George A

Alan,

I have found that I like running with the spare better. The car feels slightly more balanced with it in. I know it's not a lot of weight, but it is in the right place. I took it out for a BMW club race last year thinking the reduced weight would help but my lap times were slower and the car did not feel as "good". Then again, I did have it setup with the spare in place.

George

Alan C.

George,
Setup is an issue. Maybe the best bet would be dumping the AC in the back. Of course PCA would not like that option even though mine would cool an ants martini.

forklift

This is exactly what I found. My times were lower w/ the spare...and I am also wondering if I corner balance the car w/o the spare if that will make a difference.

forklift

Is removing the a/c an issue if you still make weight? I didn't see that in the rules, but might have missed it.

38D

You can remove the belt, but not he compressor or lines. You can also remove the condensor to put in another oil cooler.

forklift

Interesting. So I can’t remove the compressor or the lines, or use a fiberglass sunroof, or use lightweight doors or other panels, or even an aluminum hood. There is no way I will be able to get to 2,760. I guess my options are to either add weight back and race in E, race in NASA, or sell mine and buy a new car for D. I am almost positive I have spoken to guys who have removed their a/c, maybe not though. I can’t see why you wouldn’t be able to remove the a/c if you still make weight????

Larry Herman

What Colin said is correct for most cars, but not for RSAs. Because they came without A/C or a sunroof, non A/C RSAs get to run at 2760 in D, while cars with A/C can run at the C2 weight of 3031 up in E.

So Jim, just rip that ole A/C right out of there. You'd better check on the fiberglass sunroof though.

Same thing applies for GT3s, just rip that ole A/C right out of there

forklift

Cool! I was worried for a minute. For the sunroof I am going to leave the original panel. Even w/o the A/C it will still be tough to get below 2,800, which is the main reason for this spare tire thread.

Larry, will you be running with or w/o the spare in your RSA? Congrats BTW.

Thanks!

JW in Texas

Jim,
You can get there. I was 1 Lb. UNDER weight at TWS 2 years ago (2759). My old car was a non-sunroof RSA w/the A/C pulled.

38D

Damn RSAs and your AC delete!

JW in Texas

Hey, we have to justify the stupid money we're paying for what's basically a glorified 964 somehow. Mine was no sunroof too.

Martin S.

hear it from me. Not only have I heard that it is part of the 993 crumple zone, but come on, its weight out front and down low as we know. I have known guys that have added lots and lots of tire weights (lead) to their spare to increase the up front, low down weight...it helps with turn in, or so they say. I run with it in place in the trunk.

FixedWing

Does adding ballast ever help the performance of a car? It shouldn't..

Stephen

Z-man

I disagree. While I do agree that weight is the enemy of handling, when there are minimum weight rules and certain items (like the AC unit) may not be removed, then the goal should be weight balance. A car with a rearward weight bias like the 911, benefits from having a little more weight in the front.

On a similar note - removing weight can effect the handling of a car in a negative way as well, if the weight is removed from the 'wrong' place. In my case, the 944 I drive has a near perfect 50/50 weight distribution. For the sake of the argument, let's say I can shave off 500lbs off my 3100 lb heavy weight - that's 16 percent of the weight of the car! If I remove that weight from only the rear of the car, that would throw off the 50/50 balance. The goal should be to put the car on a diet as well as keeping an eye on the forward/aft and right/left weight distrubtion.

Just my $0.42,
-Z.

DrJupeman

Z, perhaps not surprisingly, I disagree with your disagreement!

Remember this basic principle (paraphrased from "Performance Handling" by Don Alexander):
Keep in mind I'm talking "traction available". The gains in traction could be offset by the drivability issues of racing a 911 that in the extreme begins to act like a top fuel dragster. This is why I think if you could corner weight and retune might actually come out ahead. I suspect those who ran better times back-to-back when leaving the spare in vs. the spare out did not re-tuned the car for this change in weight during the "test".

Admittedly this is a complicated equation, but if given the option of ditching 100 lbs on a 951 at the expense of upsetting the near perfect 50:50 weight distribution, I'd drop the weight in a second. I also suspect removing any weight from a 911, even if up front, will yield laptime benefits if the car is tuned for it (remember, there are acceleration and braking advantages to removing weight that will help your laptimes).