We dropped the weight to 700 lbs after considering all the input on the subject, especially that from the Kawi guys. Neither porting nor overboring was considered a workable solution, and since many of the cars which came with those engines date from when the minimum weight was 700 lbs, we felt that the best choice available was to revert to that weight. The change isn't going to make the Kawi a Rotax-killer, but maybe it'll bring some cars out of garages and get them back into road racing.
Stan -----Original Message----- From: 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" To: 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 --------------------------------- Blab-away for as little as 1"/min. Make PC-to-Phone Calls using Yahoo! Messenger with Voice. _______________________________________________ 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! ***
