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TOP 10 WAYS TO MAKE YOUR CAR LIGHTER

With newer cars getting bigger and heavier each year, we list the top 10 ways to make your car lighter and faster for any budget.

No, don’t worry, we’re not about to suggest attending the local zumba class to, ahem, shake your booty like a Polaroid picture. What we’re really interested in here is finding that perfect weight-loss programme for your pride and joy. And, why’s that? Well, arguably it’s the easiest way to improve performance and handling.

Yep, when you think about it, shedding pounds could be even more important than tuning itself. In the real world it’s exactly the same as gaining horsepower… and God knows we’ve all spent plenty of cash over the years trying to gain a little extra grunt, right?

So, that’s why this month we’ve mostly been thinking about fighting that flab and freeing up some healthy, usable power. You can get the obligatory Xmas pigging out of the way first of course, we’re not total monsters. But, when you’ve sung the last words of Old Lang Syne, here’s some tips to get you fighting fit for 2020…

Power to weight – why do I want to make my car lighter?

Power to weight ratios are everything in the pursuit of ultimate performance. They’re the reason you don’t see many race cars with 15-subs in the boot, and why a nuclear-powered oil tanker with 60000bhp will still be beaten off the line by my nan on her mobility scooter.

When you’re looking at weight vs power think about this: If you’ve got a car that weighs 2000kg with 200bhp, that’s a ratio of 2000:200 or 10:1. This also means every single horsepower has to push along 10kg. If you can save 200kg in mass, the ratio becomes 9:1 – a 10-percent increase in acceleration and real-world power.

In braking terms, a small, light car has less mass to slow down and will often be able to out-brake a much larger cruiser with significantly bigger brakes. Handling will also be improved because there’s less weight for the suspension and tyres to control. And, if you’re clever, you can also influence balance, tweaking oversteer and understeer according to where you take the weight from. With less weight your car will be more reliable due to less stress on components, you’ll enhance that magical driver ‘feel’ and you’ll get more MPG too.

1) Need it? No, then shift it!

The easiest, not to mention cheapest, way of saving weight is the most obvious – stripping out all the old guff that you don’t need. The thing to think about is how far you want to go, especially if you want to keep your car usable on the road.

Obviously the most hardcore dieting regimes, chiefly the ones where you’re looking to ditch all the trim, cut away excess metal and scrape away any sound deadening, will always yield the most impressive gains. On plenty of cars just removing the carpet can save a good few kilos for starters.

Of course, no one’s forcing you to go mad, something as simple as clearing out all the old tools and rubbish knocking around your boot can save more weight than you might think. It’s also worth knowing that the full-size spare steelies on some of the more retro Jap motors can weigh up to 15kg, while a can of Tyreweld weighs next to nothing. There’s two reasons why new cars don’t come with full-size spares nowadays – performance and economy.

Weight loss: From a few kg to a lot!
Cost: £mostly free

2) Get some bucket seats

Standard seats weigh an absolute ton especially those big electric, heated jobs you get in the luxury VIP cruisers. In fact, many modders in the US and Japan strip their seats of all the electric motors and fit manual sliders in a bid to shed a few pounds.

The average car seat can weigh 16-25kg so the best solution will always be fitting some lightweight aftermarket buckets. These are available in both reinforced fibreglass and posh composites like Kevlar and carbon fibre. Some aftermarket seats can weigh as little as 4kg and, even with the added subframes, that’s a significant drop in weight – especially if you only need the one.

When you’re making your choice don’t forget to consider that leather generally weighs more than cloth too, just try to pick up a cow sometime…

Weight loss: up to 25KG per seat
Cost: from £165
Start looking: cobra-seats.com

3) Remember that not all rims are equal

Steel wheels, along with the larger sized alloys, can weigh anything up to 20kg a corner with the tyres on, and that’s what’s scientifically know as ‘a lot’. Even an average set of 18-inch alloys can weigh over 12kg a corner. So, do your research and be careful of what aftermarket alloys you choose. The design, construction and materials used can have a huge impact on the overall weight. Problems are always compounded with wheels too, because when they’re rotating, this magnifies the effect of the mass. Some experts say that this can be up to 10-times the original weight and, again, that’s quite a bit of heft pulling your car around.

Obviously budget is always a consideration here, but forged rims, along with rotary forged (flow formed) wheels will always be the ultimate in lightness over more common cast wheels. OK actually, the ultimate would be full-on carbon fibre wheels, but who’s got the cash lying around to pay 4-grand-plus per corner? We’ll just have to wait for those six little numbers to come in!

Weight loss: up to 45kg (4 wheels)
Cost: from £650 (set)
Start Looking: srbpower.com

4) Plastic is pretty fantastic

Due to its complex chemical makeup, glass is a particularly heavy material – handy for seeing through when you’re driving, but heavy none the less. In fact, the glass in an average hatchback can come in at up to 50kg, and that’s why race cars use polycarbonate windows which weigh up to 60-percent less, are super-strong and are pretty much shatter proof. It’s not common with the Jap stuff of course, but in the wider motoring world, a few production cars run polycarbonate here and there. It’s not just the performance specials either, the first to do this was the Smart Fourtwo, and that was way back in 1998.

Anyway, the switch to polycarbonate windows also helps lower the centre of gravity for a bonus improvement in handling, they’re also relatively cheap compared to many performance mods out there.

Everything from replacement windscreens to quarter lights are on the market and with side windows you can often specify race-car style vents and sliders. And, while you’re at it, take a look at your sunroof – you won’t believe how weighty the glass and mechanism can be there, luckily plenty of these can be replaced too.

Weight loss: up to 25kg
Cost: From £80
Start looking: acwmotorsportplastics.co.uk

5) Sort your chassis

You know in The Fast and The Furious when they’re designing that orange Supra and saying using aftermarket suspension can save 10-pounds (4.5kg) a corner? Well they were right. In fact, with the advancements in technology, the savings nowadays can be significantly more, in some cases over 10kg can be saved just by switching to a set of coilovers.

It doesn’t stop at shocks and springs either, there are loads of other chassis parts that can shave off a few kgs, sometimes a whole lot more. Lightweight adjustable control arms are also a popular choice, especially those super-hardcore alloy jobs you find on many a Honda, simply because they also do a great job of helping you set up your chassis geometry.

When it comes to your brakes, you may think that big brake conversions will always weigh a whole lot more than standard, but plenty of times that’s just not the case. Nowadays plenty of the top end items will offer quite the saving. Multi-pot alloy brake calipers and discs with alloy bells can weigh a lot less than standard cast iron jobs, and obviously, they’ll work much more effectively too.

Weight loss: up to 40kg
Cost: From £150
Start Looking: bc-racing.co.uk, ksport.co.uk, bilstein.de

6) Get the body you’ve always dreamed of

Lightweight panels, particularly fibreglass replacements, have been a racing staple for decades now. In the more hardcore fraternities it’s pretty common to totally replace front ends, or even the whole body, swapping out all the steel panels over a custom-fabricated, lightweight, tubular chassis.

Of course, we also now have the wonders that are carbon fibre and Kevlar, and everything from bonnets and tailgates, to front wings, bumpers and even complete floor pans are on offer. The best thing is that prices are coming down all the time too.

That said, always be aware of what you’re buying and, if possible, check the weight first. Some cheaper parts are reinforced with steel structures or seriously thick fibreglass underneath, and that can actually be heavier than the standard part altogether. Be especially mindful of this on cars like Subarus which often come with lightweight aluminium bonnets in the first place. You don’t want to make your car heavier, do you? That’s just defeating the object.

