Is weight no longer an issue in sports cars?

[Dave-ROR]

Originally Posted by rennlistuser3

Someone please enlighten me. I feel like I'm missing something here.

I'm following latest sports cars releases and aside from very few exceptions (Alpine A110) almost none of the sports cars coming to market today seem to even bother about weight at all.

It's startling me that the latest release of 911 992 is a pretty heavy car yet almost no one is even mentioning this in the reviews at all, it's like being a heavy sports car is no problem in today's world.

I'm in the school of thought of lighter sports car is better. I can certainly feel the difference between 1450 kg (3196 lbs) sports car and a 1250 kg (2755 lbs) sports car. Now sports cars are more like 1600 kg (3527 lbs)! That's the weight of small SUV!

So honestly am I missing something here? am I the only one who thinks like this? what's up?

I love lightweight sports cars, but after driving really good heavy cars, I've learned to ignore weight quite a bit.

[Sapphireho]

Originally Posted by Dave-ROR

I love lightweight sports cars, but after driving really good heavy cars, I've learned to ignore weight quite a bit.

Really good heavy cars..lol.

Armored cars, my favorite.

[rennlistuser3]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

The physical dimensions are a direct result of the crash standards. You have the cause and effect reversed. In order to meet all the North American standards the car has to be bloated a bit. This is why all the Kei cars in Asia can exist there but not come here. Or at least not come here in the same form. You can not just dismiss the crash standards in relation to size and weight they are the direct cause.

But how about the MX-5 though? that's very small and passes crash standards.

I guess my real question is: if the ND MX-5 can be a modern car that passes crash tests and everything, can Mazda or any other manufacturer make a more powerful version of the MX-5 without ending up weighing at 1600 kg (apprx. 3500 lbs)?

[Dave-ROR]

Originally Posted by Sapphireho

Really good heavy cars..lol.

Armored cars, my favorite.

lol by heavy I mean mid 3000lbs

[Sapphireho]

Originally Posted by Dave-ROR

lol by heavy I mean mid 3000lbs

Oh, like my 4x4 truck.

[Dave-ROR]

Originally Posted by Sapphireho

Oh, like my 4x4 truck.

I'd track it.

Once.. then I'd die.

I did run my old 3/4 ton Suburban around Road Atlanta before

[Sapphireho]

Originally Posted by Dave-ROR

I'd track it.

Once.. then I'd die.

I did run my old 3/4 ton Suburban around Road Atlanta before

Back in the day, when we got bored at autocross events with low turnout, we would all run our tow vehicles, family sedans etc. Super fun and funny.

[Dave-ROR]

Originally Posted by Sapphireho

Back in the day, when we got bored at autocross events with low turnout, we would all run our tow vehicles, family sedans etc. Super fun and funny.

haha I used to run an Isuzu pickup with a local autocross group. Ran wide 15" Potenza tires (S03 back then maybe?), Tokico shocks, etc.

They created an award for the fastest car not to beat the truck. I usually got 7-10th fastest time of day.. oh and Danny Shields and others ran with that group so the first 3 spots or so were national level winning guys.

That truck was stupid good haha

[Sapphireho]

Originally Posted by Dave-ROR

haha I used to run an Isuzu pickup with a local autocross group. Ran wide 15" Potenza tires (S03 back then maybe?), Tokico shocks, etc.

They created an award for the fastest car not to beat the truck. I usually got 7-10th fastest time of day.. oh and Danny Shields and others ran with that group so the first 3 spots or so were national level winning guys.

That truck was stupid good haha

Sounds fun!

Most fun was the time I ran my 1964 impala ss. Driving that tank around an autocross track was challenging and hilarious at the same time.

[Dave-ROR]

Originally Posted by Sapphireho

Sounds fun!

Most fun was the time I ran my 1964 impala ss. Driving that tank around an autocross track was challenging and hilarious at the same time.

Ha, I also ran my 1994 Mercury Grand Marquis HP package car (basically the best of both P71 bits and towing package bits). I would tow the autocross trailer to the event, run the car, and tow the trailer back. It eliminated quite a few cars in our elimination style events...

But I bet both of mine handled better than that Impala!

[Adam_L]

Does anyone know the answer to this question: If you reduce a cars weight by 100 lbs, would that be like adding xx (fill in the number) more HP / torque to the stock vehicle weight ?

I'm just wondering if there is an equation, by which you can use to say "hey, I reduced my FRS weight by 100 lbs , so that's like me adding say 10 more HP to the car" ?

[Adam_L]

Originally Posted by StraightOuttaCanadaEh

Guys I'm not talking about driver involvement. The question of the thread was "is weight no longer an issue in sports cars?" Absolutely it isn't. You've got heavy ass cars with some phenomenal performance

How about the question " is/ was MPG ever a consideration when buying a sports car?"

I'd still contend, the top four most important aspects of getting into a different / new car/vehicle (sports car, truck, suv, sedan, etc) are : 1. power, how much hp/torque does it produce , 2. luxury , 3. versatility ( 2-seater gets dinged here, even a sports car 2-seat), 4. Efficiency ( better efficiency then other vehicles in its class and/or price bracket). Weight of the vehicle has a bearing on efficiency , as does aerodynamics

Rank each vehicle based off of these 4 criteria ( and/or possibly 1-3 other things) , and things will become more clear. Another important one for me is durability. The kicker with durability of a cars engine/tranny, is that it takes 6-10 years to see what kind of miles people are putting on their cars, hear what people with 150k+ miles have had to replace and their stories along the way. So durability is a hard to quantify element when buying a car new, or 1-3 years used.

[86MLR]

Originally Posted by Adam_L

Does anyone know the answer to this question: If you reduce a cars weight by 100 lbs, would that be like adding xx (fill in the number) more HP / torque to the stock vehicle weight ?

I'm just wondering if there is an equation, by which you can use to say "hey, I reduced my FRS weight by 100 lbs , so that's like me adding say 10 more HP to the car" ?

Yes = power to weight ratio

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power-to-weight_ratio

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by rennlistuser3

I feel like this is a very strong point here. I have the same intuitive thinking about this as well. Cars are just getting unnecessarily gigantic. It's OK for an SUV but why does a sports car need to be a behemoth?

You only think it is a good point because it supports your thoughts. It is not reality. I have explained the bloat several times.

Originally Posted by rennlistuser3

But how about the MX-5 though? that's very small and passes crash standards.

I guess my real question is: if the ND MX-5 can be a modern car that passes crash tests and everything, can Mazda or any other manufacturer make a more powerful version of the MX-5 without ending up weighing at 1600 kg (apprx. 3500 lbs)?

The current MX 5 is indeed one of the smallest and lightest TWO SEAT cars in North America but at 2480 pounds it has still gained 320 pounds over the NA version's 2160. That is a very substantial weight gain over the decades which lines up with everything else.

I have said many times now that yes they COULD do it. If enough people would put their money where there mouth is and buy them they would do it. There just is not a large enough market for super light sports cars at the prices it would take to make them .