I know most of you now this, but the dyno sheet I supplied is one from my old ITS RX-7...

I think the hard thing some of us are having to swallow is the cry's of 'narrow power band', 'lack or torque', 'peaky motor', etc. Your point above VVT is valid - and mitigates a tiny bit of your powerband issue. TINY bit, but still something. Nothing to really factor in for an 'adder' IMHO.

You have to work within the parameters of your situation and minimize the flaws and exploit the positives. And to think that 40lbs is going to make a craps bit of difference in the competitiveness of a car is just not going to happen IMHO.

AB