What weight can you get a dc5 down to for a race series?

[weggy]

As stated I am looking to plan to develop my car for the nippon series and am trying to see how light the dc5 can get down to see if it is a viable decision before I start to butcher.

I need to get down to 1010kg with driver if I leave the engine as is, or 1060kg with driver if I up the power.

I would like to leave the engine as is as this will keep costs down as there is a lot of bits needed.

I would hope that these weights are achievable I think that they should be as according to the stats the standered weight is resonabley low. Any tips from the guys who race already will be greatly apprieciated as this is a genuine request.

cheers in advance

 

[MJ Type-R]

Hello Mark :!:

Not another chap taking the steps into racing ( also remember, while I get my flame suit on, that their are other race series apart from the Nippon )

My car is still in development and is on a diet... we don't know the end result yet...

Problems with the 5 in term of weight... many areas of the car are multi skinned, a fair number of weak areas designed to crush in an impact ( some not ideal for a race car ) - on that note, 'we' estimate the DC5 would be a NCAP 5 star car.

The only way to remove significant weight, is to remove some of the above metal.. and that takes a lot of time... but time is money 8-[ ( as an indication, so far my chassis work has taken 5 weeks, at 12 hour days - that does include the cage being installed and some 'special' tweaks )

With a limited budget, your be hard pressed to get the DC5 down ( once a good cage is added ) to +1100kg without driver, assuming you have plastic windows ( side and rear ). I think Paul G would be able to confirm this ?

So, the simple answer is that it is very hard.... I think Lee ( Lee67 ) might be able to confirm how long it's taken him to get down to less than 1000kg, but I know he fabricated a lot of his own parts out of Titanium.


So... if I was to start again with my race car project.... I'd sell the 5.... and if I wanted to stick with a Honda, I'd either go for a DC2 ~ in full race trim 850Kg is possible, or a EK4 Jap Spec :idea: ( depending on the race series... I'd think still about running a K series though )

HTH

Mike

 

[Paul G]

Like Mike said....Very hard.

That's why i'm hoping they will bring in power to weight :idea:

I'll let you no after i've weighed the car at Snett this sat


Paul.

 

[C&S Evo7]

tgm's old car was 1040 with driver.

-you will need to swap all glass other than screen for plastic,
-remove dash, totally strip all excess material/ brackets etc and refit as a skin only
-remove wiring loom and strip leaving only necessary bits
-remove complete heating/fan/ac etc.
-remove all sound deadening, inc underseal
-remove door skins and lighten doors by removing excess material, door bars, locks,handles winders etc
-remove as much material as poss from tailgate
- use a hole punch/holesaw on everybit of non structural metal
-T45 rrollcage
-lightweight battery (passenger footwell or behind pass seat)
-all normal lightweight components, every gram counts, if there is a steel bolt that could be alloy then change, if its steel and more than 1.5 threads too long make it shorter.
-light exhaust
-carbon or supalight extuinguisher
and like most people go on a diet and lose 25kg (probably the hardest part of all
-

 

[Turtle]

Bear in mind that modifying anything that is welded to the bodyshell (as opposed to bolted on) tends to be only legal if the series regulations allow it. Always worth thinking about several possible series when prepping a car.

TBH unless your heart is set on using a DC5 there are plenty of other cars that are much cheaper/easier to turn into a useful racecar.

-Brian.

 

[MJ Type-R]

tgm's old car was 1040 with driver.

-you will need to swap all glass other than screen for plastic,
-remove dash, totally strip all excess material/ brackets etc and refit as a skin only
-remove wiring loom and strip leaving only necessary bits
-remove complete heating/fan/ac etc.
-remove all sound deadening, inc underseal
-remove door skins and lighten doors by removing excess material, door bars, locks,handles winders etc
-remove as much material as poss from tailgate
- use a hole punch/holesaw on everybit of non structural metal
-T45 rrollcage
-lightweight battery (passenger footwell or behind pass seat)
-all normal lightweight components, every gram counts, if there is a steel bolt that could be alloy then change, if its steel and more than 1.5 threads too long make it shorter.
-light exhaust
-carbon or supalight extuinguisher
and like most people go on a diet and lose 25kg (probably the hardest part of all
-

I think you have made it sound very easy Simon !! it's not quite that easy... and the above costs a lot of time & money !

Anyway... I'll have to see what the result of my car's diet is, once complete.... many of the above is being done... with a bit more :idea:

Mike

 

[MJ Type-R]

TBH unless your heart is set on using a DC5 there are plenty of other cars that are much cheaper/easier to turn into a useful racecar.

-Brian.

Brian.....

As I said in my first reply, I agree with this !

