Drill, Baby, Drill

[37yrold911]

No - not a political post, I'm talking about the good drilling here.

You always hear about the extensive drilling on the Larousse Tour d’France Car - the highly lightened magic 789 kilo, S-T (or is that "S/T"?) that won that race.

But other than the jack receivers, I've never heard exactly where they drilled to get all that bubbly wine...

Does anybody know for sure?
I don't suppose there are any pics of the holey car parts?

If you speculate, please say that's what you're doing...

[Homemade 911]

No - not a political post, I'm talking about the good drilling here.

You always hear about the extensive drilling on the Larousse Tour d’France Car - the highly lightened magic 789 kilo, S-T (or is that "S/T"?) that won that race.

But other than the jack receivers, I've never heard exactly where they drilled to get all that bubbly wine...

Does anybody know for sure?
I don't suppose there are any pics of the holey car parts?

If you speculate, please say that's what you're doing...

Unfortunately I can't answer your question, or otherwise help things along...but I just had to mention that this is one of the funnier posts I've read in a long time.
Thanks for that.
Cheers/Thom

[911T1971]

here is one:
... including pinched door hinges to lower weight down to 789kg.
(Interview w Larousse, 2006, Flat6 magazine-France)

and:
Weight-Saving to the Extreme
The 911S coupe was homologated at 940kg. However, the weight of a regular 911S is closer to 1000kg. This distortion affects most car manufacturers across the board. Since this 911 was built as a prototype it did not have to adhere to its homologated weight limit thus weight-saving measures could be taken to its maximum. The result was spectacular: At 789kg the car weighed about %20 less than a production 911. What's even more incredible, is that the Zuffenhausen engineers were able to achieve this feat without the use of any 'exotic' materials. The shell, consisting of the floor, roof and rear wings are original (steel), only the sound-deadening materials have been removed. The front wings, doors, front and rear hood are made of plastic. For example, all the metal hood hinges were replaced with rubber tie-downs. The side and rear glass were replaced with plexiglass.
On board, the entire 'interior' is practically gone, everything that was deemed superfluous was removed; like the clock. On stages were the driver is without a co-pilot, the passenger seat is removed. Even though the seat and seat rails weigh only 2.5kg! The rear seats have been removed as well and the spartan interior was painted in matt black. You could go through the car for hours but you wouldn't be able to remove another gram without causing a disaster...

source:
http://www.early911sregistry.org/for...441#post182441

[TRE Cup]

I have no intimate (ha ha) knowledge of the 70 TdF car, but crewed in 2001 Tour Auto on an, er... interesting 71 TdF version that was purported to be accurate.

Ok that b.s. aside , here is the list on how they achieved it

1) no primer- the cars had color coat directly on bare metal. There was no seam sealers, no undercoatings, no fillers used. If it rusted, who cared! It was a weapon of racing, not a museum piece
2) fiberglass lids, doors, bumpers- all 911R inspired / sourced. Front fenders were fiberglass with the ST flares.
3) Rear fenders were steel as there either were no 'glass versions or they determined there was little advantage (and maybe the homologation papers did not have those approved)
4) Door handles were 911R plastic (saved 4 lbs over 68 handles)
5) no clock
6) no drip tray on the underside of the roof
7) no felt even on the underside of the roof
8) plastic R rear windows, side windows in the doors
9) Recaro sport race seats with fixed mountings (no sliders)
10) Thinner hinges for the doors ("pinched")
11) external light hinges for front and back lids
12) R style lamps front and back
13) Simple roll bar
14) clock block off
15) single external oil cooler passenger side fender

I suppose they saved more weight by not installing the rocker panel heater tubes (as the rear entry points were blocked off), and no fan in the "fresh air" box < you can see that from the b/w pic above.

