RE: [alfa] Timing belts, FWD etc

[White Anthony <anthony.white@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Lex jenner wrote:

"FWD... go to any alfa race meeting where both FWD (e.g.
Alfasud, 33...) and RWD alfas are raced... lets be fair and
only compare production based cars with steel body panels, 4
cylinder engines with 2 valve/cylinder, single
plug/cylinder.... so no alloy body, twin spark GTA's or 16v
33's. While the more powerful V6 and 2.0L rear drive cars
might win outright, it's not often you see 1600cc RWD beat
1500/1600cc FWD cars."

Lex,

Is this entirely fair?  

We're talking about a Sud vs a 105.  Now, a series 2 Sud weighs 860kg wet
from the factory, while a 105 1600 weighs about 1000kg.  People are racing
770-800kg Suds in race trim, while it's hard to have a 105 weighing less than
900 kg without replacing most of the panels with aluminium or fibreglass.  
That 100-odd kg difference will make up a lot of lap time.  

For a time in the early nineties, the  British 2-litre Touring class required
rear drive cars to carry 100kg of extra ballast to compensate for the
difference between front and rear drive.  I'm under the impression that
currently rear drive cars are running 50kg of extra ballast to make up for
the difference, but I don't follow the series closely, so this may be wrong.


Regards,
Anthony White
Wellington, NZ
--
to be removed from alfa, see /bin/digest-subs.cgi
or email "unsubscribe alfa" to majordomo@domain.elided