Weight loss: up to 25kg
Cost: F Weight loss – anything up to a ton, maybe more!
Cost from £30
Start Looking: tarmacsportz.co.uk

7) Remember it all adds up

When it comes to standard parts, most are made to a budget, so there’s plenty of areas where shaving off a few grams here and there can add up. Take your standard exhaust manifold, it’s most likely cast iron, a stainless steel tubular replacement will not only save a few kilos, but will improve the gasflow for more power too.

It can be a modification as small as a lightweight pulley set or racing steering wheel. Then again, it could be as bonkers as a carbon propshaft, aluminium diff or lightweight gearbox housing – it all makes a difference. We’ve even heard of people emptying their washer bottles and keeping their fuel to a minimum on a trackday. It may sound crazy but it makes sense – 3 litres of washer water weighs 3kg while 40-litres of petrol nearly 30kg.

Of course if you’re looking for the ultimate in lightweight bolt-on performance you could bag yourself a full-on titanium exhaust. Titanium is comparable to steel in strength but has less than half the overall weight. It also looks pretty damn tasty too!

Weight loss: 200grams to 20kg
Cost: from £50
Start Looking: scorpoion-exhausts.co.uk

8) Get the right electricals

Obviously most of us aren’t looking to go that far on a road car, but there are plenty of other easier options. Take your car battery for example. Normal lead-acid items are really, really heavy, but these can easily be replaced with more lightweight units, perhaps even a super-compact racing item if you’re not running too many electrical systems.

Then there’s the audio. If you like to hear your music properly I’ve always been an advocate of a sound system with a dedicated woofer. But, it’s always worth thinking about the gear you’re fitting – do you really need that 18-inch woofer and 4000Watt amp outside of an SPL competition?

Some manufacturers have made a massive impact with lightweight audio over the past few years, and nowadays you can get some serious performance and exceptional sound quality out of tiny subs and even tinier amplifiers. Of course there’s also the age-old option of ripping out the standard system altogether, or fitting a compact Bluetooth receiver instead of a headunit. It all works.

Cost: from £free
Start Looking: jlaudio.co.uk

9) Step away from the fast food!

Let’s just say that one of the heaviest things in your motor is you. In other words, it’s no use trying to shave 20g off the wiring harness and immediately reaching for that second cheeseburger – take this from a rather portly, salad-dodger who knows!

If you already look like you’ve been on the cover of Men’s Health then well done you, but the rest of us will probably admit we could all do with being a little fitter. So, maybe getting your laptimes down a bit could be your motivation to dodge a future heart attack? Then again, maybe life’s just too short for eating steamed cabbage anyway!

Cost: Free

10) Don’t put it back on again!

You have to feel a little sorry for all those F1 engineers. These guys spend all year trying to shave half a gram off a brake caliper, then Lewis Hamilton turns up with a nose ring that probably weights five times that. My point is to be mindful of what you’re putting back in your car – there’s pros and cons for almost everything.

A roll-cage can add a significant amount of weight but it can also save your life in a smash. Then again, with the rigidity and safety a cage provides, it’s possible to remove a whole lot more metal from the car – along with things like side impact bars.

Think of it like this, cages always look great but racecars have to have them because of the safety regulations, some drivers would happily do without them just to get the performance edge. I know it’s a random one, but in 1952 NASCAR driver Tim Flock was disqualified from a race for having a cage made from painted wood – how’s that for a serious set of spuds, eh?

As with any other modification, it’s all about balance, so make sure you thoroughly (excuse the pun) weigh-up your options before you start pulling stuff apart.

Source

February 9, 2021
1UZ TOYOTA CELICA MK1: BONSAI MUSTANG

With its junior muscle car looks, the Mk1 Celica has always been a fan favourite. But thanks to a brawny V8 and a colossal amount of horsepower, there’s nothing ‘junior’ about this 1UZ Toyota Celica.

