SillyGoose

So here's a good question some of you might know the answer to: would the weight of a driver affect 0-60 times and handling in general in a meaningful amount?

The newest generation base caymans with pdk go from a 0-60 in a reported 5.3 seconds. The thing is, that they must've used a driver, most likely a male, to test out its 0-60 capabilities. Let's assume he weighs an average 165 - 175 lbs or so.

What if the driver is a small female who weighs 110 lbs, would the 0-60 possibly be 5.2 seconds? What if the driver was a large man weighing in at twice her amount at 220 lbs?

Thoughts and opinions on how this affects the car's performance, gas mileage, and possibly longevity of the car if these people are the sole drivers of the vehicle (and assuming they never gain or lose weight, so the small female is always at 110 and big guy at 220)?

We know that the latest generation caymans weigh like 60 lbs less than the previous generation, and this was considered a substantial decrease in weight. Would be interesting to discuss a 100 lb weight difference in a fairly standard sample of a "normal average general population" (so as to exclude really really low weight individuals like 80 lb midgets or 360 lb giants like shaquille o neal, if he would even fit inside of a cayman).

btwyx

It depends if your acceleration is limited by available grip, or available engine power. As Cayman S have faster 0-60, I'd assume engine power is the limiting factor. In that case its relatively easy to calculate the effect of heavier driver.

Assuming a 3000lb car, the acceleration would be 3170/3110 times as much (about 2% more) with the lighter driver. That would make it 5.2s. Similarly, a 220lb driver would make it 5.4s.

Weight affects acceleration in the obvious way, it also has more subtle effects on performance, in general lighter is better for performance. It'll have a small effect on gas milage, again, in general lighter is better.

In general you probably wouldn't notice any of this, unless you were in competition. I'd guess the 60lb would make about 1/20th of a second difference in the average autocross. Things would have to be very evenly matched otherwise for this to make any difference.

matttheboatman

Porsche measures their times in 0 - 100 kilometers, so it is actually based on 0 - 62 mph. FYI

SillyGoose

Ah, so according to my calculations, the base newest generation caymans (assuming it goes from 60 to 62 as quickly as 58 to 60mph and so forth) can go from 0-60 in 5.13 seconds. Interesting.