dannobee wrote: ↑Tue Jul 13, 2021 11:26 am
Is this a road race car that will see limited street use, or a street car that will see limited road racing?
The lightweight clutch and flywheel will simply make a huge difference, bigger than a lightweight crank, especially if you're starting with 26lbs of clutch and flywheel. With respect to driving a racing clutch (Tilton/circle track/low MOI) on the street, well, we did get those cars on and off track and trailer and even drove them in parades and the clutches didn't seem to mind. And Tilton does sell low MOI dual and triple disc clutches for street use in high end Porsches and Lamborghinis, so they must have something that works. Call them up and see what they have.
I get that trying to have a streetable race car is a sort of fools errand. Pick one, right? I WANT to build a dedicated track car, but I’m a few years off from that, budget wise. And I have a “toy” car right now, with legitimate racing suspension and brakes, and putting seats, harnesses, and a roll bar in it will make it legal for HDPE, which at least get’s my feet wet.
Building the engine for it, as putting engines together is the part of this hobby that I enjoy the most, is just my way of making the car a bit more fun, and more importantly, bullet proof. I don’t want to be thinking about my stock crank, rods, and hypereutectic pistons when I’m trying to learn how to drive fast.
To your point, I think if you break down miles driven, it will truly be a 50/50 car. I did about 250 street miles last year, and about the same the year before. I have yet to do my first “track day”, but that’s the plan for this coming Spring…it’s also my way of trying to drive the car more than I currently do.
I’m starting with a 30 lb flywheel and a 23 lb clutch (pressure plate and disc). The McLeod Flywheel is 11 lbs, and the Ram clutch is 13.5 lbs, and their 6-puck road race disk is 3 lbs, so the apples and oranges comparison is 53 lbs vs 27.5 lbs.
Tilton makes a street clutch for Ford small block, but it isn’t light. I could call them and ask about the “streetability”
of their 7.25” clutch, I guess. I feel like companies provide relatively practiced responses to questions like that; you tend to get more honesty talking to people actually using the parts.
Is the reason a “race only clutch” isn’t recommended for the street BECAUSE of the weight?
Update: After getting on Tilton’s site, it does look like their Cerametallic clutches are rated for limited street use. They don’t make anything “plug and play”, but I might be able to figure it out. Looks like that would save another 7 or 8 pounds, anyway…
