04 14 2010 09 28 pm.
Carbon fiber doors weight savings.
The doors are a tremendous weight savings opportunity in your race car.
You find one oz.
In an effort to illustrate this we ve embarked on a mission to shed some pounds from our 275 radial tire project car known as blownz with the installation of a set of fiberglass doors to replace the bloated factory doors we ve been lugging down the quarter mile for the last two seasons in may we cranked off our first seven second pass with a 7 69 in pomona which was a huge step for us.
Starting at 1375 00 weight fiberglass 14 5 lbs ea carbon fiber 8 6 lbs ea stock door weighs about 85lbs fiberglass door assembled.
The carbonetics 1g dsm drag doors are the best weight savings for the 1g dsm platform each door weights only 9 10lb vs 45lb saving 35lb from stock gutted door.
While we found owners claiming to have saved from 17 to 35 pounds per door panel after going to carbon fiber we feel it s important to caution that carbon fiber door panels will not provide the same level of protection that metal ones do should your vehicle take a direct hit from the side.
Here and one there then you at 16 well hell theres 1 pound.
They are usually gutted and stripped of all internal pieces for weight savings and simplification which is a time consuming process.
Every single piece of exterior bodywork of the car is made from premium carbon fiber including the hood doors fenders and bumpers.
These carbon fiber doors are only about 7lbs each and surprisingly rigid.
And the finished door will never be as light as this piece.
This results in a significant weight saving of 310 pounds 140.
So then you have 100 lbs left to reach your 300 lb mark.
Carbon fiber doors without a cage or side impact beams will not offer any protection in a side impact crash.
Same way with the carbon fiber hatch that was mentioned earlier.
Then you start looking at how much of a difference that 10 lb carbon fiber hood would make.
