Is it dampening for sound or insulation heat? If it's for the latter, am I at some particular risk if I remove it? Thanks!

 

I can't imagine it would hurt anything, but maybe someone who knows for sure will chime in. Why do you want to remove it? Trouble squeezing something under there?

 

Maybe...

Yes, actually. I made some custom mounts for a Bavarian Autosport stressbar onto Craven Speed STDs. There was NO way the hood would close without removing most of the insulation, so I just removed the whole panel. It still won't stay reliably latched on the driver's side, but this seems to be a problem with the latch... Mostly I just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to burn the paint off my hood in 1000 km.

 

Did you end up leaving the insulation off? Notice any problems with doing so? I noticed I had to trim the insulation in the area of the BavAuto stress bar on my R50 also. I was contemplating just removing the whole thing.