Originally posted by Racy-Stacey:
Since you guys talked about power to weight ratio..

Is there a good rule of thumb or a number that is concidered acceptable(competitive)?

20? 21? 22? 23? 24? 25?
Well, it depends on the class. If you're considering racing a car that hasn't seen much action in a certain class, figuring out it's P/W ratio is one data point that can indicate it's potential performance.

For example, in ITA we all know that the CRX is a top dog, and it races with about 125 hp at the wheels. At it's racing weight of 2140, the result is 17.12 . Compare that with my RX-7, which has (theoretically!) 118 hp at the wheels, and races at 2380, for a P/W ratio of 20.17, and you can see that the RX-7 will need distinctly better handling (uh-oh), better brakes, (oh jeeez..) or better torque (what was I thinking!?) or some other combination of characteristics to run at the front.

Just a wag here, but in ITA, 17 or 18 is a good number with solid handling and braking, and in ITS, the number looks to be in the 13?-14 to 15 range. I say "13?" because getting folks to admit actual numbers is tough, but I bet the faster E-36s are in the 13s.



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Jake Gulick
CarriageHouse Motorsports
ITA 57 RX-7
New England Region
[email protected]