914 fairy godmother shows up and offers to subtract 100 lbs off of your car or add 50 hp. What do you choose?

50 hp is a 50 percent increase for alot of people here and even more than that for others.

easy the 50hp. but if the question was more equal of hp to lbs, i would take loosing the weight, braking and the suspension would benefit on top of the hp to weight ratio.

ok - godmother said "inch pounds" or something . . . I was thinking of my car, cleaning the carb and changing plugs gets me close to 50 hp.

so make it = for your car . . .

Weight or HP???

and what is the over / under for your car?

um.. I'll take the 100 lbs... (thats just because I have too much hp already..)

But a close fight would be taking 10% of your weight off, or adding 15% to your hp/tq figures.

weight reduction pays in many more ways besides fster acceleration. I'll take it off please.

As Colin Chapman so beautifully demonstrated, when in doubt, add lightness!

I'd like a 25hp increase and 50lbs off my fat ass.

I'd lose the weight and stay at the same HP!

Thats a lie ....I don't even have an ass

I have to have a wallet and 2 handkerchiefs in my back pockets just to look like I have an ass.

For me it is 100 lbs / 50 hp - what is the magic # for you . . . where would you think about the HP for 100 # reduction?

The common figure thrown arround is that 100 lbs equals about 10hp.

so let me ask you a question; would you rather choose the 100lbs or the 10hp figure?

brant

Assuming it is less than $40 per pound, right? Or whatever your ratio is!

Me - 2400 lbs / 380 hp

I will take the 100 lbs vs 10 hp . . . 50 is my hmmm point. You?

Well I'm only about 25lbs away from my race minimum.
I'm currently at 1837 with metal hoods and doors.

so I'd have to take the 10hp in this case.
brant

At the moment I am more intersted in more of a aero advantage. So can I take less wind resistance?

yep, that would be me....little old 1.8...I'd take the 50 hp increase

There are a few tricks for that.
my race shop picked up 10mph on the vegal oval with aero tricks.

Yeah I'm working on it. Reminds me I need to order parts.


Removing the rear valance and banana muffler seems to have helped.

It was really great to see you again in moab this year.
your car is awesome.. congrats!

once limited by the rules of a race class.
each horse power can cost more than the $50/unit that the weight costs.

alot of vintage 911 guys would give anything to only spend $500 for 10horse.
and The really serious California vintage guys usually end up spending somewhere around $10K - 15K for motors that are around 50horse stronger than stock.

so at that rate the hp can cost as much as $300/hp
brant

I would say reduce the weight because the power required to accelerate an object in a straight line is equal to the product of the object’s mass, speed and acceleration at any instant. So for example, a 50 lb weight reduction would be the equivalent to a power gain of

(50 lbs)*(30mph)*(10 ft/s^2) = 15,000 units of power at an acceleration of 10 ft/s^2 at 30 mph but the same weight reduction would be like having an additional 30,000 units of power at the same acceleration at 60 mph. I.e., the faster you go and the harder you accelerate the more payoff there is from the weight reduction. Obviously race cars that travel at high speeds most of the time would benefit most from weight reduction.

I'll take the obvious answer.

I'd grab the fairy chick and force her to give me two more wishes.

The first wish would be that I get both the 50HP and the 100LB reduction.

The second would be for her to change herself into Jessica Alba and take her clothes off immediatly.

DUH..... What the hell else makes sense?

Clayton

Hell; For this Fat old man it's Lose 100 lbs, how much hourse power would that
be ?????" Dave

I'd take the HP for sure. I already have good suspension and brakes. Having 140hp would be very nice.

Wait until you get a little older, Then you'll have less ass and what you do have will be lower.

Dave

I don't think I could get another 100 pounds out of mycar.
I could get it out but it would be difficult and/or expensive. I could use the body and make a mold and build a nice carbon fiber body. That would save about 25 pounds and cost about $1000 if I did it all myself. A set of wheels would save about 20 pounds total and cost $700.00. I could strip the whole car and powdercoat it. Save 10 pounds, cost $300. Aluminum calipers will save 30 pounds but cost $500. That's only 85 pounds, that last 15 will be hard.

OK, give me the 10 HP. Actually if I put that engine on Jake's dyno, I bet with some fine tuning of the carbs and a new Tangerine header I could get 10 hp easier and chaper than the 100 pound reduction.

Time vs. Money vs. HP vs. Weight

I'd ask the fairy godmother to take 500 lbs off the car. 100 lbs is nothing. However 50 HP is somthing.

That's greedy I' ll take 0HP increase and 50lbs off my fat ass


Check out this guy who is "shaving" almost 1000lbs off his '96 Cobra Mustang for a sub-2500 lb car :

Sub 2500lb Mustang


These are the measures one must take for "extreme" weight loss....

Click to view attachment

I did a full 8hour dyno day last year.
Picked up 14hp in tuning
total cost (with parts) and my travel expenses was $1,000
so around $70/hp

brant

100 lbs or 50 hp? Close call. In autox weight is everything, and power is a tasty side dish... I'd be torn, but I'd consider the power if it were even remotely possible to do it legally under the rules.

100 lbs or 10 hp? Not even a question. The weight.

-Josh2

First of all I'd take the HP and thank the lady. After she was gone ,I'd take my stock bumpers/hood/lid off and replace with FG/CF ones, put a plexy glass windshield, and finally put some light assed rims and low profile tires on it to drop some weight.


Gotta play the system brother. Take the fee schmit and run with the rest.


Who's paying for your options?