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All my winter mods are adding weight to my car
bi22le - 10/12/13 at 09:28 PM

My winter list comprises of about 20 things. some free, some cheap some not. Lots seem to be adding weight to my car:

Fit oil cooler
Rust protection (painting)
Rigidise half tonneau
Tidy wiring
Add additional mount to steering colomn
Additional Earth strap
Diagonal forward brace bar for roll bar (dont want full cage as it adds even more weight)
Cowling for both rads (fibre glass and plastic)

I am loosing a little weight:
Changing from bench seats to Fibre glass ones
Drilling lots of holes for ventilation

Im not a huge man (12.5st) so could loose a little but what are my other options. Im planning on upping the power, using slicks, getting better suspension and improving aero as much as possible. I will be faster on the long term but I like having a light car. Its one of the positives of having a striker, I put up with it being tiny for a reason!

Colin Chapman would be ashamed!

EDIT: For typo!

[Edited on 10/12/13 by bi22le]

daniel mason - 10/12/13 at 09:41 PM

i wouldnt bother too much with aero! possibly an alloy flat floor and rear diffuser. and spend your cash on a good set of slicks and geometry setup!
good luck with the mods.

bi22le - 10/12/13 at 11:07 PM

I have a rear diffuser and following my hole drilling and radiator cowling I will be putting on the flat floor. Im also going to rigidise my tonneau for the passanger side as this is like a flag in the wind!


I was not going to do any more than that. Its been set up by procomp and will be get some 13" sticky boots in the next year or so.

daniel mason - 11/12/13 at 07:00 AM

the dunlops i have are a decent tyre. they are from radical but i wouldnt bother buying from there as price is way ott!
170-535-13 fr 200-570-13 rear may be o on the striker
im running 190-535 fr 230-570 rear atm but not been out on them yet!

russbost - 11/12/13 at 09:08 AM

Fit a lithium ion battery (I'm not biased)

BenB - 11/12/13 at 11:43 AM

I'm not sure I'd bother much with too much aero, it will make the car heavier and the aerodynamics of a Locost are about the same as a breezeblock attached to a parachute to begin with (big flat front, lots of exposed suspension parts etc). That said getting airflow right under the car isn't a bad idea so a flat floor isn't a bad move.

Lotus seven has a cD of 0.7
An artic has a cD of 0.6, a Hummer is 0.57!

bi22le - 11/12/13 at 11:44 AM

Funny you say that russ.

Contacting you is on my todo list.

I need a new battery which will cost about 60.

A lithi bat wont save me masses of weight but its a start.

Ill call you in the new year.

eddie99 - 11/12/13 at 11:50 AM

Actually IMO, I think fitting a lithium battery is the cheapest way of saving weight if your currently running an red top or similar.

We run what i believe is the biggest battery Russ sells, Not much over £200 and weighs around the 1kg mark. Also has proven very reliable.

[Edited on 11/12/13 by eddie99]

russbost - 11/12/13 at 03:31 PM

Biggest one is actually under £200 now Ed, they came down a bit!

Typical weight saving over a standard lead acid is around 12kg, over a red top or similar around 4 - 5kg. I can't actually think of a single more cost effective way of saving weight other than stopping eating - that's very cost effective!!!

bi22le - 11/12/13 at 04:10 PM

quote:
Originally posted by russbost
Biggest one is actually under £200 now Ed, they came down a bit!

Typical weight saving over a standard lead acid is around 12kg, over a red top or similar around 4 - 5kg. I can't actually think of a single more cost effective way of saving weight other than stopping eating - that's very cost effective!!!


I only have a small bike battery. It probably weighs 8kg.

russbost - 11/12/13 at 05:38 PM

in which case you can save around 7kg by switching to Li Ion.

bi22le - 11/12/13 at 06:39 PM

quote:
Originally posted by BenB
I'm not sure I'd bother much with too much aero, it will make the car heavier and the aerodynamics of a Locost are about the same as a breezeblock attached to a parachute to begin with (big flat front, lots of exposed suspension parts etc). That said getting airflow right under the car isn't a bad idea so a flat floor isn't a bad move.

Lotus seven has a cD of 0.7
An artic has a cD of 0.6, a Hummer is 0.57!


I find this really hard to beleive. I know they are bad everybody says so but worse than an articulated lorry and a hummer?!?!?

Slab or not they frontal arear of my 7 is about a 1/6th of an actic and they look after their air no better than a 7.

I also think people look at the whole aero thing in the wrong way. For such a small car to have such awful cD it must have glaring errors. Patch up these errors and you will make a big difference.

I think the worst parts of our cara are no smooth exit for the radiators, big hole in the cockpit area and massive holes under the car.

Patch up the top top and the bottom and get the front grill air to exit quickly and the difference has to be noticed.

Anyone care to agree or disagree?

daniel mason - 11/12/13 at 06:52 PM

i agree, a full flat floor with rear diffuser undertray, possibly some nose cone winglets to divert air inside front wishbone area (not sure how effective these are but look cool) and possibly some vented sides (like mk do) to get rid of some hot air. non of these however will make as much difference as a good set of slicks! but both together may make a big difference.
ps watching your video i dont think i could chuck my radical around brands indy in much under the 55 secs you do.top rgb guys from this year were around 48 secs i think but others up over 53-54 secs

me! - 11/12/13 at 09:19 PM

The full equation for aero drag uses cD x A where A is the frontal area, so quoting cD alone is a bit misleading. So whilst it doesn't show that 7's produce as much drag as a truck, it does show they are worse at dealing with the air they do move!