I wish I had serious considered this... but was way too far down the route of the DC5... and now it's 'costing' me a fair bit more, than a DC2 / EK4 would have done #-o

Mike

 

[weggy]

Cheers for the info guys this is exactly the kind of response I hoped for. Alot of food for thought I think that it may be looking for a alternative either championship/car I appriciate this as it will save me ruining a nice car for no reason.

As for alternative championship which would be suitable? I thought time attack but it sounds abit to expensive for what it is.


I would still love to have the DC5 abit more track focused.

Thanks again.

look forward to seeing some of these car mentioned above when they are done and possibly experiencing one if they have a passenger seat.

 

[MJ Type-R]

Mark

I think you need to think about what type of Motorsport you want to be involved in i.e.

Hill Climbing
Spiriting
Circuit Racing
etc

You should the decide what car to use and set yourself a budget.

Then find the series and their regs for the motorsport you choose. As an example, for Circuit Racing you can use this to see what race series you can enter:

http://www.motorsportads.com/championship-selector.htm


It's all down to choice... and what you can do, will unfortunately at our level will be dictated by the amount of budget that you have.

Mike

 

[Turtle]

Paul should be racing his DC5 at Snetterton this Saturday. Should give you an idea what a DC5 can do when still heavy and running standard power. He also runs a passenger seat on trackdays from time to time.

Before you decide on a series or motorsport direct get yourself along to some meetings. How much fun you get out of it (it's a hobby after all!) depends a lot on the people in each series. Since you've picked the car you should also try to pick a series where you're likely to have similar performance cars to race against. Not everyone has the talent/budget to be at the front, but if you're racing each time against a fun group the battle there can be as gratifying as fighting for a championship/win.

-Brian.

 

[C&S Evo7]

turtle you are dead right about the people in the series, they make it for sure, but the further up you get the worse they get, generally. we have shared garages with people who hardly speak . once for a whole 24hr event they just grunted at us as we were having fun and they were being waaaayyy to competitive, we beat them in the end too in a much slower car.

but all things said, a decently setup dc5 with around 250-270 hp with easy stuff removed inc glass would still be competitive in most series, it is afterall a quick car for a 2l, to get that power out of a duratec it has to be on itb 's and a mega expensive engine, wheras the k20 is still reasonably std at that power

i would say my biggest tip to anyone who wants to go racing is to have some instruction, i have been lucky that one of TGM's customers and drivers is also a silverstone instructor so have sat next to him countless times, and have learnt far more by doing track days at proper circuits, airfield days are a waste of money imo if you want to compete.

 

[Paul G]

As Brian said, i do run a pass seat for T.days & would be happy to take
anyone out for a few laps.....

Maybe we should sort a DC5 T.day & see if we could get a race car or two
along :idea:

At Snett This Sat i'll be running in the 200bhp class, i tested the car on
97 Ron fuel & that lose's a bit of power + if i run the car on a Dyno Dynamics R.Road (as some in the GT250 class do) That would then give
a power at 200 or less! So i'm happy to be in the 200 class although the car will be way over the min weight for GT200.....But should still be some good close racing

Paul.

 

[lee76]

Hi Paul,

Good luck at Snett this weekend.I was ment to be at Brands but due to some damage I picked up will not make it.
I have run the DC5 with std engine in Two championships and it has prooved to be a good strong class runner in both.
It has also been a lot cheeper to run and develop then my old Mini was.

 

[weggy]

Paul good luck this weekend

I think that the idea of the dc5 track day would be a great idea. I have been doing afew track days and I agree that the circuit ones offer the best and I do always try to get instruction so as to try not to pick up any bad habits.

I will be watching the results from the weekend.

 

[dave c]

I will be watching the results from the weekend.

Here is a link to a passenger ride in Pauls race car...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_dOQXlZNlM


Also, i'll be doing a budget coverage of the race so sign up to the channel for an update if you like.

 

[Paul G]

I will be watching the results from the weekend.

Here is a link to a passenger ride in Pauls race car...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_dOQXlZNlM


Also, i'll be doing a budget coverage of the race so sign up to the channel for an update if you like.

Thks Dave......

The Weekend wt very well with class wins in both races (will post up a full report)....

Car weight was 1080 kg's (without me in it) & 1/3 tank of fuel.

Paul.

 

[weggy]

The car is looking absolutley awsome mate

what suspension are you running? as it looks fantastic round the bends.

 

[Paul G]

The car is looking absolutley awsome mate


Thks


what suspension are you running? as it looks fantastic round the bends.

Were you there on Sat?? - you should have said hello :xyes:

Suspension - S/H set of Mugen Type Racing coilovers, think there about 3K new...

Paul.