985cc Turbocharged Nova Sprint Car

[novarally]

You'd have to go a lot lower for a flat floor etc to be worth the weight imo, carbon diffuser is pretty light and easy to bolt up etc so fair enough, but to spend the time/money/weight on the whole hog you'd need to be able to get the best out of it (i.e be double figure mm off the floor rather than double figure cm.)

I'm going to be taking the advice of Simon McBeath, well known race car aerodynamicist, and author of 'Competition Car Downforce' and 'Competition Car Aerodynamics', before proceeding with any further developments.

Simon is a friend of mine, so I can tap him up for free advice.

[MK999]

I'm well out of my depth there then

[novarally]

Shoddy update as there's nothing much to report at this stage.........all I can offer is that to my surprise when I took the tyres off them, the 13" Compomotive Turbo split rims I was using on the rear;



weigh in at 5.1kg each.

This is a bit of a shock, albeit a welcome one.

I had assumed they would be really lightweight, but clearly that isn't the case. The new ones that Force Racing are making for me at the moment will be 3.4kg, for exactly the same size of wheel, so that will be a very useful and unexpected saving of circa 3.5kg!

I'm now looking into the potential weight savings to be had from replacing the stressed bolts/nuts on the car with titanium ones.

The plan would be to replace the fasteners in suspension/steering/seat mounts. I've done some calculations and it could save half a kilo, although the cost could well be £200 without any bother. Very much into the laws of diminishing returns now........

[MK999]

£200 for 500g at the kind of stage you're at isn't too shocking imo, also not too bad for replacing that many larger bolts tbh. Normally about £8 each for little m6's etc for bikes.

[16xe_chris]

Titanium or Alloy wheel nuts Colin

[novarally]

Titanium or Alloy wheel nuts Colin

I got some alloy ones, but we're not allowed to use them.

The regulations specifically state they have to be of ferrous construction.

One of the guys I race with has a Porsche GT3 RS which has titanium wheel nuts fitted as standard, and he was told to get them changed......

[mowgli]

Tbh, something as safety critical as a wheel nut/stud should be steel on a hill climber, its not like they have runoff zones/gravel traps on your average hill climb course

[Mike]

Tbh, something as safety critical as a wheel nut/stud should be steel on a hill climber, its not like they have runoff zones/gravel traps on your average hill climb course

Loton has none what so ever :S gravel trap = armco

[burgo]

I'm going to be taking the advice of Simon McBeath, well known race car aerodynamicist, and author of 'Competition Car Downforce' and 'Competition Car Aerodynamics', before proceeding with any further developments.

Simon is a friend of mine, so I can tap him up for free advice.

jealous, i want a friend like that!

i have to agree though, from the pics of how its sits i would guess its just looking pretty

[novarally]

jealous, i want a friend like that!

i have to agree though, from the pics of how its sits i would guess its just looking pretty

As far as fitment goes, it is simply attached where both ends conveniently touched against something I could bolt to.........pure luck, but absolutely no science.

But it does look good.

I've started stripping the car down ready for its respray, and have found numerous things which can be altered to save small amounts of weight, and without spending any money, which is critical right now.