Carbon fibre front clams - a possibility
Discussion
Dear All,
I'm just testing the water here but I may be able to get some carbon/kevlar front clams made up. They would be M400 style, bare unpainted with no lights or fittings and weigh about 10kg (the standard M12 GTO front clam weighs 19kg). Initial indications are that they'd cost in the region of £3000 each. You'd have to have them painted and get the fasteners, grills and lights swapped over from your current clam.
Obviously the more the merrier so I'm seeking people who would be seriously interested in shelling out this sort of money for a front clam. If you are in that category please PM me.
Regards
Paul C
I'm just testing the water here but I may be able to get some carbon/kevlar front clams made up. They would be M400 style, bare unpainted with no lights or fittings and weigh about 10kg (the standard M12 GTO front clam weighs 19kg). Initial indications are that they'd cost in the region of £3000 each. You'd have to have them painted and get the fasteners, grills and lights swapped over from your current clam.
Obviously the more the merrier so I'm seeking people who would be seriously interested in shelling out this sort of money for a front clam. If you are in that category please PM me.
Regards
Paul C
I spend a lot of time pulling weight out of rally cars during the build process - in fact this is probably the area that most time (and money!) goes into.
As a power to weight ratio, saving 9 kg from a front clam and around 15 kg saving from a rear clam are not at all significant relevant to cost. i.e. if you did both you would have <10 bhp/tonne increase which is pretty rubbish. By means of example its relatively easy to pull 100 kg out of a Corsa shell when building a grp panelled Super1600 kitcar and that will have a pretty reasonable effect on power to weight ratio in a car that starts off around 850 kg. Of course the trick in that particular application is that we are replacing steel components with grp and further losing steel in non-structural areas and replacing non load bearing fasteners with alloy equivalent.
<1% weight saving overall isn't really worth the cost tbh.
G
As a power to weight ratio, saving 9 kg from a front clam and around 15 kg saving from a rear clam are not at all significant relevant to cost. i.e. if you did both you would have <10 bhp/tonne increase which is pretty rubbish. By means of example its relatively easy to pull 100 kg out of a Corsa shell when building a grp panelled Super1600 kitcar and that will have a pretty reasonable effect on power to weight ratio in a car that starts off around 850 kg. Of course the trick in that particular application is that we are replacing steel components with grp and further losing steel in non-structural areas and replacing non load bearing fasteners with alloy equivalent.
<1% weight saving overall isn't really worth the cost tbh.
G
broad said:
I spend a lot of time pulling weight out of rally cars during the build process - in fact this is probably the area that most time (and money!) goes into.
As a power to weight ratio, saving 9 kg from a front clam and around 15 kg saving from a rear clam are not at all significant relevant to cost. i.e. if you did both you would have <10 bhp/tonne increase which is pretty rubbish. By means of example its relatively easy to pull 100 kg out of a Corsa shell when building a grp panelled Super1600 kitcar and that will have a pretty reasonable effect on power to weight ratio in a car that starts off around 850 kg. Of course the trick in that particular application is that we are replacing steel components with grp and further losing steel in non-structural areas and replacing non load bearing fasteners with alloy equivalent.
<1% weight saving overall isn't really worth the cost tbh.
G
As a power to weight ratio, saving 9 kg from a front clam and around 15 kg saving from a rear clam are not at all significant relevant to cost. i.e. if you did both you would have <10 bhp/tonne increase which is pretty rubbish. By means of example its relatively easy to pull 100 kg out of a Corsa shell when building a grp panelled Super1600 kitcar and that will have a pretty reasonable effect on power to weight ratio in a car that starts off around 850 kg. Of course the trick in that particular application is that we are replacing steel components with grp and further losing steel in non-structural areas and replacing non load bearing fasteners with alloy equivalent.
<1% weight saving overall isn't really worth the cost tbh.
G
I need a new front clam, and it's cheaper than the Noble part, surely that makes it a no brainer.
Dial in the cost of lights and grills (£1k +) as the lens, pods etc.. are not exactly removable from an existing clam - I've tried!! Paint at £300 + and assuming the fit and finish is as good as Nobles. Plus what CF is being used to make them - there's a whole difference in hand laid non-structural against pre-preg CF. Resin ratio's will affect how prone to crazing the surface is (remember there is no gel coat) and most CF's are a complete bugger to paint and will show pin-holes or 'weave-through'everywhere (ask a paintshop) - Up to you.
Gassing Station | Noble | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff