Tuesday, January 03, 2012

Saving Weight

I hear that BMW recently announced a special version of their rather successful M3 called the CRT ... Carbon Racing Technology


Here is the Press Release

The car saves 45Kg of weight over a standard car and the difference is given to be 70Kg less than a regularly equipped and higher specd M3.


So I was thinking what currently produced lightweight cars are kicking around.  What came to mind was


BMW M3 CRT Press Release (-70Kg)
Porsche Cayman R ( -55Kg )

Nissan GT-R Track Pack (-18Kg)
Porsche 911 GT3 RS (-25Kg)


I guess what came to mind was

  • The cars are already expensive
  • Usually they leave items (like air conditioning or a radio) out to save weight, yes decide to charge you much more  for your lower feature car :-(
  • The weight savings are so moderate that it's the difference at best between driving solo and carrying a slim and not overweight passenger.
The best way then to experience the benefits of a crisp handling light weight sports car is to buy one that started off light by design.  Caterham or McLaren anyone?