Weighed my Wife's boat

[2008 V6]

FYI - For Comparison

2008 V6 Premium, 8 gallons of fuel, 2010 front manual seats, gutted trunk, rear lower seat half removed, 9.5”x18” rims– P265-40-18, T-5 re-built w/ upgraded main shaft & gear cluster, 3.5” aluminum drive shaft, 8.8 rear end, Very, very heavy FRPP dual exhaust, Wilwood 6P-Superlights & 14" rotors, larger radiator, square tubing rear lower control arms & adjustable upper rear arm, FRPP lower front control arms, Koni yellows, Steeda springs, .875” solid rear sway bar, 1.375” tubular front sway bar – TONS of other little sht not changing weight much. All power accessories left operational. The car is a daily driver / training tool.
Total investment – $20,372.00 including cost of car- (Not including time).

3325 LBS

LF 924 RF 911
LR 752 RR 738

With my Fat Arse & gear - Wife is 100LBs less

3527 LBS

LF 1007 RF 919
LR 820 RR 781

If my wife gets serious 65LBS approx. more weight added but better distributed & NASA TTC. Will stile be kept as a DD but manual rack. Currently she is running HPTD. NASA TTC - Way too heavy to be competetive.

 

[SS KILLR]

Wow, That was intresting....

 

[Vorshlag-Fair]

That's not too bad, actually. The S197 is not a lightweight car. Here's some other S197 weights for comparison.

2006 GT, World Challenge spec motor, heavy 18x9" wheels

Bone stock 2006 GT

My bone stock 2013 GT

My 2013 GT with 18x10" wheels and 295 tires (yes, it lost weight over the stock 18x8" wheels and 235mm tires)

My 2011 Mustang GT "Brembo" car, bone stock, low fuel, minus the "trunk junk"

Same stock 2011 GT with a FULL tank and all the trunk junk

Same 2011 GT in SCCA "STX" race trim, weighed at an SCCA ProSolo in 2011. Race seats, light 18x9" wheels

Same 2011 in "STU" class form (wider wheels) and some new mods

Same 2011 in SCCA "ESP" trim, right after the 2012 Solo Nationals. 18x12" wheels and 315/30/18 tires


Sorry for the deluge of weight pics, but we've been keeping an eye on the S197 weights for a while and thought I'd share. Currently our 2011 GT's "required race weight" is now 3780 lbs, with driver (me @ 200 lbs), to meet the 9.5:1 power to weight ratio. That along with 424 whp puts it right at the limit for TT3, which we'll be running this weekend at the NASA Texas MSR-Houston event (similar to the set-up shown below).

Cheers,

 

[SS KILLR]

So the OP's wife's car is better than avg?

 

[Vorshlag-Fair]

So the OP's wife's car is better than avg?

Well, her car is a V6 Mustang... which is considerably lighter than a V8 Mustang, both in the motor and in the trans. Plus he has some mods, which might contribute further?

We're about to re-weigh my 2011 GT in the Vorshlag shop in a few minutes, to verify the weight for the new TT3 NASA classing for this year. Since I saw this thread I will weigh it with the lighter 18x10" street wheels as well as the 18x11/18x12" race set-up. We might need to add about 40 pounds of ballast to make the minimum weight for the power we are making.

 

[kevinatfms]

ill try to get a screen shot here in the next 2 weeks of my car on the trash scales. i dont know how accurate they are compared to the digi scales that Terry is using but im willing to bet its darn close.

im hoping for sub 3300 how i sit and 3400 flat with cage and fluids.

 

[fdjizm]

Mine was 3490 with a 1/4 tank of gas without me in it sometime last year.

 

[SoundGuyDave]

Mine is NOT overly gutted, and has a lot of steel in the cage, and hits the scales at 3154 with 1/4 tank and no driver... 3400 is EASILY doable!

 

[hunterwiley]

FWIW, my car with me in it (200lbs) and nearly empty fuel tank is 3343lbs. That's with a cast iron boss block stroker engine in the nose... 53% front weight, 47% rear weight...

 

[kevinatfms]

Mine is NOT overly gutted, and has a lot of steel in the cage, and hits the scales at 3154 with 1/4 tank and no driver... 3400 is EASILY doable!

if i could get that low i would be very, very happy. although i dont trust my scales 100%. for the cars it can pull away from it certainly makes me think im lower than my 3390 original weight reading.

 

[2008 V6]

I’m busy at work & just made some other posts – I’m Glad others are posting weights for comparison. 12.00:1 Weight to HP for TTC. Fast enough to have fun so the wife can learn. Here is a link to last years NASA TT rules. I haven’t read this years yet.

http://www.nasaproracing.com/rules/time_trial_rules.pdf

 

[2008 V6]

Mine is NOT overly gutted, and has a lot of steel in the cage, and hits the scales at 3154 with 1/4 tank and no driver... 3400 is EASILY doable!

Very interesting weight comparisons. Thanks to all for posting. The only reference I had was a friends 2010 Drift car converted to 2013 Exterior –
3000Lbs without driver. They had to add a lot of weight to bring it up to legal spec. 8 or 10 gallon dry-sump reservoir because only so much lead could be legally added.
Whipple blown 5.0 running on E-85 – 700+RWHP

 

[SoundGuyDave]

I haven't bothered to read through the Formula-D tech rules (frankly could care less), but from what I've seen, drift cages are orders of magnitude lighter-duty (smaller diameter tubing, thinner walls, less overall coverage) than a true road-race cage. 3000lbs isn't hard with that little steel, and if you start cutting out the chassis structure, you can save even more weight. I wouldn't recommend that if you're open-tracking the car, though!

