Hi, I am planning to build a Blade or R1 engined lightweight Locost type car. I have my eye on the MK Indy kit, but before I decide I would like to know if anyone knows whether there is a difference of weight between the kits of MK, Luego, Mac#1, etc. Which is the lightest?

Secondly, aluminium or GRP side panels are lighter? GRP looks neater in my opinion, but is there a weight difference?

Thanks!

The MAC#1 Worx is very light, I've seen the photo's on the scales, around 435kg wet I believe.

There is probably bugger all in it. What makes the difference is the bits and bobs you bolt on to it.

My Indy weighs 468kg with half a tank of fuel, 15in wheels and all sierra stuff c/w LSD.

How light do you want a car like this to be???

If you want to go really light then give MNR a look, they do some really good stuff with T45 tube...

Cheers

Mark

Or out a full cage on it

Richard Miles's striker wa 390kg dry/420kg with a full tank. he had some light weight parts (mostly the wheels tyres and seats) but nothing ott. the race furys and phoenixs get down to 425kg with small fuel tanks and they have full body work so the chassis is a very good design.

There was a T45 thin walled chassis MNR VortX that weight 397kg with a blade engine. (blade is slightly lighter than an R1). It was reckoned that it could be made a bit lighter by really going to town with your cheque book but by the time you reach this weight you are well into diminishing returns.

Latest MNR lightweight is the Superspec with Carbon Bodywork...

You would want to use light push in shafts on the diff, single strand loom, carbon/kevlar seats, lightweight 13 inch wheels etc...

Should see you well inder 400kg's until you sit in it

Also if you really want to go light weight, consider a live axle'd car as the english live axle is probably 10-20kgs lighter overall when you include all the extra bracing and uprights required for an IRS setup.

My book Locost with English liv axle weighed in at 430kgs with the blade in on proper cornerweight scales, and thats with a steel floor (calculated ~7kg heavier than ally), fairly chunky Stuart Taylor GRP bodywork, stock Cortina hubs / uprights and nothing especially tarty apart from Wilwood front calipers and 3pc Compomotive split rims. If anything I think the R1 lump is a kilo or two lighter than the blade, certainly didnt feel any heavier when lifting them up side by side.

As to ally / grp side panels, you'll really be wanting ally side panels under the GRP anyway as its the ally that gives the chassis additional torsional strength, so if you can do without then go ally only.

Chris

Hi caterham with blade live axle road car 375kg.
Silver striker in race trim with crossflow 460 kg.



cheers matt

Im not sure thats really your average Caterham Fireblade weight though is it? That chap from Evo spent probably £50k on the Caterblade to get it down to about 360kgs (IIRC?), and from real world weights Ive seen on Blatchat like for like they are probably only 20kgs lighter than the a Westie blade, so in the 400-420kgs region for one not costing a bomb.

[Edited on 12/4/06 by ChrisGamlin]

If your thinking of building one too race then you may end up having too add ballast ?

but at least if you add ballast, you can put it where you want it. You'd get a really low CofG if you put all the ballast weight at floor level.

if you know its going to be underweight why not use a steel floor to add weight (maybe even increase the thickness) then you are adding the weight as low as possible ad adding strenght to the chassis.

quote:

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Originally posted by smart51
but at least if you add ballast, you can put it where you want it. You'd get a really low CofG if you put all the ballast weight at floor level.

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unlees theres some good cost effective weight savers it really is pointless as I way a bit

and if someone pulls up by the side of you and hes some 5ft5" 7 stone flea

youve kind of like cancelled your weight saving out

My Live-Axel Striker has a dry weight of 390Kg. Even this is realatively heavy as you can apparently specify lighter weight chasis components from RAW - 320Kg is the lightest that i've heard

Phil.

I can't see a way of shaving 60+kgs off of Rich Miles's Stiker for example, so I'd take the 320kg claim with a very large pinch of salt. A regular Locost (or Striker etc) chassis only weighs about 60kgs so unless its made entirely of helium you can't save a huge amount there, even the light race Pheonix round tube chassis are about 45kgs I think.

Yep its probably a bit less as its a bit narrower, but the Pheonix chassis is virtually the same as the Striker so a super lightweight one wouldnt be much less than the Pheonix round tube I wouldnt think?

[Edited on 14/4/06 by ChrisGamlin]

the phoenix has the side impact and cage included?


Richard Miles's striker is about as light as you can go without seriously compromising the car, lightweight thin body, lightweight chassis acb10s, mag wheels etc there isnt much more you can do without going very expensive or chopping off bits

I wouldnt think the weights include the cage etc, might be wrong though. It probably wouldnt weigh a huge amount more anyway because the cage is all T45 so will be very thin and light, the entire T45 cage on a freind's westie hardly weighs any more than the standard CDS FIA bar supplied originally!

Wheels & tyres make a huge difference, my 18" wheels & tyres weigh around the same as a small house, I'm now building a car with 16" wheels (also a fair bit narrower) & a 4 year old could juggle with them!!! Seats are also a very sensitive area, my homemade ali seat weighs nearly as much as the average willie!!