Quote:
Originally Posted by Flavor 987S
What is allowed by the rules? Drop weight. It's free. Dropping 85 pounds will be about 10 HP.
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this is a really interesting one, or at least was for me. I've always thought cars with equal power to weight would have the same acceleration and as a bonus the lower weight car would have less weight to turn and brake. Fixed power to weight time trial has shown me this is very wrong. The problem is that aerodynamic, and rotational drag (and other drag) represent a bigger percentage power loss to the lighter, lower power car. I was at Summit point last week and happened to find myself right next to an S2000 which has the same power to weight but 30 more horsepower. I exited turn 10 at a higher speed only to have him walk right by on the straight. You exit turn 10 at 100mph and my car just doesn't have the power to pull out of the turn like his does at that speed.
Motorcycles are an extreme example of this. They have tremendous power to weight but above 100mph they are dogs compared to cars.