Weight Reduction INFO

Twinturbo

Junior Member
Messages
101
The best combination for outright acceleration is finding the lightest rear wheel and decreasing the profile to the largest degree which won’t compromise the weight load rating , Moving from my 295/30/19 to my 285/30/18 lighter wheel
And a ratio drop of 5% is a very noticeable difference and dropped around .3-.5sec on the 0-100kph runs consistently , naturally u will also end up with a lower profile tyre so handling will improve but ride quality will suffer so there’s always pros and cons that’s why I always have multiple wheel setups for my cars
 

Mott The Hoople

Junior Member
Messages
188
Agreed Andy, and the most cost effective way for most people to go faster on a trackday is to spend some time with an ARDS licensed instructor. I am willing to wager most people will see a much more significant drop in lap time than stripping weight out of a 4200 ro similar.

But Americans only drive in straight lines. They're like the Romans. ....which brings us back to Italy!
 

Tufan

Member
Messages
233
The best combination for outright acceleration is finding the lightest rear wheel and decreasing the profile to the largest degree which won’t compromise the weight load rating , Moving from my 295/30/19 to my 285/30/18 lighter wheel
And a ratio drop of 5% is a very noticeable difference and dropped around .3-.5sec on the 0-100kph runs consistently , naturally u will also end up with a lower profile tyre so handling will improve but ride quality will suffer so there’s always pros and cons that’s why I always have multiple wheel setups for my cars

As you are doing tracks, how is the control on track? Maserati explained one of the reasons for GS to handle better was the 19" new wheels. If it's only the lower profile of the 19" and you do the same for 18" and the logic remains for better handling.

Can you suggest which BBS fits as 18" and I can also use 290 or 295? I'll go for Pirelli Trofeos as I hear quite good things about them.
 

spkennyuk

Member
Messages
5,930
Personally I am very into the effect of weight but I personally can't see the point of taking a heavy car and trying to make it lighter to improve lap time on a track day. As I said earlier you will greatly improve your lap time and enjoyment with some decent instruction and it will cost a fraction of trying to lighten the car.

Also Zag's point is a good example of many a true word is spoken in jest. I remember standing on the pit wall at Silverstone waiting for our Free Practice to start watching young drivers in a Fiesta championship (we were running a Formula Ford) a father was asking the guys running his (16 year olds approx) son's car that was the slowest in the field by some margin what they could do to make it quicker, intimating money wasn't an object. When their session ended the cars came in and this dad went over to his son's car and when this lad got out he must have been 18 or 20 stone so he probably weighed more than double all the other kids his age he was racing against! Need I say more?

If I want a light track day car I would start with a light car ie my Lotus 340R or similar.

Having said that if you are going to remove heavy items from something like a 4200 you also need to consider how it will affect the weight distribution because if you change that it can alter the handling characteristics of the car.

For example when we ran the Ginetta G50 in the 09 FIA GT4 Euro championship the BoP got really silly and the extra weight imposed on us had to go in the FIA approved ballast tray which bolted into the area where a passenger seat would be in a road car and this played havoc with the balance of the car. To compensate Ginetta produced an extra thick steel rear floor to replace the GRP one to help us add weight legally elsewhere in the car.

Even on a road car you will be amazed at the difference doing the corner weights can make to the feel and balance of the car. We did the corner weights on my old Impreza STi Spec D and it transformed the handling, made it much more like my previous WR1 in terms of handling balance.

As an aside I am lucky enough to have spent a fair amount of time sat in on instruction with one of the worlds best race driver coaches, this is obviously way beyond track day stuff but alot of what is being taught is how to manage the weight transfer in the car as you drive round the circuit and the driving techniques to best achieve this, fascinating stuff.

If the lad was 18 stone i can save them 50 kgs by me driving it instead :laugh:

The downside of being slim is you slide about on the seat more so end up bracing your left leg against the centre consol on track days.
 

Ebenezer

Member
Messages
4,444
The downside of being slim is you slide about on the seat more so end up bracing your left leg against the centre consol on track days.

Yup - Found this in spades when we had the forum track day in Llandow! Left leg was knackered! But bloody good fun!
Eb
 

zagatoes30

Member
Messages
20,759
The downside of being slim is you slide about on the seat more so end up bracing your left leg against the centre consol on track days.

A long time since I have had that problem, in fact when I drove my mates R300 Caterham Superlite my shape, once in, was perfect felt like I was wearing the car which in truth I probably was. Mind you with an R300 on track you want to feel every movement as soon as possible.
 

Twinturbo

Junior Member
Messages
101
As you are doing tracks, how is the control on track? Maserati explained one of the reasons for GS to handle better was the 19" new wheels. If it's only the lower profile of the 19" and you do the same for 18" and the logic remains for better handling.

Can you suggest which BBS fits as 18" and I can also use 290 or 295? I'll go for Pirelli Trofeos as I hear quite good things about them.[/QUOT
I have a set of 19x10 295/30 and 19x9 245/35 front and they handle great I’m selling with continental and pirelli tyres in excellent condition they are better than stock by far and sit dead flush with body of the 3200gt and 4200
A good upgrade from stock if anyone’s interested
 

Tufan

Member
Messages
233
As you are doing tracks, how is the control on track? Maserati explained one of the reasons for GS to handle better was the 19" new wheels. If it's only the lower profile of the 19" and you do the same for 18" and the logic remains for better handling.

Can you suggest which BBS fits as 18" and I can also use 290 or 295? I'll go for Pirelli Trofeos as I hear quite good things about them.[/QUOT
I have a set of 19x10 295/30 and 19x9 245/35 front and they handle great I’m selling with continental and pirelli tyres in excellent condition they are better than stock by far and sit dead flush with body of the 3200gt and 4200
A good upgrade from stock if anyone’s interested

But you provoked for 18"s for track? I'll keep original 19s for normal days as I like the GS rims. Tell me more pls about 18"s.