my ae86 is caged and my s13 was a formula D car. they can be amusing
i have a '62 lotus 23, i am tempted to put carbon fiber body panels on it to lower the weight even further (currently ~ 900 lbs)
i have a '62 lotus 23, i am tempted to put carbon fiber body panels on it to lower the weight even further (currently ~ 900 lbs)
What's it like around the track in a 23? 900 pounds is already incredibly light. Unfortunately it would be impossible to meet modern safety standards while following the same design, but if you applied modern materials science to the car I wonder how much weight you could really save. Even in the 60s on the Lotus 23 they were using magnesium alloy drivetrain components and wheels, space frame chassis with lightweight skinning for body panels, and other techniques we still rely on. I would guess you wouldn't cut that much weight using carbon fiber body panels, maybe another 40 pounds or so at maximum perhaps? You'd probably pick up more speed by modifying it to accept wider tires and increasing the track width slightly, like some of the later replicas.
I think you and I would have fun in a garage wrenching over a few beers, glad to see there's others out there that appreciate the joys of lightweight beaters :)
it runs knobbly tires so just going to slicks would probably help a lot, but i don’t think the transmission is built for it.