If you used a mag case engine and 901 trans in a 1970-71 shell, followed all the above, you will get a 1700 lb 911 (dry)

[TRE Cup]

Actually we can make one even lighter now:
Full carbon/kevlar roof, full fiberglass 1/4s, aluminum or titanium fasteners, nylon fasteners for the fenders, doors, lids. Simple pull catches (robotek).
In the transmission, you can get cross drilled gears. Go with Ti shift shaft. cross drill the shift housing. In the motor- alloy chain wheels, cross drilled intermediate gears, Ti head studs- as the 917 used, Ti rods, and a few other goodies!

Interior- if you want to keep the oe guage theme, how about getting the center 3 made in thin composites, then stuff with combo set up so all the important functions are there. Go with clock block offs made of titanium sheet

I have a 69 shell (with some of the aforementioned parts) just awaiting this opportunity to make a 911 that would pull the wheels off the ground when you slam the pedal ! Wanna build one?

[Flieger]

Actually we can make one even lighter now:
a 911 that would pull the wheels off the ground when you slam the pedal ! Wanna build one?

Yes, please.

[37yrold911]

Actually we can make one even lighter now:
Full carbon/kevlar roof, full fiberglass 1/4s, aluminum or titanium fasteners, nylon fasteners for the fenders, doors, lids. Simple pull catches (robotek).
In the transmission, you can get cross drilled gears. Go with Ti shift shaft. cross drill the shift housing. In the motor- alloy chain wheels, cross drilled intermediate gears, Ti head studs- as the 917 used, Ti rods, and a few other goodies!

Interior- if you want to keep the oe guage theme, how about getting the center 3 made in thin composites, then stuff with combo set up so all the important functions are there. Go with clock block offs made of titanium sheet

I have a 69 shell (with some of the aforementioned parts) just awaiting this opportunity to make a 911 that would pull the wheels off the ground when you slam the pedal ! Wanna build one?

How much would that weigh, do you think?

[TRE Cup]

Ok- so after many beers and thinking this through with clarity I came up with the recipe for a knock out 911R (or ST / RSR for that matter)

How about a "visible" car? I have already discussed this with my molders and we can come up with translucent and in some cases transparent body panels. We can make the entire exterior of the car see through!! Reminds you of those models way back when but consider this one 1:1 scale operational.
The thickness of the parts can be controlled so we get a super light set of parts. Ladies riding with short skirts beware! Necessary balsa inserts to keep the panels from deforming at speed.

Stainless R style hinges front and rear lids

No door hinge posts- stainless fabricated mini hinges with aluminum quick release pins so the doors can be removed for access

Thinner than usual plastic for the windows, plastic windshield with flush mount kit. Retainer clips for the back window, so it does not blow out

Full fiberglass see through dash structure- cut out the existing parts

Lightweight wiring harness- there are alternatives to the oe harness where we can save lbs. Aluminum battery cable- saves a lot of lbs

Composite rear seat area all the way to the back window- see through?

Gun drilled axle shafts, scalloped cv joints with chrome moly cages, hollow torsions, stainless fabricated rack support (the 935 used a tiny steel rack support). Cross drilled elephant poly bronze bushings, alloy rear arms (if long wheel base) , cross drilled brake discs, S front calipers, alloy rear calipers from other make, Titanium or stainless mounting hardware.

Hollow sway bars- Wrightwood racing made some of these

Our ST/ R seats but done in composite to save even more weight. Stainless mounts - fixed position/ no sliders. Stainless thin wall shift shaft tube. Selected thickness and diameter tubing to fabricate a cage . This is done for safety and rigidity lost from losing the roof structure.

Lightweight starter, windshield wiper motor (single blade), composite fuel cell container, composite bladder (the manufacturers can make a lighter bladder than their production offerings)
Single oil cooler, lightweight hoses and fittings, aluminum oil tank

Transmission- covered that in prior post. Engine all mag early parts where applicable, cross drilled int shaft gears, aluminum idlers, forged rockers, drilled cams, lightened crank, titanium rods, aluminum flywheel, lightened aluminum pp, mag intake manifolds, 2.5 or 2.8?

Fuchs or Dymag (?) rims

I am guessing at 1500 lbs done

[Mudi]

They were drilled in the factory, 20 years earlier...