Planning to drop the weight minimum for the Cup class 2.7L cars for 2010 down 50 lbs. This has been an evolving process to find a more competitive weight for the 2.7L that is more in line with the power to weight ratio of the 2.5L cars.

don't have a 2.7 either and I'm happy for Big Joe, Cris and others with a 2.7L. It will be interesting to see in 2010 if the 50 lb. reduction is enough or not.


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Bill Comat
Steering Committee Member
2009 944 Cup National Champion

I would be in favor of any rule that:

1. discourages the introduction of the difficult to find 2.7l
2. Keeps the 2.7l in the 89 MDY car that is harder to get down to weight.

Greg F

Not sure I understand the "introduction" part. The 2.7 has been part of the Series since the beginning. In 2005, the top 4 cars had one and the top car in 2006 has one as well. They fell out of favor due to people realizing the 2.5's speed out of the corners was preferable at most of the tracks we run.

As long as they're equal in lap times, what's it really matter?

Greg, I'm interested in the above comment since I'm now in the process of getting rid of weight in my 89. And I'm finding it hard. Is there some sort of diff between the 89 and earlier model years? I thought a NA tub was a NA tub.

Chris, according to Pelican Parts specs on the 944, 1985.5 thru 1989 were the lightest chassis' @2635lbs. 1983 thru 1985 @2675lbs.

With 2.7L stock at 2750lbs, and 2.7L prepared at 2900lbs, its not extremely difficult to get to 2750lbs.

And I weigh a few more lbs than you buddy

Big Joe

Joe,

I know you weigh more than me, you're a good bit taller and probably sample too much of your own good cooking

When I read Greg's post above, it seemed he suggested that the 89 model year was somewhat heavier than the other post 85.5 cars.

So is your 2.7 car an 89?

I pretty much consistently weight 2860-2870 lbs last year. So assuming my own weight stays the same, that's 110 lbs to come out. I'm having trouble seeing where thats coming from. My car had a fair amount of gutting already done. I pulled my blower unit and heater core, that's maybe 15 lbs. Went to lightweight mirrors, that another 5 lbs. other than going to fiberglass bumpers and a lexan hatch, I don't see much of anything else with big numbers.

I am not sure where the incorrect weight data came from, as the 82-85.5 cars are at least 75lb lighter than the 85.5 and up cars. Most of the weight change is in the front half of the car, with revised frame rails, core support, inner fenders, etc. that Porsche changed to keep pace with forthcoming crash standards. I have weighed a lot of these cars and have never found a late model car that was lighter than my 83 that has power windows, full dash, et all.

My comment regarding the 2.7l has more to do with the Cup allowance to put the 2.7l in an earlier chassis and still claim ITS prep specs. In SCCA the 2.7 is only allowed in the 89 mDY chassis with a correspondingly higher weight. I believe it is better for the series to concentrate on the plentiful 2.5l, and not create a condition, (again) where the " have to have" engine is more expensive and hard to find. Greg F

The messy part of weight reduction on an 89-91 chassis is that the body undercoating is nearly twice as thick in an effort to lower road noise. It is thicker starting in 85.5, but when you scrape it off of a later car it will make you think that they were trying to use it all up on every car! Greg F

Over the course of the history of the series we have adjusted weight and power to demonstrate that the 2.7 is not the "have to have" engine. The results show that.