My first race will be the Subaru Challenge and was wondering if removing my roof rack will make a difference. I figure it's somewhere around 20lbs?
For the challenge it won't make a difference. Yeah, it's certainly a weight savings...exactly how much I dunno, but you probably wouldn't notice it. It's a pretty intensive procedure to remove the rack, also. You have to yank a bunch of interior panels and it takes like 3 hours. It ends up looking sweet though, so maybe down the road? Hope to see you saturday!
I agree it won't make a significant difference for AutoX, but could you just take off the crossmembers and not the lateral rails?
Not at all man. 1.5 hours tops by yourself, maybe 2 with beer and cigarette breaks in between. All in all you do lose some weight, and its way above the center of gravity for the car but its not really noticeable by any means. It does look very good so go ahead and yank those rails off, just make sure you've got the hardware to plug the holes in the roof.
Honestly, it isn't going to make a huge difference in performance, etc. Remember, you're out there to have fun. The roof rack is a great look...I had it on the bug eye and if I still had the car, I'd leave it on the for autox. :bigthumb:
Until you get to the point where you are consistent with your driving, removing weight means nothing. For someone like Meredith and Brian, who Auto X regularly, saving 20 lbs may be helpful.
Oh, maybe I should have clarified what I meant by roof rack. I actually have a Thule rack system for carrying bikes. So not the roof rails. I've seen some pics of cars racing with a bike rack on top and wondered if that would make a difference. But probably not enough for me to notice at this point. And, I saw your post GTScoob about removing the rails and it does look nice. I could always get a hitch bike mount. Thanks everybody!
I knew what you meant. I'd keep the rack on...just make sure you leave the bikes at home. Brings back good memories of my old bugeye...
Honestly, I don't think you are going to be competitive enough to warrant going out of your way to save a couple pounds. You won't get up to a high enough speed where it will be effecting your areodynamics. If it is a simple task to remove and add back later on, go for it, but if it is a PITA, just leave it on.