Show Us Your Motors!

ChrisD. said:
Weight does make a huge difference, my DC5 keeps up with a lot of more powerful machinery, that's before corners get involved.
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adam cool dude said:
That's what I love about my ST205. Only 350bhp but roughly 1300KG's now while retaining full interior and air conditioning (Have stripped out a lot of audio, spare wheel, fiberglass wings etc). Had a fantastic play with a brand new focus RS. The guy couldn't believe my car was 22 years old. He actually seemed a tad embarrassed :). A compareable RS3 or Focus RS are getting on for nearly 300kgs more.
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Definitely. Weight is such a massive killer of all things performance and I think modern manufacturers have only just started to really take it seriously in the last 5 years. There's a reason why motorsport teams spend such a huge amount of money in reducing weight, and it's not just to make their cars go faster.

To counter the straight line speed penalty of extra weight in a car, you have to put more power in the engine. This usually involves putting in a bigger engine, or putting in turbo/superchargers with associated intercoolers, piping, bigger radiators etc. So to counter the weight, you have to add more weight to eek out more performance. As a byproduct of this, you also get worse fuel economy, emissions and higher development costs. Smaller engines are also able to be mounted further back in the engine bay and lower down - which is great for weight distribution and handling.

To stop all that extra weight, you also need bigger brakes, with bigger calipers and better heat dispersion - which means adding more (unsprung) weight, and more cost. This dulls straight line speed, degrades the ride quality and leads to poorer handling.

Then there is the affect on handling. No matter what new engineering tech you come up with, there is no replacement for losing weight. These days, they come up with clever ways of hiding some of the weight, but if you combined those clever tactics along with actually losing weight off the vehicle - the car would handle beautifully.

Then there is the cost of all of this. I bet it's something ridiculous like every 100g of mass added onto the car costs an extra £1millon of R&D or something, but I can completely see how that would happen. Material costs to make the additional parts, and then the R&D to try and improve the ride, handling, engine performance, engine reliability, engine efficiency to meeting emissions standards - it's all down to weight. I think the sweet spot that manufacturers should be aiming for for a 250bhp hatchback is 1250kg and 1350kg for a 250bhp small saloon (3 Series sized).

I personally can't wait until BMW release the 230bhp 1.5l 3 cylinder engine from the i8, putting it in a 1 series with a couple of electric motors to boost it up to 280-300bhp.
 
It's why cars from the likes of McLaren cost so much due to them spending so much money in order to keep traditional suspension and steering components without the extra weight compromising handling dyaamics. The thing is though, in the domain of regular car buying, a lot of it comes down to safety. The added weight from bulky components and design is due to the ever growing field of regulations compliance. And as you say, to counter that, £millions need to be spend on R&D, which drives the costs up.

Electric power steering is currently the in thing, it's less complex, cheap and saves quite a bit of weight, but at the same time it has a negative effect on handling/feel vs hydraulic. For every two steps taken in the effort of progression, there's always one step taken back due to some losses here and there.

Tesla are the real leaders here, and an example that other manufacturers should be following, not in terms of electric transmissions, but how technology comes together with whatever drivetrain is used to manage the weight. The model S weighs 2.1 tonnes, yet handles like most high powered petrol sports saloons.
 
mrk said:
Tesla are the real leaders here, and an example that other manufacturers should be following, not in terms of electric transmissions, but how technology comes together with whatever drivetrain is used to manage the weight. The model S weighs 2.1 tonnes, yet handles like most high powered petrol sports saloons.
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That's due to the skateboard layout. Something you cant really do with an ICE.
 
Went for a quick "after work" blast and took this as the sun was getting low.

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Frozennova said:
Your friend is right, the M2 is better than a TT in possibly just about every way (Except turning your outy into an inny)
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There must have been about five M2s at the recent Pistonheads event. They are rather awesome in person...pretty much look perfect stock (though I'm not into modifying cars at all). Sound great too.

I need to focus on getting house then maybe in a few years I'll think about changing cars. I really like the look of the facelift Audi S5 V6 (the previous model) and they are in budget.

As nice as the M2 is it appears to be priced well out of my price range (even on finance). Used ones seem to be near enough £50k which is a expensive to me. Approved Used mk3 TTS with not many miles on getting close to £30k now. Unless there is some crazy lease deal going on M2s that I don't know about. :)
 
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