2012 FCRA Minimum Vehicle Weights

So Colin is now 40 pounds UNDER the 3100 lb. limit without the cool box!! A few tips for folks:

* Gut your doors. There is all sorts of framing in there for the power windows that should no longer exist in your car. Colin thought his door were lightened until he looked inside and saw how much more stuff was in there. There is even some crash protection stuff that can be pulled as it is somewhat redundant with a roll cage.

* Pull the interior trim. Look at all the leather covered bits and pieces on your A pillars, rear deck, above the doors, etc. That leather covers metal plates and all the weight adds up. This stuff is all covered by your roll cage, so you won't even notice it was removed. The center console can also be pulled, but as Colin has shown you can leave that in and still get well under the weight.

* Remove or at least trim your front hood seal. That big rubber gasket surrounding your front boot is metal on the bottom and it is a lot heavier that you think. Remove the whole thing, or as Colin did, remove 75% and leave the corners in place to maintain a tight seal.

* Lexan windshield. Yes, this one costs money but it is MUCH cheaper than glass alternatives and is safer. For those transitioning from track days to racing, you'll soon find that your windshield gets beaten up pretty bad when you run in close quarters with other cars running slicks. Eventually you will need to replace, use the lexan when you do.

* Run a smaller cool box. Our races are short and we have a crew who will refill the box before each race, take advantage of that. Colin's big Cool Shirt box when full is 30 lbs. My smaller box is 20 lbs when full. The 986 Cool Box is another great alternative that weighs about the same as the small Cool Shirt box.

* Pay attention to the small stuff. Pull the metal factory wiper blades and replace with lightweight blades like the Bosch Icon. I suspect you won't be reading in your car, pull that interior light just over the rear window.

All of this stuff is free or in the case of the windshield, cheaper than the factory alternative. It just takes a little elbow grease.

One other bit of trivia related to weight. The factory 355CH OMP WRC carbon seat weighs 10 lbs. I replaced mine with a fiberglass OMP HTE halo seat and gained 13 lbs in the process.

 

Rob summarized what we did to my car. There is more to be had by removing excess harness, all the front lighting pieces (most of us have done that) and the multitude of brackets that no longer have anything to support in the front trunk. I did not do that because of time and fear factor.

I have also removed everything that is behind the dash except the instruments, and I added back a demisting fan that is derived from a helmet fan and is connected to the demisting outlets.

I should add that I do not have cats (most of us do not) or a silencer and have installed a lighter heat shield for the headers. all our headers come out at some point (whether for belts or because they crack) and that's a good time to rengineer the insulation.

I also removed both the engine compartment trim panels that line the sides of the compartment and remounted the overflow bottles. And for bling I relined the exterior of the air boxes that were decidedly beat up!

Sounds good, looks good now if only the SOB at the wheel could drive it !

 

Sounds like "gutting" to me. My experience is that the optical quality of Lexan screens suck and only get worse with time. Rather have safety glass. It's a safety issue.

Ever have engine parts come through the front windshield? I have... THAT sucks!

 

I highly recommend these: http://www.racingshields.com/default.html

I am starting my third season with one on my 996 and the optics are just as good as glass. I don't even use a tear off.

I've always perceived Lexan, of proper thickness, to be safer than glass. A 3/8" sheet can withstand 160 ft lbs in an impact, most stuff outside of a large engine part will bounce right off. Specs are here: http://www.racingshields.com/polyvsglass/polyvsglass.htm

Ever have a large rock hit and spray glass all over the inside of the car. I have, that also sucks!

 

Lexan screens require care that is different from glass. So clearly Buba cant clean them with an old rag. But absent that and assuming that the car lives its non racing life out of the elements, their life is better than glass as they do not chip.

As for FOD, there is no question that Lexan is safer than glass as is evidenced in every aircraft test where stuff is shot at the screens. I have seen high speed photographs that illustrate that 3/8 or 1/4 " Lexan can take a blow that stretched the material to the diameter of a soccer ball without breaking. Sure the screen is damaged after that encounter but no penetration.

Back in the day - and not so far at that, there were significant visual and life time compromises made to adopt Lexan or its earlier Plastic predecessors. But thanks to aerospace they are the betterproduct today. Its just that you cannot clean them without some care because the surface is not as hard. At half the price and 8 lobs lighter, seems like a good deal.

I too have run an Audi Sport Lexan screen on my A4 since 2006 and while it has some rubber and cleaning induces scratches which I have not attempted to polish out, its still very useable. I do not know how well it would do in say the Sebring 12 hour at night but in the rain at TMS last year, visibility was excellent except where the Dove soap anti fog was not applied !

 

Safety glass is laminated with plastic in between. It remains whole, most of the time, and if it shatters, the pieces aren't jagged, like Lexan or plastic.

Many support races (like FCRA at Sebring, for instance), are held early or late in the day when the sun is lowest. Coming up the hill to NJMP Turn 2, coming into VIR Turn 3, Sebring Tower Turn, 15 and 16 are awful with a crappy glass or plastic windscreen.

The other thing you want to think about is support for the Lexan screen. All professionally built cars have l-section or square tube support vertically behind the screen. As a matter of fact, some rules require it.

The most expedient answer isn't always the best one, in my opinion.

 

LOL! I can assure you that the pieces are jagged, sharp, and will cut you. Ask me how I know.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Rippe took out the winshield on my 575 at the Crescent Classic that way. The drive was well worth it!

 

"
Many support races (like FCRA at Sebring, for instance), are held early or late in the day when the sun is lowest. Coming up the hill to NJMP Turn 2, coming into VIR Turn 3, Sebring Tower Turn, 15 and 16 are awful with a crappy glass or plastic windscreen.

The other thing you want to think about is support for the Lexan screen. All professionally built cars have l-section or square tube support vertically behind the screen. As a matter of fact, some rules require it."

I have to agree that generally plastic is tough going into the sun but so is scarred glass. So that will prove a challenge. But the new Lexan compounds are aerospace grade and in the dozen or so laps I did last weekend I could not detect any difference from its glass predecessor when it was clean. I do have tabs to support the frame but it's center rigidity is indistinguishable from glass. Helped by a 430 style tear off covering.

 

Lexan is safer than glass. $80 bucks cut with a jig saw. Clear as glass can be protected with Protint's tearoff. This is a test fit on a 348. Let me know if you guy want more info on how to do this.
Image Unavailable, Please Login