Feature first appeared in Fast Car magazine. Words: Joe Partridge. Photos: Matt Richardson

Japanese car manufacturers were pursuing quite an obvious strategy in the early 1970s. With the intention of breaking into the North American market (and thereby opening the door to other global opportunities), they had a bit of rethink among their various design studios and hit upon an ingenious line of thinking. American buyers were notoriously patriotic, at a time when Detroit was hysterically prolific. So if Japanese brands were to convince American consumers to buy their cars, they needed to design them to look a bit more American. And it kinda worked – take the first-generation Toyota Celica, for example. Here was a car which took the proven Carina sedan platform, and clothed it in a body that was clearly cribbing from the Ford Mustang’s lecture notes. The liftback model, which arrived in 1973 for the Japanese market and ’74 elsewhere, was particularly shameless: it stole the vertical-bar taillights, the C-pillar louvres, the up-and-at-’em proportions… but all shrunken down to Japanese dimensions. Instead of a hulking V8 under the bonnet, Toyota offered a range of buzzy little four-pots. It’s a miniaturised bonsai interpretation of the full-fat muscle car formula.

Toyota was aiming to poach US consumers with Americanised styling, but what Americans really love is V8 engines. So that’s what this one has. It is, in essence, the ultimate Celica liftback.

American Dream

All of this began as the brainchild of an Illinois-based enthusiast by the name of Mike Gesselle. Back in 2013, he’d spotted the shell rotting away in a field, and had dragged the non-runner out for the princely sum of $1,000. The plan from the start was to shove a V8 in it, but he had quite an oblique solution to apply here: while an era-appropriate notion might have been to stick a 1970s Ford V8 in there, Mike wanted modern reliability and, more importantly, massive, massive horsepower. So he decided to go Japanese, as befits a hair-raising Toyota build. He bought himself a 1997 Lexus SC400, hoiked out the 4.0-litre 1UZ-FE motor and all the wiring, and spent the next couple of years figuring out how to make it all work happily in the old-school Celica. A modern manual gearbox was drafted in, working with a custom prop back to a narrowed Ford axle (complete with LSD), hanging off a gorgeous one-off billet 4-link setup with Panhard rod. Oh yes, and there’s the small matter of the turbo… the engine runs a Turbo Technics snail with Turbosmart wastegate, to turn that bent-eight from cruiser to bruiser. With that all hooked up neatly, he then spent a year perfecting the bodywork and getting it to a state where it was as much about the show as the go. The car became quite well-known on the Stateside show circuit as a relentless trophy winner, and Mike put around 9,000 miles on it on the road as well as smashing in some 11-second quarters on the strip. The Celica had fulfilled its American dream.

However, as is so often the case, the project needed to be moved on in order to make garage space for the next big thing. Mike ended up selling the car to a young guy who imported it to England. Unfortunately the project proved to be a little too much for this eager buyer, as the list of jobs that still needed doing and elements which required refreshing meant that he was a little out of his depth, and so he ended up putting it up for sale on an auction site. Being such a niche proposition, it was tough to find a buyer, and the car languished in the classifieds for a while, the price lowered and lowered again… at which point Trevor Cowell sidles into our story. Here was a man built of the right stuff to take the Celica forward. As boss-man at TJ Motors in Surrey, his skills are assured, and his credentials are impeccable: “I’ve been modifying and playing with cars my whole life,” he smiles. “I have a collection of classic American cars, including a 900bhp supercharged Camaro and a tricked-out 1970 Pontiac GTO Judge. Why did I fancy a Celica this time? Well, I’d always liked the shape.”

The seller had brought the V8 Celica to TJ Motors to see if he could get it running right, and Trevor liked what he saw. Curiosity got the better of him and he started digging deeper through the car – and the more he looked, the more excited he grew. The overall quality of the work was impressive, and details like the billet 4-link and bespoke billet intercooler were works of art. He simply couldn’t resist making an offer. And just like that, a new chapter in the car’s story began.

“There were a lot of details I thought could be improved upon,” he recalls. “This started with lowering the rear and raising the front, dialling out lots of negative camber, and removing the wheel spacers for a more classic look. I also fitted a couple of mufflers to the 3.5-inch exhaust system as it was way too loud!

