Vehicle Total Weights...

[JeffC]

This seems to be about the weight of Busa Westy's that I have come across which is about 50kg more than Westfield quote. Makes you think this is only 35kg lighter than my Vx sprint car why are they not lighter?

ive wondered abou the power / weight thing, in comparison to a sorted vx engine the busa has a lump less power standard busa is around 170bhp, big lump less torque, but from what ive experienced on track day  the busa seems to be the quicker car , how does that work then Or have i just not come across the right vx    

[Matt Seabrook]

Not sure about the Busa raced a MegaBird at the last sprint and I dont think there is much between the MegaBusa and MegaBird for outright pace. The Sprint had a standing Quarter mile standing start to the first speed trap. I was 1/2 second quicker and 5mph faster there and I think about 1 1/2 seconds faster over the sprint distance

Edit to add just for the record the MegaBird was 0.58 seconds and 8mph slower to the 1/4 time and 1.36 seconds slower on the sprint over all time. They are from the best times from each driver on the day. Not saying that my car is the fastest thing going or that I am the best driver just lucky on the day  

[stu999]

but from what ive experienced on track day  the busa seems to be the quicker car , how does that work then Or have i just not come across the right vx    

Just wait till I've finished running mine in  I am gonna start thrashing it when it gets to 150K miles  

[Matt Seabrook]

Grahame my sprint car stands me in at less then £7000 I have done some wheeling and dealing with buying and selling parts that I have upgraded on my car (ie sold carbs for £490.00 throttle bodies cost £489.00). So the deep pockets thing just does not wash I have been careful with how I have spent my money and I am lucky that I can do all the work myself. Yes the narrow body car is a little lighter than a wide but I still find it hard to understand how a CEC with and engine and gearbox coming in at 150kg is not that much heavier than a BEC. Agreed the Busa is not a light bike engine but it still seems odd that its so close. Still things that are going to add to the cost when I have the money for them are four pot calipers and lighter discs and there is going to be some other redesign work on the car which I am hoping to get the car down to 520kg max with fuel. This should cost me less than £350.00 so still not deep pocket time compared to some on here. Just because I am in business does not mean that my pocket are bottomless and to be honest I could not afford to build a MegaBusa I am not the old one with two toys am I Grahame My Zetec car was built in 1997-98 so was brought and paid for a long time ago and I picked the Vx race car for the right money as it had been stood for some time and needed work which is not a problem for me. My daily drive is a Vectra worth about a grand as any spare cash I would sooner spend on the Westy.

It sounds to me as though someone is planning excuses for next seasons racing before he has even races his Busa  chances are you will be quicker than me when we race next year as you have been racing longer than I have and I am not expecting better than forth places this you with you Andy and Phillip in the class and Gary in the Caterham has beaten me on every occasion except the last time we raced. So could come fifth on each outing but trust me I will be giving it a bl**dy good go. So back to the topic how come that the MegaBusa is 50kg more than Westfield quote?

[gadrego]

Matt, I think Busa engine/box weighs about 90kg so call that 60kg saved.  Jeff's car is a wide body which I think adds about 20kg, possibly more.  he also has a full cage so its easy to see how weights could end up similar.

[oioi]

perhaps westfield have started using that special SI unit known as caterham kilos

just out of interest matt whats the spec of your Vx car?  Im guessing it might be fairly similar to mine - narrow body, 13" KN minilites, cortina uprights and brakes, cast ali bellhousiing, cast ali diff carrier, bare fibreglass PKM seats, RAC roll bar, cast ali dry sump pan (plus weighty dry sump pump), aeroscreen. soon to be alloy dampers

[gadrego]

OiOi,

As you know your car is pretty similar in spec to mine except I have Ali Bellhousing, little battery and a wet sump.  While the screen was still on, mine weighed in at 560 kg with almost no fuel, so call that 550kg with an aero, no wipers etc...  Guy at the weighbridge said that accuracy wasn't exactly great though.  Have you weighed yours?  It would be interesting to compare.

[oioi]

i weighed mine on a weighbridge, but they are weights and measure approved to +/- 20kgs so fairly useless for what were discussing.  at the time it had windscreen, doors, hood and frame, spare wheel, bench seats and special lightweight racing rollbar and it weighed 570 ish, but that could + or - 20kg

is yours back up and running?

[Matt Seabrook]

perhaps westfield have started using that special SI unit known as caterham kilos

 Yep its what I was getting at

just out of interest matt whats the spec of your Vx car?  Im guessing it might be fairly similar to mine - narrow body, 13" KN minilites, cortina uprights and brakes, cast ali bellhousiing, cast ali diff carrier, bare fibreglass PKM seats, RAC roll bar, cast ali dry sump pan (plus weighty dry sump pump), aeroscreen. soon to be alloy dampers

Yes not too different cast uprights and hubs just changed to alloy dampers (sold the old ones Grahame on eBay so the new one cost me £200 with springs) live axle RAC roll bar with petty strut Plays cool R500 style glass seat (old seat sold for £100 new seat new one was £125.00 so cost £25 ) etc.

[grahame]

Ooops, sorry Matt. In making the point that a standard weight is hard to define in a modified environment, seem to have done that in a particularly idiotic and offensive way as usual.

I don't see how Westfield can be 50Kg adrift, given that the componentry of my BEC is exactly as supplied. Even more difficult to see how you could remove 50Kg without seriously affecting the viability of the car!

Amazingly accurate instruments for weighing (bathroom scales) at 3 different locations have all come up with 480-490Kg. The same instruments under a bench press yielded some very accurate figures for not so accurately supplied springs... confirmed by Merlin's tester. We must therefore conclude there must be a 'Westfield measure' as previously suggested. I wonder if anybody has ever achieved the 0-60 time quoted (OK, so that brings into the question of Stack calibration..).

[Matt Seabrook]

Good to know that the bathroom scales are quite close mate and don't worry its all taken lightheartedly. I have had fun making a very quick car for not a lot of money.

[oioi]

whereas i have fun making a quick car slow for lots of money

i guess it takes all sorts  

[Bazzer]

When I first built my Busa it had most of the Westfield light weight bits on it including Dymag alloys, but with a FIA roll bar

It weighed in at 480Kgs with a full tank on Blackbird Motorsports scales.

I reckon the factory figures are dry weights without things like a roll bar and anti roll bars etc.

Later I removed the passenger seat, fitted ACB10's and removed the reverse box. This probably saved 20Kg.

Now I have a full cage and a turbo so I reckon I am probably up around the 500Kg mark.

Bazzer

[Matt Seabrook]

whereas i have fun making a quick car slow for lots of money

i guess it takes all sorts  

[Westie Michel]

Hi Guys,

i've follow this tread because it is very intresting for me. Does someone here who has an Prelit with an VX Red Top engine?

And sorry my english is not the best what doese/is "ACB10's" mean??

Cheers

Michael