krazik

so you're buying erik's body panels for him since you don't mind?

Erik might also choose not to mind. But you're talking a lot for someone who's not wheel-to-wheel racing his s2k. CF is pretty.

alejo

and you are assuming everyone is econoracing. i do think cf is pretty though

krazik

no I assume no one is econo racing in an s2k, just that people might want to save some $ on consumables. Which fenders can be.

w2w is never been a fashion show to me.

alejo

i can't deny i don't see your point. but i do like racecars that have pretty colors and lines. (like all pro series)

i know you think differently; i've seen your mad-max style racer. which is sexy in it's own beastial way - lol

krazik

no my car isn't sexy at all. I wish I stopped blowing motors and running into bmw's so I could get it painted

Maybe I can play a guitar at scca events for $.

alejo

nah, i think it's cool. please don't sing.

1AP12NV

I think what alejo is getting at is that it seems very often racers turn their nose up at the good looking race cars out there and take it as some kind of badge of honor that their car isn't painted or looks bad (despite how functional and fast it may be)

Of course it's not economically effective to keep a race car looking good. Sure that money can be spent elsewhere, but if its important to the driver more power to them

No reason at all a fast car can't look good too (Hell if you're talking about trying to attract sponsors, it probably makes a difference too :-P)

Just my $0.02.

I've not met you Krazik, but I'll go with the no singing option too

cthree

I think you've all totally missed the point. IF I were to get CF fenders to replace my steel fenders it would be for weight reduction based on an assumption that it could be done for a reasonable $/lb rate. I don't recall off the top of my head how much a stock fender weighs but it can't be less than 10 lbs.

I called for quotes on panels, keep in mind these are walk-in retail in CAD$ from Lakeshore Honda in Toronto:

Hood $701.10
Fenders $500.09 each
Bumper $650.08

at $420USD ($461 CAD) the cwest fenders are not only cheaper than the OE parts but weigh less than half. Even if you figure in a 15% discount on the OE parts it's still a hell of a good deal being only marginally more expensive. Given the rather small price differential it doesn't make sense not to go with CF based on only price.

Aesthetics don't factor into it much. The fenders will be painted and once on the car you would be hard pressed to tell what they are made of. I don't care if people know the fenders are CF or any other material.

I'm no where near my minimum race weight for the series (1410lbs as the car comes off the track after a race including the driver). The car alone with a dry tank is 1440lbs. By the time you add my 280lbs fully dressed with helmet I've got a lot to work with, almost 300lbs in fact. I can raise my minimum weight by using a 2.2L engine and by running larger brakes with more pistons but even then I can shed another 100lbs without having any problems. If I had a choice I'd opt to remove weight from the rear but I'll take it where I can get it. If I can drop 15-25lbs from the nose for only a little money I'll take it.

There is an assumption that the series is contact heavy and that's actually not true. I had no contact at all with other cars and few others did either. On the whole people are bringing out really nice racecars with tens if not hundreds of thousands of $$ invested in them and they have no interest is wrecking them. Sure with 50 cars in 3 different classes all running the same race at the same time there is a potential for a lot of car-car contact but that's the exception. The drivers on the whole were very careful not to make stupid moves or mistakes.

Crashes happen, like mine, and it's unfortunate but what I made, not once but 3 times, was a rookie mistake of not factoring in marbling over the course of a 40 minute race nor did I realize just how slippery it gets offline. I looped my car 3 times in the last 3 laps of the race by being ignorant of the change in track condition. The last mistake cost me, the other two I got away with. I've studied the data and know what my mistake was and I'm not planning to repeat it now that I have first hand experience with it.

Cracked CF is repairable and it is durable enough to withstand minor W2W contact. It won't fair any better in a crash than sheet metal but given the very small price differential between replacing a sheet metal fender and a CF one it still makes sense to me to go with CF.

krazik

who buys new parts for a race car?

1AP12NV

Wow, are there any dealers up in Canada that will let you order online? That 500CAD for each fender seems very overpriced. I know you can grab fenders from hondaautomotiveparts.com in the states for ~$233/per fender. Now I know shipping isn't factored into that, but still even with shipping its a long way from over $400 US a fender!

I think list price for the fenders is something like $335 USD so its even more expensive than that....

Still the CF seems like a viable option for the money if you only have access to the dealers that quoted you those prices!