Weight Reduction

This is one area that definitely gets overlooked by the novice.  In fact, as I'm sure most of you have noticed, many of the so-called tuners also have tuned stereo systems in their cars as well.  Again, I'll emphasize that I'm all for individuality.  Just realize that a permanent sound system does take a toll on your performance.

I had talked before about power to weight ratio.  The word on the street is that 100 lbs = 10 HP = 0.01 in the 1/4 for most compact cars.  That's just an estimate though.  The average Neon weighs in around 2500 lbs.  Let's be realistic and go with an average HP at the wheels, not the factory rated peak HP.  In other words, there isn't a whole lot of power down low, and the usable band (between gears) on a SOHC Neon would range from 117 to 130 HP at the flywheel, or 95 to 105 at the wheels for a manual transmission, and we'll assume an average of 100 just to make the numbers easier to work with.  So 100 HP to 2500 lbs is a 1:25 power-to-weight ratio.  Lets say we pull out the power steering and air conditioning, all the carpet and sound deadener from the trunk, the spare tire, the jack, the carpet and sound deadener behind the front seats, and heck, let's take out the rear seats.  That should just about cover 100 lbs., wouldn't you say?  So now our power to weight ratio is 1:24.  You can do a little math to figure out how much HP you would have to add to the same car at the original weight to get the lower 1:24 ratio.  ? HP/2500 lbs = 100 HP/2400 lbs.  Solve for the ? and you get roughly 104.1 HP, or a 4.1% increase.  Not exactly matching the catchy estimate...  Going down another 100 lbs would give an equivalent 8.7% increase over the original, or a little under a tenth of a second off your quarter mile.  There have been many Neons down in the 2100 lb. range (19% eq. increase) and a couple in the 1900 lb. range (32% eq. increase) that aren't really safe for the street, but were pulling high 13 and low 14 second quarter mile times with a stock bottom end and stock cams (DOHC) on street tires...  ...and no turbo or nitrous.  Impressed?

Weight reduction alone isn't going to make a massive difference.  But shedding a hundred or two pounds just might make the difference between a low 15 (or 14) second car and a consistent 14 (or 13) second car.  The more HP you are putting down, the bigger gains you will see with weight reduction.  There are dozens and dozens of things you can take out.  Pretty much all you need in there is a driver's seat and seatbelt (harness), a tach/light, the pedals, the e-brake, and the shifter.  If you want to stay streetable, you might want to leave the factory glass in, along with some of the nice-to-have things like door handles, a radio, and maybe a floor mat.

Also keep in mind that if you take weight off the front, particularly right over the wheels, you are lowering your traction.  Spinning your tires off the line might sound and look cool.  But more often than not, it will lower your 60 foot times as well as your ET.  So saving 7 pounds by dropping a $700 carbon fiber hood on there may not necessarily be the best way to go.  Now, there are a few folks that actually spin and get better times.  How is this possible?  Well, instead of getting traction and bogging down the engine right off the line, they spin the tires until the rpm's are in the power band and then let them grab.  This does work, but your window of opportunity is incredibly small, and it takes a certain amount of skill and practice to perfect.  My hat is off to those that can do it, but it is certainly not what I'd recommend for the beginning racer.  Besides, if you go out and do this in a stock Neon, you will most likely break an axle...