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I wanna loose 'some' excess weight on my WRX, for trackdays.

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Old 21 April 2009, 07:53 AM
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velohead66
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Question I wanna loose 'some' excess weight on my WRX, for trackdays.

I wanna loose some excess weight on my WRX, for trackdays.
But I dont wanna go mental and remove seats, or air cond or elec windows.

Just wondering what peps (those that have gone down this road) have done.

I basically.......
have permanently removed front door speakers
temporarily remove rear speakers (2 mins per speaker)
ensure water bottle is not full
ensure fuel is not full
remove wheel/jack/crap from boot
remove car mats

So, what have you done ?
Old 21 April 2009, 08:04 AM
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TopBanana
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Nothing
Old 21 April 2009, 08:49 AM
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to be fair mate u should remove aircon as its weighs a bit and uses petrol and after all we are in the uk how much do u really need it also u can get replacement windows made from plastic which is much lighter sound proofing is another weight saver too
Old 21 April 2009, 10:39 AM
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Does it need to be a 4-seater?! If not, then lose the rear seat (and poss the passenger's too!). These are the single-most easy - and greatest - weight-saving measures you can do!

Replace the driver's seat with a lightweight moulded racing bucket type to save further weight and locate you better in the corners. The car should then 'feel like' an Exige!

...Or maybe not, LOL.
Old 21 April 2009, 10:49 AM
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Go on a crash diet!

When I used to ride bikes (Honda SP1, Ducati 916 SP, Fireblade etc...) it used to make me laugh when some fat-*** biker would harp on about carbon this and titanium that and how he was saving weight on his bike and was, as a result, riding quicker!! If the salad-dodger had bothered to exercise and get down to a healthy weight he would have made a real difference to the overall power/weight ratio and his improved health would have sharpened up his reaction times.....

From your list it sounds like you might save yourself a few kgs which, in the grand scheme of things on a 1400 kg car, amounts to the square root of **** all.

If you want to make a difference to the handling of the car you will need to get serious. Air con out, rear seats out, carpets out etc. Even then, the overall weight loss won't amount to very much as the seats are pretty light anyway as Subaru did a lot to save weight on the car when it was built.

Good luck!
Old 21 April 2009, 11:12 AM
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I know someone who has recently stripped his wrx out and commented on how heavy the sound proofing is!

I think (as has already been mentioned) unless you are going to get serious it is not worth it! I'm going out on castle combe on saturday, I'll make sure the boot is empty but just leave it at that for now.
Old 22 April 2009, 04:30 AM
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velohead66
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Last track day I did, was 37ºC, (in the shade) so I'll keep the a/c.
Living in Sunny Brisbane, BTW !!

Car weighs 1160 kg with me in, and I'm not a beluga (sp) (a type of whale) so I think the car is quite light anyway.

At 1400 kg the car would be a lot slower !!

Also, it's double edged. Acceleration = pwr/weight ratio , so I am increasing power (180 kW ATW at the moment) on a phased long term plan, but also looking at the weight side too.


Keep them coming, the suggestions that is.

PS - Not sure the wife would like no seats, LOL.
Old 22 April 2009, 08:04 AM
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I agree, use a hammer and a chisel and strip your sound deadening. I did mine, most section came off in large pieces. I just need to re-spray it to neaten it up now. As you can see, I have nothing in my boot. I remove the rear seat when I use it on the track.


Old 22 April 2009, 10:44 AM
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BlooSooby
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[QUOTE=velohead66;8656588]Living in Sunny Brisbane, BTW !![QUOTE]


Me too! Did you emigrate from the Motherland or are you local?

Weight of a standard Bug is 1430kg (if i recall correctly) and the rear seat weighs bugger all!

My Bug is making 240kW ATW at the moment, I had it on the dyno at OPM in Toowoomba 2 weeks ago, the tuner reckoned that 240kw atw is equivalent to 320kW at the crank on a WRX.........seems like a lot of power is lost to the transmission to me..

Are you in the Qld WRX club?

We'll have to get together sometime and gloat about the weather sometime LOL!

Good luck mate!
Old 22 April 2009, 10:46 AM
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BlooSooby
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Just saw that you were from the South-East.......Doh!
Old 22 April 2009, 11:17 AM
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replacing the battery with a smaller one is quite common as well as theres a good few kilos be be had there, the STi seats weigh about 20 kilos each so im told so replacing them with a set of light weight racing seats will save alot more weight
Old 23 April 2009, 03:45 AM
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velohead66
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Yes, I'll probably go down the smaller battery route.
I'll weigh the current one to estimate weight savings.

I also do have a lightened flywheel.
Old 23 April 2009, 03:49 AM
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velohead66
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Question

Originally Posted by BlooSooby
Are you in the Qld WRX club?
Yep, I'm in the club.
I'll be at Lakeside on Fri 15th May with the club.
I've got the 2 door WRX Type R V-Limited

And at QLD raceway on Sat 23rd May as well.

Will you be there ?
Old 23 April 2009, 03:54 AM
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velohead66
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Question

Originally Posted by scooby-wrx
I agree, use a hammer and a chisel and strip your sound deadening.
[/IMG]
Yes, did notice that in the boot.
I've heard it's like a thick tar, would that be right ?
Old 23 April 2009, 10:25 AM
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scooby-wrx
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velohead66 - yeah, its pretty difficult to get out! I got as much out as possible then used thinners which completely removed it (with ease). I planned on re-painting mine anyway... I wouldn't recommend it unless you don't mind having to paint it.
Old 23 April 2009, 12:45 PM
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BlooSooby
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Originally Posted by velohead66
Yep, I'm in the club.
I'll be at Lakeside on Fri 15th May with the club.
I've got the 2 door WRX Type R V-Limited

And at QLD raceway on Sat 23rd May as well.

Will you be there ?
I hope to be there. I wanted to get to the show at Rocklea last weekend but family and work commitments put the usuall spanner in the works...

I've got a blue bugeye WRX with a Perfourmance built forged EJ257.

Hope to meet up soon mate.
Old 25 April 2009, 03:02 PM
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RS_Matt
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Planning to get pretty serious with weight reduction on my WRX Blob - so far only Carbon door pillar covers, removal of spare wheel and jack.

Prefer to go the weight route so the car is better on fuel, brakes better and is more reliable than running 320-400bhp.

I plan to get colour coded carbon bonnet, wings and doors (maybe boot lid.) Lightened flywheel, carbon propshaft, lightweight bucket seats and I'm trying to find a garage that can remove the aircon as it seems a rare request. Think I heard somewhere that 20kg is equal to 5bhp.
Old 28 April 2009, 01:37 PM
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RS_Matt
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Sorry for the spam but I've just booked the car in to start Weight reduction at Scooby Clinic and they say the most effective saving is the 'front bumper (girder) carrier!' So they are removing that for me along with the aircon's condensor and pump.
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