1UZ V8: Inside Job

The modern aftermarket steering wheel was replaced with a wood-rim item for a more retro vibe, with the column raised to further improve legroom, and Trevor set about casting a wide net to track down the various interior trim pieces that were absent. He also busied himself ripping out all the crumbly old sound deadening and replacing it with 21st-century materials, and following that there was a lot of wiring to do: various things weren’t working properly, including the horn, front sidelights, reverse lights, interior lights, washers, and assorted warning lamps.

“I have everything working as it should now,” he says. “Another thing to address was the fact that there was no handbrake, so I’ve fitted a hydro unit to the original lever. And there’s been a ton of little jobs to keep busy with – sorting water leaks, perfecting and improving as I go.”

The most significant change Trevor has made is to fit a whole new engine. It’s still a Lexus 1UZ-FE, but this one’s an early 1994-spec thick-rod motor, and he’s mated it to a stronger W58 Supra manual ’box. The full turbo gear was swapped over, and is joined by AEM water-meth injection – it’s good for 500bhp, which is a hell of a lot of grunt for a car that weighs in around 1,200kg. “This setup should be good for 750bhp one day, when the demons come calling,” Trevor grins, somewhat scarily.

The whole car is a feast of fancy details, with one particular favourite being the super-obscure taillights. These are as rare as rocking horse dung, being JDM units only issued from 1973-75 – the previous owner fitted these, and Trevor’s tinted them to match the menace of the rest of the car. This provides a proper muscle car vibe, something neatly accentuated by the Dodge Viper paint. Of course, the most fun thing about this bonsai Mustang is that most people have no idea what it is. “No-one seems to have a clue what they’re looking at when I’m out and about in it,” he laughs. Although Trevor’s doing his best to remedy this: having been put in touch with the car’s original builder, Mike, the two are now in regular contact. Mike had set up a Facebook page for the car – search for ‘GT77’ – and Trevor is now the page admin, sharing regular updates and information to educate a new generation about this spectacular old-school curio. This 1UZ Toyota Celica is essentially an ambassador for Toyota’s original concept: global proliferation was the aim and, with a lengthy stint in the States being colourfully followed by a new life in the UK, that’s precisely what it’s achieved. A baby muscle car with a Japanese flavour.

Tech Spec: 1UZ Toyota Celica Mk1

Styling:

Dodge Viper Snakeskin Green paint, period aluminium rear window louvres, shaved marker lights, shaved trim, ultra-rare JDM banana taillights (tinted), Toyosport arch flares, Toyosport front spoiler, custom bonnet striping, fibreglass bumpers on billet mounts

Tuning:

1UZ-FE 4.0-litre 32-valve V8 – 1994-spec thick-rod, ARP head studs, Cometic head gaskets, 76mm Turbo Technics turbo (running 12psi), Turbosmart external wastegate, AEM water/meth kit, rising-rate fuel pressure regulator, stock ECU, one-off billet intercooler, custom alloy 20-gallon fuel cell, W58 Supra steel-band 5-speed gearbox, short-shift, MR2 Turbo Stage 4 paddle clutch and concentric slave cylinder, custom propshaft, 8.8” narrowed Ford axle, 3.55 gears, LSD

Power:

500bhp

Chassis:

7.5x15in (front) and 8.5x15in (rear) Watanabe wheels, 185/55 (f) and 225/45 (r) tyres, 1985 Celica front crossmember and steering rack conversion, adjustable front coilovers, subframe connectors underneath, one-off billet 4-link setup with Panhard rod, disc brakes all round, hydro handbrake

Interior:

6-point chromoly rollcage, low-mounted bucket seats with harnesses, full Speed Hut gauge set, wideband gauge, carbon fibre dash panel and centre console

Source

February 9, 2021
LOTUS ELISE AND EXIGE FINAL EDITION CARS REVEALED

The Lotus Elise and Exige Final Edition models will see out the remainder of both models lifespans as Lotus pulls the plug on production.

