I agree that it will be very difficult to do a 700 Lb Kawasaki powered car. It could be done with a 150 to 170 lb driver but still not easy. I think the 494 or the 493 will be very tough to beat because they have a very wide powerband & a ton more torque than the Kawasaki.
My 1st 80" wheelbase car weighed 715 with me in it & I weighed about 165 at the time with no real effort at trying to make the car light, just a super simple car. If I do design a new car & I am thinking about it, the target weight will be 550 lbs without driver & fuel. I know this is very do-able with a lot of design integration. A couple of my older cars were right there so I know it can be done. Way to much on my plate right now but maybe next year. Thanks ... Jay Novak -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Richard Schmidt Sent: Thursday, April 20, 2006 9:24 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [F500] 440 vs 494 This is great news, but (you just knew there would be a but), I still don't think it will even the playing field in road racing. First of all, it is not that easy to lose 50 lbs. Just ask anyone on a diet ! All of the cars out there are designed to weigh 750 with a reasonable weight driver. I don't see how you can get a car down to the 700 lb mark and not reduce the structural integrity. When I first raced my F500 with the Kawasaki, I had to add ballast. That all changed with the change over to four link suspension and the added bodywork to get the aero working. I am not the familiar with the new chassis, but I suspect they are all being designed for the 493 engine and thus would not be able to get down to the 700 lb min. Just one more small change, allow increasing the compression ratio to about 9:1 on the Kawasaki. This would be so easy, just mill some metal off the head, reshape the dome, and presto, a 90 HP Kawasaki ! Ofcourse some clever chassis designer, Jay are you listing ?, could build a new chassis just for the Kawasaki using all the improvements learned over the years, but apply it to a car designed for a engine from yesteryear. Richard ----- Original Message ----- From: "Stan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, April 20, 2006 3:13 PM Subject: Re: [F500] 440 vs 494 > Effective May 1st, Kawi's can run at 700 lbs for even more fun! > > > Stan > > _______________________________________________ F500 mailing list - [email protected] To unsubscribe or change options please visit: http://f500.org/mailman/listinfo/f500 *** Please, DO NOT send unsubscribe requests to the mailing list! *** _______________________________________________ F500 mailing list - [email protected] To unsubscribe or change options please visit: http://f500.org/mailman/listinfo/f500 *** Please, DO NOT send unsubscribe requests to the mailing list! ***
