Chapmans obsession with lightness

[bash]

Really interesting article.
Bash

https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/arch ... -of-light/

[AndrewWebber]

Yes, very good and correctly challenging of his regard towards driver safety. It brings in reference to road car weights with 'our wedges', where of course 'manufactured cost' was also more of a factor than for race cars and so he had less of an advantage over his competition (decent thickness 'daily use' fiberglass is no lighter than thinner steel panels for example). As although there are some clever weight saving design aspects of our cars their is also a lot of weight that better (more expensive) materials / bespoke parts etc could I'm sure have cut a further 100kg out fairly easily even with availability in the 70/80's. My 'hill climb' plus 2 for example is still a road car with glass / trim etc but weighs considerably less now with a cage installed than it did from the factory without one - but at a £ cost.

[KevW]

Thanks for that interesting article.

Whilst the Elite/Eclat/Excel isn't especially light when compared to similar main stream cars it is strong due to it being effectively a monocoque bolted to a chassis. Years ago when my previous Excel collided with the Astra of a dear lady who didn't take notice of red traffic lights the front crumple zone crumpled and I never even felt the decelleration.