Ben,
back in 08 you were asking me about installing a 5.4 Mod Ford and Ricardo....no way that was ever going to under 900kgs...:shocked:
What kind of powerplant do your "under 900kgs" cars have ...surely not an America V8/transaxle.?
You are welcome to come by anytime but lightness costs money....so bring your cheque book.
Yeah, that was 3/4 years ago, I know better now.
And you are thinking waaaaay too big, I never said the cars I drove were powerful
The first car I drove for years was a Mk1 Fiat Punto, the second (and current) is a Toyota Aygo, both of these rustle up massive 60bhp but weigh next to bog all (around 900Kg).
Clearly the go wasn't a priority for me so much as the stopping and cornering (not that these cars were ever considered good handling). What they lacked in good suspension/chassis, they made up considerable ground in the fact that they weighed virtually nothing.
Admittedly I did own a Jaguar XJR for a while (the aluminium bodied X350 variant) and that was a mere 1.8/1.9 tonnes, it was surprisingly quick in a straight line, certainly faster than you would think given the weight but then 4.2L supercharged V8's do that. Where the weight was EXTREMELY apparent was when braking and even MASSIVE Brembo brakes which were in perfect working order and good pads was worlds apart from braking in the Aygo weighing in at probably HALF the amount the XJR did.
Sprinkle in some experience with Lotus Elise's hand having owned/ridden numerous super sports 600's and you can see what I'm getting at.
On the flip side I'm sure Will is absolutely correct in that the 'larger' cars I have driven will be severely lacking in the agility department where the weight (and most obviously how it was shifting around) would have been more apparent.
Let's be honest, driving a 'hyper car' such as an Enzo or Mclaren F1 will be WORLDS apart from anything I've ever experienced, even the best of handling cars I have ever driven/been in and they would blow my mind (I noted a while back that an Audi RS5 really was quite impressive and that isn't exactly lightweight).... but if those 'hyper cars' would blow me a way and an SL-C is seemingly more capable....
So it's not that I'm aware of the differences....VAST differences in what I have driven compared to what the SL-C is capable of.... It's just a preference, with my money I'd head down the lighter weight route Vs. more power.
Stock LS3 and maybe a ZF-Q transaxle or how is the Griffin weighing in at compared to the Ricardo? I'm sure that would go a long way towards a goal of < 1000Kg.
Like I said, I need to visit RCR/Fran and talk some cockney rhyming slang.