I knew 550s were light, but man, that is crazy light!

There is a nice little article in the current Panorama 550 vs 2005 Box S.
They list the dry weight of a 550 at 992 lbs!

I want one sooooo bad!

Damn, there are people that weigh that much

Nooooo!!!! No pics of 900 pound people!!!!

sorry....

Had to

QUOTE (seanery @ Mar 25 2005, 05:30 PM)

I knew 550s were light, but man, that is crazy light! They list the dry weight of a 550 at 992 lbs!

Since I'll never be able to drive a real one, I have to say, on Need for Speed Porsche Unleashed, the 550 was a real handful. Must have been the skinny tires. Or maybe the data model was wrong.

Something was screwy about that number. They said 992 lbs dry and over 1200 with 24 gallons of gas in it. Gas only weights 6 lbs per gallon! Must be some of that German math, where less is more...

lmao. Guess I asked for that.

QUOTE (seanery @ Mar 25 2005, 02:30 PM)

I knew 550s were light, but man, that is crazy light! There is a nice little article in the current Panorama 550 vs 2005 Box S. They list the dry weight of a 550 at 992 lbs! I want one sooooo bad!

Dunno why anyone should be so surprised at this. A 550 tube frame is pretty insubstantial, and the engine and gearbox are both very light units. Consider a Formula Ford is about 1000lbs, and it has an iron-block engine in it that's much heavier than a Type I or a four-cam. A modern F-Ford probably has a heavier frame, in fact, just because of crash protection concerns that didn't exist in the 50s.

A winning Formula SAE car is now under 500lbs. Some are under 450lbs, and that's with four-wheel brakes, full suspension, and full rollover protection. They get to be lighter even than the 550 mostly because they're single-seaters, and the engine/gearbox package is usually under 150lbs. SCCA A-Mod AX class rules specify a 750lb minimum weight, and there are several cars built right to that limit. Bowland, Whittle, and others are using two-stroke watercraft engines now to remove weight.

QUOTE (ken914 @ Mar 25 2005, 03:07 PM)

Something was screwy about that number. They said 992 lbs dry and over 1200 with 24 gallons of gas in it. Gas only weights 6 lbs per gallon! Must be some of that German math, where less is more...

Bonehead who calculated that assumed that gasoline weighs the same as water.

Water: 8.33 lbs/gal
Gasoline: 5.8-6.5 lbs/gal

Makes a big difference

Demick

did you ever stand up close and personal with a 550?
they're scarry small, so small in fact that the driver more sits ON it than in it

I got my work cut out for me.
OK, 991 lbs is my new goal.

Paul

lol

Go Paul!

I like the 962 streeter better.


M

QUOTE (Jeroen @ Mar 25 2005, 05:25 PM)

did you ever stand up close and personal with a 550? they're scarry small, so small in fact that the driver more sits ON it than in it

I've sat in some replicas. I agree, they are really, really, really small. I still really want to build one. The only problem is that I'm 6'2" and still growing. I guess I'll just have to sacrifice and do a 356

There isnt much to them. There were a few that use to show up to AX's back in the 1970's and they flew. Made 914's look big.

This guy is very fast up in Sonoma.

KT

Yep - one of these days when I have enough shop/garage space I'm going to build myself one of those.

Demick

I like. Who makes the replica's? Beck's? One of those with a wild RAT 4 banger would be fun

If I ever built one, I'd do a SIX.

KT

Gunnar built a batch of them and put Type-1's in them.

Trekkor's a SIX addict, may need to plan an intervention before he goes to 3.6

You sure it wasn't 992 Kilos?

I had read that they were about 1500 pounds with a full tank, so that 998 kilos would be with driver (and passenger?).

QUOTE (trekkor @ Mar 25 2005, 08:32 PM)

If I ever built one, I'd do a SIX. KT

Like this one?

550Club.com here I come...


KT

QUOTE (jd74914 @ Mar 26 2005, 03:45 AM)

QUOTE (Jeroen @ Mar 25 2005, 05:25 PM) did you ever stand up close and personal with a 550? they're scarry small, so small in fact that the driver more sits ON it than in it I've sat in some replicas. I agree, they are really, really, really small. I still really want to build one. The only problem is that I'm 6'2" and still growing. I guess I'll just have to sacrifice and do a 356

I've seen this one last week at the Munich fair (it's an original car, started at the '55 Mille Miglia)



I'm about 6'4" and the 550 looked like a toycar to me

I'm pretty sure that 992 lbs is correct - I mean, 992 kilos would be more than a standard 914