas, but one thing nobody in historics does is go on a diet !!!

too many good stories to share after the first day in the pub.

[JohnD]

Can't find if Chapman did say it, or any of the quoted variants - "To add speed, just add lightness" , "To go faster, .....", or "Just add lightness".

His Internet biographer does say, "Chapman was unswerving in his devotion to minimalist design philosophy" . http://www.ddavid.com/formula1/chap_bio.htm
And another: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/mai...4/smstat14.xml
says that many of his innovations "involved inspired reductions to a car's weight" which both echo the thought.

Another mythical quote? So right it has to be true, even if there is no evidence?

Jhn

[phoenix]

Seems like it might be this guy who said it first:

William B. Stout (1880-1956) is remembered in aviation for his part in the design of the famous Ford Tri-Motor "Tin Goose" and in automotive circles for the Scarab, nine of which were built. His credo "Simplicate. Add lightness" was reflected in the Scarab design by eliminating running boards (allowing a wider body interior), placing the engine in the rear and incorporating a smooth airflow body, based on unit construction (no frame as such).

I think C Chapman once said "To go faster, add lightness"

[terence]

As in "If it doe,snt break ,Its too heavy".