The new Lotus Elise and Exige Final Edition range will showcase the best of each model, gaining power and losing weight across the board. In total, there are five Final Edition models, two of which are Elise models and three Exige models.

Lotus Elise Final Edition

Both Lotus Elise Final Edition models come with the most extensive list of interior and exterior features ever specified on an Elise. The biggest change comes with an all-new TFT digital dashboard, which gives the driver a choice of two screens, one a conventional set of dials, the other with a race car-style digital speed read-out and rev counter.

It’s taken almost 25 years in the case of the Elise, but Lotus has redesigned its steering wheel, this time clad in leather and Alcantara and featuring a flat-bottom to aid entry into the car, particularly for taller drivers.

Inside, each car comes with a Final Edition build plaque as well as new seat trim and stitch patterns.

Exterior wise, there are new colours available that hark back to Lotuses of old. These colours include Azure Blue, which was used on the first production car used for images by the media in 1996; Black, which is the brand’s motorsport division colour during the hugely successful Autobytel Elise Championship race series; and of course Racing Green, the colour of the original car unveiled at the 1995 Frankfurt Motor Show.

There are two specification to choose from, the Lotus Elise Sport 240 Final Edition or the Lotus Elise Sport 250 Final Edition. Power here is rated at 240bhp, with the Elise’s weight being trimmed to just 898kg thanks to new 10-spoke 16-inch front/17-inch rear forged wheels, optional carbon fibre panels, a lithium-ion battery and a polycarbonate window. The Elise 240 Final Edition costs £45,500.

The more track-focused variant is the Lotus Elise Sport 250 Final Edition. This car gets a more prominent aero kit which includes a front splitter, rear wing, rear diffuser and side skirt extensions. This in turn provides 155kg of downforce at 154mph, the top speed. The wheels here are Diamond Cut ultra-lightweight M Sport forged wheels measuring 16-inch at the front and 17-inch at the rear. Here, however, the tyres are Yokohama A052 semi-slicks. As standard you get Bilstein sport dampers.

With all of the carbon fibre options chosen, the Lotus Elise 250 Final Edition weighs 931kg. Prices start from £50,900.

Lotus Exige Final Edition

Across the board, all three final-edition Exiges come with the same interior upgrades as the Elise, as well as new colour options.

The first of the three Lotus Exige Final Editions is the Sport 390, which replaces the Sport 350. Thanks to a recalibration of the Elderbrock supercharger, it now produces 397bhp from its 3.5-litre V6 engine. Weighing in at just 1138kg, the Exige Sport 390 Final Edition accelerates from 0-60mph in 3.7 seconds. The Exige Sport 390 Final Edition price starts at £64,000.

The Lotus Exige Sport 420 Final Edition gets an extra 10bhp over the outgoing Sport 410. It is actually the fastest Exige you can buy, with a top speed of 180mph. Suspension comes in the form of three-way adjustable Nitron dampers with front and rear anti-roll bars that are also adjustable.

Instead of using the Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tyre that the Sport 390 uses, the Sport 420 opts for a set of Cup 2s. The Lotus Exige Sport 420 Final Edition starts from £79,900.

The top of the range model comes in the form of the Lotus Exige Cup 430 Final Edition. This is the ultimate track-iteration of the Lotus Exige and with that comes a whopping 430bhp and a kerbweight of just 1100kg, meaning it has a power-to-weight ratio of 387bhp per tonne.

The radical aero package gives the Exige Cup 430 Final Edition a whopping 171kg of downforce at its 174mph top speed and at just 100mph produces the same amount as the Exige Sport 390 does at 170mph. Underneath, again, are adjustable Nitron dampers and Eibach anti-rolls bars with Cup 2 tyres connecting it all to the road.

The Lotus Exige Cup 430 Final Edition starts at £100,600.

Source

February 8, 2021