PSpirine - 11/12/13 at 11:08 PM

quote:
Originally posted by bi22le
quote:
Originally posted by BenB
I'm not sure I'd bother much with too much aero, it will make the car heavier and the aerodynamics of a Locost are about the same as a breezeblock attached to a parachute to begin with (big flat front, lots of exposed suspension parts etc). That said getting airflow right under the car isn't a bad idea so a flat floor isn't a bad move.

Lotus seven has a cD of 0.7
An artic has a cD of 0.6, a Hummer is 0.57!


I find this really hard to beleive. I know they are bad everybody says so but worse than an articulated lorry and a hummer?!?!?

Slab or not they frontal arear of my 7 is about a 1/6th of an actic and they look after their air no better than a 7.

I also think people look at the whole aero thing in the wrong way. For such a small car to have such awful cD it must have glaring errors. Patch up these errors and you will make a big difference.

I think the worst parts of our cara are no smooth exit for the radiators, big hole in the cockpit area and massive holes under the car.

Patch up the top top and the bottom and get the front grill air to exit quickly and the difference has to be noticed.

Anyone care to agree or disagree?


Disagree

cD is a coefficient of how "efficient" the shape is at dealing with airflow. An artic will obviously have more air resistance in total, due to its massive frontal area (frontal projection), but if you scaled an artic down to have the same frontal area as a 7, yes, it probably would flow better.

Think of clamshell wings - they're basically mini parachutes. If it had a slab front, it would be better. Hence why the artic, while not great, is still an improvement.

bi22le - 12/12/13 at 01:43 PM

quote:
Originally posted by PSpirine
quote:
Originally posted by bi22le
quote:
Originally posted by BenB
I'm not sure I'd bother much with too much aero, it will make the car heavier and the aerodynamics of a Locost are about the same as a breezeblock attached to a parachute to begin with (big flat front, lots of exposed suspension parts etc). That said getting airflow right under the car isn't a bad idea so a flat floor isn't a bad move.

Lotus seven has a cD of 0.7
An artic has a cD of 0.6, a Hummer is 0.57!


I find this really hard to beleive. I know they are bad everybody says so but worse than an articulated lorry and a hummer?!?!?

Slab or not they frontal arear of my 7 is about a 1/6th of an actic and they look after their air no better than a 7.

I also think people look at the whole aero thing in the wrong way. For such a small car to have such awful cD it must have glaring errors. Patch up these errors and you will make a big difference.

I think the worst parts of our cara are no smooth exit for the radiators, big hole in the cockpit area and massive holes under the car.

Patch up the top top and the bottom and get the front grill air to exit quickly and the difference has to be noticed.

Anyone care to agree or disagree?


Disagree

cD is a coefficient of how "efficient" the shape is at dealing with airflow. An artic will obviously have more air resistance in total, due to its massive frontal area (frontal projection), but if you scaled an artic down to have the same frontal area as a 7, yes, it probably would flow better.

Think of clamshell wings - they're basically mini parachutes. If it had a slab front, it would be better. Hence why the artic, while not great, is still an improvement.


Thats an interesting point. If look at it the other way and scale up a 7 to have the same frontal area as an artic it probably will be worse!!

I think thats a case for looking after the air AFTER the car. This could be in terms of aero tails after rollcages and wishbones.

Of course slipperyness is not always the deciding factor. F1 cars could be made alot more slippery but they make air work for downforce and this looses efficency.

Having another look at my car last nigh, I am going to find it hard to cowling the rad waste air

russbost - 12/12/13 at 02:07 PM

The obvious answer is to buy a Furore F1! I'm NOT biased!!!

bi22le - 18/1/14 at 12:35 PM

quote:
Originally posted by russbost
The obvious answer is to buy a Furore F1! I'm NOT biased!!!


He he, always the promoter!!

Im sticking with the Striker for now until I have finished getting about 400BHPton and lapping mid 40s around brands!!

jeffw - 18/1/14 at 04:09 PM

quote:
Originally posted by bi22le
lapping mid 40s around brands!!


That will never happen in your striker....

bi22le - 3/3/14 at 09:48 PM

quote:
Originally posted by jeffw
quote:
Originally posted by bi22le
lapping mid 40s around brands!!


That will never happen in your striker....


I will give it a go!!

You cant compare the RGB times as they run a controlled tyre, tricky slickies will help me.

Mr Cowper sprints brands in about 49sec so a se7en can do it. It just has to be rocket powered with Lewis Hamilton at the wheel!

daniel mason - 3/3/14 at 10:09 PM

mr cowper gets completey thrashed on the hills. hes a great driver, the car has massive power,but its not that great when it comes to getting grip on the tight places.
he was over 60s at harewood when i was watching last year.then a £5k mallock went up in 55s. i must admit,i was laughing inside!
on the right circuit at the right time the car would be awesome though

[Edited on 3/3/14 by daniel mason]

daniel mason - 3/3/14 at 10:19 PM

bradley smith hit a 45.0 in the radical sr3 challenge at 96mph