So after a short day of flight instructing I had some extra time to burn so I decided that I wanted to see how much weight I could potentially shed off of the car to gain precious seconds in a drag race at the track. I started in the most odvious place...seats. Turns out by dumping the passenger and rear seat you can shed 82 lbs. (45 from the front, and 37 from the rear). Also the tool kit weighs 5 lbs so dumping that will save a little as well.

Thinking a little further along it is well known that you should hit the strip with low fuel. If you figure driving with only 3 gallons then you've lost another 60 lbs. Finally the last big loss that came to mind was doing the one ball mod which from what I hear lets you lose ~20 lbs.

All in all you can shed 167 lbs off the curb weight without breaking a swet bringing it down to 2511 lbs for the R53. Using a simple performance caluclator online that makes for a ~ .3 seconds faster in the quarter mile.

Anyone else have any ideas on how to lose more weight besides the driver going on a diet? Sorry for the long post!

 

A few quick and inexpensive ideas for you .

Rear windshield wiper and motor assembly.
Make sure your tanks for the window sprayers are empty.
Motorcycle battery or at least a Optima style.
Remove floor mats if any .
Lighter wheels of course but now you are talking dollars.

Good idea of course to run low fuel but instead of showing up with just 3 gallons why not bring a 5gal can along so you can add it as needed during the event ?
Have fun you are headed in the rite direction.

Randy
M7 Tuning

 

Remove the radio
Remove the plastic dash trim, arm-rest and rear plastics
remove headlights
Remove rear bumper cover
Put driver on a diet
Wear lightest clothing possible (but still meet dress code for track and not be a potential fireball)

 

How much weight could you lose with the rear wiper and motor? Also with the radio, trim, and bumper idea, I want to keep the car as streetable as possible before hitting the track but I guess every little bit helps! Anyone know of the results of a straight through exhaust with no mufflers? Not enough back pressure, too ricer sounding, ect...? That would cut off another 20 lbs.

P.S. I thought I said driver diet wasn't fair play

 

The rear wiper and motor are 3 pounds

A huge improvement would be l-i-t-e wheels and tires, Madness front control arms, R56 trailing arms, and a BBK with aluminum hat rotors.

 

Wow, the wiper and motor sound like a great mod for weight loss Although I think i'd be better off adding a NOS sticker to to the car somewhere, I hear that easily nets you 50 HP.

On a more serious note, wouldn't adding lightweight rims compromise the sideload capability of the rims? What kind of weight loss can one expect from ditching the bubbled 17's to a more lightweight 17 in. wheel? Also I've heard that lightweight wheels help in speed due to less rotational force needed or some such jazz. Any truth to that?

 

In short: probably not. Wheel design is much more important than overall weight. A very light forged and FEA'd design will out perform a very heavy cast "stylistic" wheel almost always. When was the last time you saw a heavy OEM wheel being used in competition?

Reduced unsprung and rotating mass will improve acceleration, suspension reaction times, and ultimately lower lap times. It's more important than more power.

 

If you want to go all out:
-remove carpeting...completely
-remove interior panels, other than dash
-Remove Interior Lighting
-Remove headliner
And that is all free, just takes some of your time
If you want to spend money:
-Carbon Fiber hood
-Carbon fiber Boot
-Carbon Fiber Fenders
-Lightweigt wheels + tires
-Lightweight suspension components

 

Sorry for my ignorance but the last time I was at a competition was....never. I just joined the mini community so this is my first exposure to a car made for the track, but I see your point. Since it wasn't answered I'll put the question out there again, has anyone done a muffler-less exhaust? I have my appointment with the exhuast shop tomorow and was planning on doing the one ball unless someone has had good luck with a ball-less setup. I'm just too worried about it sounding too high pitched.

Thanks for the other suggestions on removing weight, although it seems like all of that stuff might completely equal 20 lbs, is it worth the effort to pull the capet for 5 lbs, ect...?

 

You'll want a muffled exhaust. An open exhaust is OMG loud. If you want a stock-ish sound, do the one-ball. Otherwise, get a lighter cat-back that makes some power and lowers weight and sounds good like Milltek or Borla Race.

Pulling the carpet is a pain in the butt; don't bother. If you want to keep your car streetable, consider the carbon bits [bonnet, boot, fenders]. The rumor is they save about 90 pounds over the heavy gauge steel stock pieces.

