Esprit weight

[Jonathan]

Bibs and I snuck in at a rather noisy brands today to weight the, what will forever be known as, 'chunky' - my GT3.5

Weight was 1225kg as on the scales.

Notable points :

* No aircon, racing seats

* Full stainless exhaust - would have thought this would be a lot less than the std one but hey ho

* ~3kg of rubbish in the car

* 1/4 tank fuel - should be full....bible says GT3 is 73 litres so I had 18.3l in there. Rough estimate is fuel weighs 0.76KG/litre so I was 40KG down

* Magnesio wheels and Brand new tyres

Book says 1229KG with full fuel (ie kerb weight) for a std GT3 which incidently means std equipment (no air-con for example)

Yes I'm unimpressed

I'm sure Bibs had his foot on the scales though....1225kg, pie eater.

Anyone else wanna post their weights up - pref with a few more KGs added to make my more happy ?

[Bibs]

Sport350 was 1,302kgs with half a tank of gas (petrol, not helium). That's with 4 more cylinders, aircon and an extra turbo.

[Paul C]

1300kg? Thats nearly two S1 Elises!

It is a 'bit' fast though i suppose...

[Mike6]

Haven't a clue about weight but spent the last few days stripping out the old aircon equipment. The compressor, mounting bracket, belt and belt wheel are really heavy and my wife reckons they weigh more than she does.

[sanj]

My '90 Esprit with OZ Futura V8 wheels and suspension, Sparco Roadster seats, no spare wheel, and 3/4 tank of fuel, weighed in at 1325kg.

Edited March 17, 2010 by sanj

[Jonathan]

Still not feeling any lighter

I dont think the wheels help tbh, not the metal but the rubber, there's a LOT more of it.

Gonna have a look underneath for any illegaly attached immigrants.

[Advantage]

Your brakes won't be the lightest things in the world either - well, not compared with the tiny Brembos.

[Jonathan]

Lighter, actually

I'm talking about 1 ounce or so here though.

Brembos are 1 piece cast iron, the APs are aluminium bell'd. so the rotors are lighter, calipers were lighter too, pads were heavier however to counter it.

[Advantage]

Yeah, but, but, but they need extra fluid to fill them....

[Simon350S]

And all this time you've been fobbing us off with how you've got the lightest Esprit in the Universe!

YOU BIG FAT SUE!

[Jonathan]

IT SHOULD have been !

It was the lightest spec and lighter still (the exhaust was about 30kg lighter, I kid not) - I really think the tyres tipped it.

I want to know how heavy Bib's feet are.

[Bibs]

The tyres probably added 500gms each, you're still a couple of hundred kgs off target!

[Jonathan]

When I weighed the two wheels the Saturns came out about the same as the Mags, the difference being the tyres (one set worn to hell, one set brand new)

I know the Mags setup is going to be heavier than the std rims, there's 50% more tyre there - you can feel it when lifting them for sure.

What I meant to add to my previous post was that, I tell it as it is, good or bad.

Have to get the GT2 and the Black knight up there soon.

[simonb]

Surprises me how much people fixate on wheel weight, wnen there are no published tyre weights.

Pick up a mag alloy, then a big fat tyre, and see where the weight is

[Jonathan]

Tyre.

[Bibs]

5mm of rubber isn't going to weigh that much. I've got 8 tyres in the garage, I'll weigh some later today.

[Jonathan]

Tyres weigh more than the wheels, as simon says the wheel weight is often rangled over but not the tyre weight.

When I weighed my fitted mags vs my fitted Saturns the weight was within a few ounces the same, no figures I can remember, I'll weigh mine later perhaps as I have a seat of each.

[Mike6]

Decided to weigh the old air con compressor, belt and support wheel. The lot came to over 10kg which when you think of it is half your baggage allowance on flights. So should notice a useful loss in weight plus some efficiency as the wheel which the belt runs through was showing a lot of resistance. Next job is to strip out the rest of the redundant air con

[Russell Mills]

Any Chance that the weighbridge/ scales that you used were not properly calibrated, is there another one nearby you could also try or perhaps the best of 3 weights at different locations and take an average?

Hey just trying to help, plus don't keep any donuts in the garage overnight ;-)

Russ

P.S. Just out of Interest can you get free weight checks at Brands Hatch?

[jerrytlr]

I was a little surprised myself to read that the later Esprit typically weighs 1,300Kg+.

How does this compare with its competitors of the time (Ferrari, Porsche etc.)? Anybody know?

Also, is there much crash protection in the Esprit? That often bulks cars up a lot.... I am guessing the answer is no, given the age of the basic design, which makes the weight even more surprising!

None of this stopped me buying one though Hope to collect it in about a week......

Cheers

Jerry

[mike_sekinger]

More modern lightweights:

Porsche GT3-RS: 1375Kg

Ferrari 430: 1450Kg

I think that only the likes of Noble, TVR and Ferrari superlights (360 CS) tended to be more lightweight than the Esprit.

Cheers,

Mike S

[Bibs]

Any Chance that the weighbridge/ scales that you used were not properly calibrated, is there another one nearby you could also try or perhaps the best of 3 weights at different locations and take an average?

P.S. Just out of Interest can you get free weight checks at Brands Hatch?

The weighbridge is FIA approved, of course it's calibrated!

I'm a volunteer marshal at Brands so know the circuit manager. If you want to weigh the 300, let me know and we'll pop up there.

[Günter]

Morgan Aero 8: 1175kg

Morgan Aero SuperSports: 1145kg

Porsche Boxter Spyder: 1350kg

Donkervoort D8 370RS: 645kg [D8GT: 650kg]

ArtegaGT: 1116kg

Wiesmann GT MF4-s: 1310kg

GumpertApolloSport: 1198kg

Koenigsegg Agera: 1290kg

Mosler MT900 GTR xx: 1050kg

Ruf CTR3: 1400kg

Wendland Porsche Boxter400: 1200kg

Sportec-Porsche SPR1R: 1287kg

[Jonathan]

I guess when you look at how big the esprit is it's not that bad.

[Advantage]

I don't know why you're concerning yourself with this Jon. Your standard, without options car, weighs just under the factory quoted weight for a standard, without options car. Your handful of saved kilos is, as you've already noted, probably due to your aftermarket exhaust and different wheel/tyre combination.

So your car is pretty much bang on. Now you've got a baseline, start your weight saving in earnest. Sound deadening removal, stereo out, carpets gone, superfluous brackets, unused bits of loom, door panels, centre console trim all should be destined for the bin. This sort of stuff is free.

Replace all glass (except the front screen) with plastic.

Then start replacing body panels with expensive lightweight jobies. Tailgate, doors bonnet - there's many kilos of savings to be made there.