convertible handles better?

[Red coupe]

I did AZ's lil test and jacked up the car by the corner, door open and closed fine no problems with flex...and I have less bracing then he does...

Look man no one is degrading the vert, Im sure it handles great but a heaver car with the roof lopped off as an after though just isn't gonna handle 100% as well as the original. Ive seen plenty of 240 race cars, not a single one that was prepped for serious competition was a vert.

This is the way racing works, people look at what the winner is doing and emulate, if the vert was faster some one would be showing that on track and others would catch on. The lack of race teams running the vert chassis is a pretty damn good indicator that its not the fastest.

[AZhitman]

I'll be weighing mine soon.

For what it's worth, I have already removed 153 lbs from what the car weighed STOCK. (90 in door bracing / seatbelt mechanism, 20 in bumper support, 15 in bumpers, 15 in hood, 5 in wing, 8 in washer motor/reservoir/wiring/hoses/wipers)...

All of that weight has been above the bumper line.

It now weighs about the same as a hatch.

Removal of the convertible top mechanism, pump, motor, rams, and hoses/fluids (if my math is right) will put it 150 pounds lighter than a coupe.

Triangulated front strut brace, coilovers, 17x9.5 forged 3-pc Works, Falken ST-115 255/40/17's, NISMO power brace, ST bars F&R, all poly bushings, aluminum subframe bushings... Yeah, I'll take that challenge.

Let's dance.

[Red coupe]

yeah but the idea is better then a coupe/hatch with similar weight reduction and after market bracing...

Ill alert the ITA guys that they dont know what they are doing when it comes to building race cars

[nissanconvert]

lemmings

[Red coupe]

What are you talking about? the only logic argument made on behalf of the vert is that there is maybe 50lb of roof replaced with a few hundred about a foot and a half lower. Other then that you guys just keep pointing out that a modified vert can be quick... DUH!

This thread is ridiculous there is really no real reason that stock for stock, or mod for mod a vert would or could be faster, Show me one picture of a competition prepped vert on track in a race series (If you really need I could go find one of a hatch or coupe) until then I don't see any reason to continue discussing this, Im done.

[nismofly]

Many well performing cars have no roof at all with good lower bracing, dodge viper, ariel atom, shelby cobra, many brittish roadsters, and i don't recall F-1 cars having much aside from a carbon fiber bubble or open air.

with the new version of the viper that came out as a vert, they had to make the coupe from it to build the competition coupes, they didnt have a viper with a roof to work with

f1 cars have a tiny little opening, ever tried to sit in one? if you can fit in it your lucky, you wont be able to move regardless...even so the rest is a solid sheet of carbon fiber, REAL carbon fiber, not the stuff everyone puts on their cars, ever try to take two people on each end of a sheet of sheetmetal and pull on each end, to try and get it to split simply by pulling on either end? yeah not happening, real CF is a lot stronger than that

same goes for the le mans prototypes and everything, the cars would be slower from having a bubble canopy than they are from that tiny little opening

skidpad numbers have so many variables it wouldnt prove much of anything

im sure its like a lot of things we try so hard to do that really make no difference, will the average person be able to tell the difference just driving around on the street? ...probably not

by the time you got the vert track ready enough itd be so far from stock it wouldnt really prove anything aside from that one car, nobody else would see the same results with their verts

[AZhitman]

Redcoupe -

Again, I'm not saying it will be FASTER.

I'm saying that people who know very little about how the car is constructed will look at it, see it has no top, dig into their memory banks, pull up what little they've learned about structural rigidity, base it off cars that were wet noodles to begin with, and make invalid assumptions that the car will flex, shake and bend.

My vert has NO cowl shake, even over expansion joints or railroad tracks. Maybe it's abnormal... I've owned and driven several non-240 convertibles, and none were as solid as this.

Here's a thought:

The reason none are made into race cars? Because most sanctioning bodies require a roof. Simple.

Hell, I can't even take mine to the 1/4 mile without having the top up and a helmet. Stupid rule.

Another reason? They're rare. There's 1 vert for every 25 coupes/hatches.

Lastly, rid yourself of the notion that a little chassis flex automatically will kill lap times. Granted, a stiff chassis is important, but there are SO many other factors that contribute to a good-handling car.

Let's not forget that a skilled driver is 80% of the equation.

[top_secret]

you guys realize that half the expensive cars you are talking about were designed as convertibles from the start, right? and the race cars (f1) dont even have doors... they are carbon fiber tubs.

Anyway I agree this thread has gotten pointless. coupe>vert for stiffness and weight. I love my vert anyway though, I want more for my daily driver fun car than weight and stiffness. Its like saying "well a silvia can be as fast as a GTR." ok, it can be, but once you start doing the same things to the GTR its not gonna keep up.

[wirelessalpha]

pointless!!!???? What is so pointless about spirited argument regarding 240sx convertible door handles. I for one totally believe that my door handles are mucho superiora to the coupe door handles. Mine are even paint matched! so THERE!

- sorry guys...i couldn't resist. Mods, feel free to delete my post...

[jrsink]

I want MY VERT to be lighter than a coupe...