Lightweight GT3RS

[steve rance]

We are working on shedding 100kg from the 996GT3RS. That will bring a non aircon car down to 1230KGs.... Which will be nice!

Will keep you guys updated.

[steve rance]

Mark_H said:

steve rance said:

We are working on shedding 100kg from the 996GT3RS. That will bring a non aircon car down to 1230KGs.... Which will be nice!

Will keep you guys updated.

Are you racing the car?

If not, why are you wasting your money trying to gain tengths on a track day? Even if your aim is to go that bit quicker and if I remember correctly you tow your car to most tracks, then why don't you just buy a cup car?

1. No
2. Because it consumes consumables a lot slower ( ask any 964Rs or 993RS driver), is nicer to driver and quicker.
3. I rarely tow anywhere
4. It's a fun excersise.

[steve rance]

Mark_H said:

richardb.jones said:

I doubt the RS will have any surplus 'fat' - I've removed near 80Kg from my C4 - all rear seats,carpets,side panels, front storage carpets, plastics etc Removed another 20Kg by removing the A/C (totally), replaced the battery with a much smaller one 45Ah vs 80Ah (saving 3Kg..)

Car now sounds like a cup car inside but sounds great ! Only issue is putting it all back together again ... ;-)

PS - Disagree entirely on the 'waste of time' post - I have noticed a significant change in the way the car handles, brakes and is generally more 'nimble' even if it has only lost 100ish Kg's (on a heavy C4). Two C2S's at Bedford the other week certainly didn't believe it was a standard (but lightended) 300BHP C4 when I passed them ... :

How Steve chooses to spend his money is non of my business - I am just trying to understand the rationale behind stripping an already very fast track car! An alternative is that he could sell the GT3 RS and buy a cup car which would be quicker and pocket the difference!

Re. stripping your car, each to their own... but sounds like you will be drving around in a very hot and noisy tin can when not on track!

its not my car and its not my money either!

[steve rance]

Mark_H said:

steve rance said:

We are working on shedding 100kg from the 996GT3RS. That will bring a non aircon car down to 1230KGs.... Which will be nice!

Will keep you guys updated.

Are you racing the car?

If not, why are you wasting your money trying to gain tengths on a track day? Even if your aim is to go that bit quicker and if I remember correctly you tow your car to most tracks, then why don't you just buy a cup car?

Seriously though

If a driver is regularly tracking a GT3RS he will find his consumables bill very heavy compared to earliers Rs's. Surplus weight helps eat those consumables and profoundly effects the dynamics of the car. Everything is a balance and a lot of RS owners wouldn't be interested in shedding 100KG. After driving Timbo's car, it shows just how good the car can be... just beautiful. I think that a lot of owners would be interested..

Anyway, I'll let you guys know how it goes.

[steve rance]

ninemeister said:

Steve, the answer is so simple it is untrue....



Simply remove the radiators, water pipes, water & antifreeze, pull out the old engine and fit a more powerful aircooled engine in its place.

Ha ha ha . . . . I was waiting for that one Colin.

see you at Goodwood tomorrow?

Steve

[steve rance]

DanH said:

willr said:

DanH said:

The Cayman is suprisingly lardy.

But according to those figures it's lighter than a GT3RS...

Barely, and I was just pointing out that Caymans aren't really light at all, despite people seeming to assume they are. By the time you've specced up your Cayman I can bet its heavier than the RS too (those weights apparently do include the RSs cage etc).

A GT3RS without front cage and air con is 1330Kg. We weighed the Parr car, which is non air con. The bloody air con weighs 30KG on it's own aparently. It wasn't origionally standard equipment for UK cars but potential buyers created such a stink that Porsche changed thier minds. It's a bit like a waiter stirring up an Irish coffee really... Seems mad, after creating beautiful carbon panels and plastic glass to save weight. I've driven a lot of laps in that car and the heat has never bothered me.

But then, if you can feel the heat you aint driving fast enough...

Now, where are those pins.........

[steve rance]

Ha ha.. I can't leave you lot alone for 5 minutes can I!

A cup car will probably suffer more abuse in one race than a track day car would suffer in years. Cup cars are great but second hand ones are generally well used and bloody expensive and impractical to run. They burn clutches easily and break gearboxes with unfortunante regularity. Running a cup car is not really a viable alternative unless it is brand new and they are not cheap...

[steve rance]

Joe911 said:

steve rance said:

A cup car will probably suffer more abuse in one race than a track day car would suffer in years. Cup cars are great but second hand ones are generally well used and bloody expensive and impractical to run. They burn clutches easily and break gearboxes with unfortunante regularity. Running a cup car is not really a viable alternative unless it is brand new and they are not cheap...

2nd hand Cup cars seem reasonably priced, IMHO. It might seem reasonable to suggest that prices will drop as more are available due to people moving to 997 Cup's.
They are only impractical as they cannot be run on the road (without conversion).
I don't agree that they burn clutches, unless the user is a clutz.
Gearboxes are very solid in my experience.
Track day use of a Cup car would be a fraction of what they get when racing and so the ongoing maintanance costs should not be particularly high. Running any car regularly on track is never going to be cheap - even is you just look at tyres and brakes costs

I know of at least one front running cup driver that burnt out 3 clutches in his first test. He's not a clutz but I hear what you say. Running an ex racing car as a track car is fraught with problems because these cars have had such a hard life. Track day use is a walk in the park by comparison and if they go wrong it aint cheap. You cant get finance on one and there is no warranty on the engine, gearbox or anything else. On that basis 35 - 50 grand is just too much of a risk as far as I am concerned.

[steve rance]

francisb said:

steve rance said:

Running an ex racing car as a track car is fraught with problems because these cars have had such a hard life. Track day use is a walk in the park by comparison

why? forgeting race cars making contact for a second the only thing i can think of that trackday cars dont do is standing starts. but they do lap for about 8 times as long in 1 day as your average race.

Get a cup car that is say, 5 races old (thats about 5 - 8 hours running with testing) and get a rev range two print out. you will be amazed how long the engine has spent in rev range two through snatched or missed gear changes. Then check for panel damage on and under the car. You will probably find that many panels have been replaced through contact, the under side of the car is dented though high speed spins on the grass. Factor that over two seasons and - even if the car has been maintained at no expense (which it probably hasnt) - you may have a very tired car.

Motor racing is so much different to track day driving. The Parr car has done 100's of laps of testing but only has about 2 seconds of rev range 2. If it had been racing, it would be about 2 minutes of reve range 2. Its pretty easy testing a car when you are not fighting for track space. Factor in 20 other cars around you only inches apart and even the most experienced of racing drivers tense up a little, make more mistakes and are harder on controls.

I had a long conversation with Paul Robe about this recently. Racing put so much more stress on all of the components of a car.