Here's my list of high-value lightweight:
*Carbon bonnet, boot, fenders
*Light wheels and tires
*Madness front control arms and R56 rear trailing arms
*1-piece non-adjustable race buckets [Like Sparco Rev5, only 18 lbs/each]
^this requires being innovative with seat belts and airbags
*Remove rear interior bits [seats, everything in the boot, headliner, pillar covers, head curtain bags]
*Light battery [i.e. Braille, D51 Optima, etc.]
*Light exhaust [Milltek, Borla Race are my recommendations unless you go all-out with RMW's full exhaust]
*Non-xenon headlights, removed fog lights.

That's the big stuff. Everything from there is nibbling a pound or two.
Keep in mind the car will be louder, rougher, less livable day-to-day. If that's you, go for it!

 

Ball-less is way too loud.

The rear interior panels are heavy, yes the front carpet padding is heavy, and a lightweight battery will save lots. The seat belt hardware (floor and C panel) will save a few more pounds,

For a flow improvement consider replacing the OEM flange and transition pipe at the beginning of the cat back. That section necks down to 1.9 inches ID. A replacement flange will require some modification of the holes to match the OEM bolt hole C-C on the header. Also, an eighth inch ID can be gained by grinding down the weld in the ID of the exit pipe post-cat. Place a bead on the outside just in case the interior bond is compromised.

 

I don't have numbers, but I'd imagine that a one sided exhaust (like Alta) would be lighter than any of the two sided exhausts.

 

You could try a straight exhaust without mufflers, but as the others said, it will be UBER LOUD. Maybe start up the car with the midpipe off and see what that noise level does for you. If your good with it, then you can go from there knowing that no mufflers is good for you.
I have seen some minis with the exhausts coming out from behind the front wheels...I'll try and find a pic. I have totally contemplated that setup...

 

or you could go with this
http://www.coasttocoastusa.com/zenca...roducts_id=140

Full Titanium Cat-Back. Only 15 lbs!

 

yeah and only 1300 dollars...my god is that really worth the weight savings??

 

of course!

 

Having less than 3 gal in the gas tank might be a bad idea because my buddy in his honda would autocross with little gas and a few times on hard turns the car would bog. The fuel would be to far on one side where the fuel pump couldn't reach. Maybe it's not the same with the MINI.

 

Most importantly, make sure you drop a duece, that's about 2 lbs.

 

Classic! When I talk about racing I was meaning more 1/4 runs, but I see your point about autocrossing. As far as the exhaust goes, i'll be sure to have the guy add a new pipe for something a little less restrictive and i'll likely end up with the one ball. Although spending $1300 on exhaust does seem appealing, I can think of better things to spend my money on.....like high quality toilet paper for the deuce

 

Thanks for all the tips thus far guys, keep em comming. As far as the light-weight battery goes; what kind of weight loss could I expect, does the battery work just as well, and what kind of cost am I looking at?

 

As to the battery look for the stock replacement batteries for a Miata, the AGM ones. They drop some weight, take up less space, last longer, and are still powerful enough to be a real car battery.

 

Middle of the page or so: http://www.helix13.com/mini/products/engine-intake

Review: https://www.northamericanmotoring.com/reviews/showproduct.php?product=102

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ghlight=weight

Info on the Braille battery and also the Deka: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ghlight=braile

Charge the battery if you only use it for racing: http://www.northamericanmotoring.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52514

Good reading/#'s: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...444#post585444

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...53#post1012653

 

Thanks again everyone, great info. I had the oneball done today, and was considering the other option of smoothing the weld inside the pipe, as a previous owner suggested. However, seeing as though the header was a smaller diameter I hardly believe that the 1/8 matters near the cat. Hopefully sometime soon I'll be adding a custom cat-back with some new hearders. BTW, how big of a PIA are those things to install?

 

a few things... non muffled is illegal on the street, and you dont necessarily make up for the power loss with the less weight. Race seats are great and look nice. if you arent willing to get a new hood/bonnet then cut circular holes where possible. that can save a good bit of weight. a lightened flywheel helps tremendously, as does lightened wheels since they are both rotational mass. if you really want to get serious then you can do a chop top which looks pretty good and can save you a hell of a lot of weight. if you want to make it a track only car, then you could remove windows and motors, and everything that is unnecessary to make that car move!

 

If you get an R56, then do the weight reduction, the aluminum block is at your advantage.