If you have cable TV watch BBC Top Gear. Therein they test 800 HP
European
super cars. These cars sell for a million or more dollars.

Our old Chaparral
Can Am racing car chassis weighed under 50 pounds
made from aluminium. A carbon
fibre chassis under 50 pounds would be
at least three times as stiff.

The
Chaparral 2F body was 1/4 inch thick foam core with 4 oz
fibreglass skins. It
was very tough and had more than enough
stiffness for over 200 MPH. The weight
doubled when we painted it. I
have been around the NASCAR Daytona oval  at
night, at over 200 MPH,
with Phil Hill driving the 2F.

I would mount a
Chaparral 2F style movable suspension mounted rear
wing on the car.

The 1100
HP Mazda turbo four rotor would weigh under 400 pounds.

My guess is the 1100
HP  turbo 4 rotor super car would weigh about
600 pounds. That ought to shock
the Top Gear car pundits. It would
easily hold the lap record around the Top
Gear test track.

If I were building one I would move to the UK as all kinds
of carbon
fibre parts would be readily available. Hurley Engineering
in
Coventry UK is already building 4 rotor Mazda engines.

The draconian DOT
crash rules are entirely too severe in the US. The
US gov agency must justify
their existence by escalating the rules
year after year. As a result US cars
are 150% of the weight of
comparably European cars.

I rented a Renault Cleo
in Germany recently  and it weighed 2000
pounds. The Cleo claimed 60 MPG and it
would easily go 160 KPH on the
autobahn.

My RX8 weighs 3000 pounds with a
200 pound engine and aluminium body
parts. The RX8 drive shaft is also carbon
fibre.

Because of the this we are paying a huge cost and MPG penalty in
the
US.

The auto accident death rate is no higher in Europe than it is in
the
US despite parts of the autobahn having no speed limits.

Paul Lamar

I
still think its [2F] coolest car ever built:-) Van

I drove on the Aubobahn for 8 years.  The big difference between US and THEM is THEY follow the rules of the road.  No passing on the right.  Get out of the passing lane when you're not passing.  Etc. Raise the speed limit to "unlimited" here and it will be a blood bath.  And a gene pool purge.

Dennis Lithgow


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