 

[Vorshlag-Fair]

I haven't bothered to read through the Formula-D tech rules (frankly could care less), but from what I've seen, drift cages are orders of magnitude lighter-duty (smaller diameter tubing, thinner walls, less overall coverage) than a true road-race cage. 3000lbs isn't hard with that little steel, and if you start cutting out the chassis structure, you can save even more weight. I wouldn't recommend that if you're open-tracking the car, though!

Yes, Drift cars generally tend to have some of the most under-built cages in all of motorsports. And sometimes the shops preparing these go to extensive lengths to remove weight from the chassis by cutting out all sorts of structure. It is no wonder that body panels go flying when they tap anything. At the GTA event we competed in last year they had drift cars. These guys often lost parts of the body just going thru the dirt a little. In my view these are pretty fragile, fly-weight cars. But they need to be light, and they don't need to be over-built with heavy cages for what they do. I get that.

Bumpers and hoods and fenders were a'flyin!

The crashes that drift cars tend to have are almost always car vs wall, usually glancing blows, at somewhat low speeds and usually at pretty oblique angles, so I guess this works for those situations.

Above are some pictures from Rhys Millen's drift Hyundai, which he used to beat the Pikes Peak record in 2012. I crawled all over the car during practice runs when nobody was around and the whole car is made from teeny-tiny tubing, and not much of it. Much of the unibody structure is gone and the cage wouldn't pass any tech inspection this side of drifting. But it passed for PPIHC. Long story, but they allow any cage that meats any other outside racing group's regulations, even Formula-D. Which has almost no rules.

Just a couple of many crashes at PPIHC in 2012

A cage like this for blasting up Pikes Peak is pretty much a death wish, and we saw how many types of roll cages worked in some of the worst crashes at last year's event. Luckily, Rhys can drive well and didn't have any of the nasty weather to contend with - so he didn't crash, and I have respect for both his driving and his courage for going up that mountain with so little crash protection. Must have a special seat to fit his giant BALLS in there.

Anyway... just pointing out the difference in a drift cage/chassis and a proper road racing cage/chassis. The cages in rally cars make these all seem wimpy, too, but when you see the crashes those guys get into... whoo! Hitting trees and giant boulders, falling off cliffs, it ain't pretty and they don't skimp on cages.

For a road course cage (8 point) figure 100-150 pounds of roll cage tubing (or more) needs to be added, and virtually none of the body structure removed.

 

[2008 V6]

I haven't bothered to read through the Formula-D tech rules (frankly could care less), but from what I've seen, drift cages are orders of magnitude lighter-duty (smaller diameter tubing, thinner walls, less overall coverage) than a true road-race cage. 3000lbs isn't hard with that little steel, and if you start cutting out the chassis structure, you can save even more weight. I wouldn't recommend that if you're open-tracking the car, though!

Thanks Dave, I feel the same about Formula D but that's how they make thier living - The cage is 1.5" DOM tube fully gusseted. Should be well within SCCA specs. The guy built the car for his wife. Fiberglass door skins & front fenders ECT, ECT. Built for drifting but with a few changes could be run on a road course no problems. Driver sits in the middle of the car.
BMI Racing - Should be able to Google it.

 

[2008 V6]

Yes, Drift cars generally tend to have some of the most under-built cages in all of motorsports. And sometimes the shops preparing these go to extensive lengths to remove weight from the chassis by cutting out all sorts of structure. It is no wonder that body panels go flying when they tap anything. At the GTA event we competed in last year they had drift cars. These guys often lost parts of the body just going thru the dirt a little. In my view these are pretty fragile, fly-weight cars. But they need to be light, and they don't need to be over-built with heavy cages for what they do. I get that.

The white Mustang in your Pic is theirs. The has been launched 6+ feet in the air backward at 80+ mph. off a cement barricade - didn’t hurt the cage or affect alignment - Just folded the back half which it was meant to do & yes most cages are under built & theirs could be stronger as could most.
No flame war please. Just posting info for comparison sake. I’m not a guru just a poor sap that knows just enough to get himself into trouble.

 

[Vorshlag-Fair]

The white Mustang in your Pic is theirs. The has been launched 6+ feet in the air backward at 80+ mph. off a cement barricade - didn’t hurt the cage or affect alignment - Just folded the back half which it was meant to do & yes most cages are under built & theirs could be stronger as could most.

No flame war please. Just posting info for comparison sake. I’m not a guru just a poor sap that knows just enough to get himself into trouble.

Its all good - any tech is always welcome. Funny that the car you were talking about was one that our photographer Brandon snapped and the one Mustang pic I happened to post.

I'm not trying to slam drifters or their cages, just pointing out that their cages tend to be very different (and significantly lighter) from road race or rally cages.

 

[SoundGuyDave]

I'm not trying to slam drifters or their cages, just pointing out that their cages tend to be very different (and significantly lighter) from road race or rally cages.

Exactly. No hate from me, either. Not a fan of drifting as a competitive sport, but respect the car control skills. The main thing I was trying to point out is that to MANY people, "a cage is a cage." Thus drag=drift=road-race=rally, and it couldn't be further from the truth. Sort of the same way with tires, really: Tire A is a 315mm tire, and Tire B is a 235mm tire. The bigger one has more grip, right? Not if the 315 is a Nitto NT555, and the 235 is a Hoosier A6...

 

[2008 V6]

Thanks guys – About tires – it amazes me that a P245 by one manufacture might be closer to a 265 or 235 by another – Won’t even get in to rating checked with a Durometer - whole other story as to what people are supplied by sponsers & what is readily available to the average consumer.

 

[SoundGuyDave]

It's all about marketing... If "my" 245 tire grips better than "your" 245 tire, and they're the same UTQG, is it because the tire design is better, or because the width number on the sidewall is a bit, um, conservative? Pure marketing.