Lighter Car Means Faster Car..... Does It?

[GNBRETT]

Makes me wonder if making my Trackhawk lighter and lighter is a good thing or bad thing.
IDN Maybe cause the Plaid is AWD it just benifits from being heavier. Seems odd to me tho.....

Maybe the extra weight helps more than it hurts when trying to make more and more power on the street.
Everything is fast at the track with a prepped surface but on the street it seems the extra weight helps.

 

[Speedy!]

I'd say too a point and weight distribution as well. Demon 170s for example seem to do better with weight moved rearward not necessarily lighter.

 

[MiHiHemi]

My ’33 Ford, with a 350, weighs in at 2500 lbs. My SRT Challenger, with a 440 stroker, is 4200 lbs. The ’33 is much more of a head snapper than the SRT. Don’t know how they compare side by side yet. Just think of trying to push a bowling ball then a baseball.

 

[GNBRETT]

Normally the lighter the car the faster it is and when pertaining to a prepped surface like a drag strip that definately is the case but on the street that seems to vary a lot.

Im just not sure when that balance tips the other way on the street. Like when is less weight more helpful then more HP like where in the line drawn or do I want a vehicle as heavy as possible with AWD that makes a shit ton of power.

But again where do u draw that line? A TRX weighs like 6500 lbs but no matter what u do to it it will never be as fast as a modded Trackhawk it just weighs too much but when does that extra weight hurt vs. help is what im trying to figure out?

They have a carbon hatch out now for the Hawk. It weighs less than the glass on a stock Trackhawk hatch. Is that gonna help or hurt and they will be releasing CF doors and a CF moonroof replacement. Am I going backwards if lose all that extra weight thats what im wondering.

 

[Jimmy N.]

Technically fast vehicles can be plenty heavy. Think land speed.

That Tesla is probably slower after removal of that many body panels, creating tons (no pun intended) of aero drag.

 

[GNBRETT]

Yes I considered the aero part thats definately not helping things. Fastest Plaid goes 8.56 @ 162mph but the thing was completely gutted dash and all but did have body panels. But, thats a prepped sticky surface.

Technically fast vehicles can be plenty heavy. Think land speed.

That Tesla is probably slower after removal of that many body panels, creating tons (no pun intended) of aero drag.

 

[vortecd]

Normally the lighter the car the faster it is and when pertaining to a prepped surface like a drag strip that definately is the case but on the street that seems to vary a lot.

Im just not sure when that balance tips the other way on the street. Like when is less weight more helpful then more HP like where in the line drawn or do I want a vehicle as heavy as possible with AWD that makes a shit ton of power.

But again where do u draw that line? A TRX weighs like 6500 lbs but no matter what u do to it it will never be as fast as a modded Trackhawk it just weighs too much but when does that extra weight hurt vs. help is what im trying to figure out?

They have a carbon hatch out now for the Hawk. It weighs less than the glass on a stock Trackhawk hatch. Is that gonna help or hurt and they will be releasing CF doors and a CF moonroof replacement. Am I going backwards if lose all that extra weight thats what im wondering.

Consider the stock tires on the tesla. Just good tires would fix the spin. Do you think you are going to drop 700 lbs from your jeep? Give me the lighter car all day

 

[GNBRETT]

Yea, but that lighter car doesnt have AWD usually and thats true a much better set of tires would have helped with the spinning but stock tires hook like velcro at full weight. Im gonna drop about 500-600 lbs from it. Right now its sitting at 5050 lbs. I mean dropping another 250 or so from what ive dropped already is what I meant to say....

Consider the stock tires on the tesla. Just good tires would fix the spin. Do you think you are going to drop 700 lbs from your jeep? Give me the lighter car all day