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also at higher speeds, a lighter car will become less stable...which is a big key
also, it would be greater affected by inconsistencies in the road etc.
but on the other hand...to a certain degree...reducing weight carefully is the BEST way to performance tune a car because it is beneficial to acceleration, handling and braking distance
like i'd rather be in a heavy ass gtr rather than a 600kg crx on the nurburgring...i'd prefer to live =)
thanks for the replies, I actually got the idea for massive weight reduction after discovering the Ariel Atom :D .
Lighter cars don't become unstable at high speeds. Cars with bad aero become unstable at high speeds.
And if weight doesn't matter once the speed gets over 3 digits then why do race teams spend so much time on losing weight when there cars rarely dip below that?
Of course weight matters. the problem is that losing weight is fairly affordable and easy up to a certain point, then it gets messy and expensive! We just put one of our formula cars on a diet after last season and figured out that it cost about $800 per kg!
If you keep the power variable constant then the more weight you remove from your car the better your power to weight ratio will be. Decreasing the weight of any car will increase acceleration, improve braking as well as making your car more fuel efficient. P/W ratio = Kw/Kg
losing weight probably has got more to do with balancing the car, improve car's handling and braking power, quicker acceleration out of a corner.
I have also noticed fast na hondas's quuater mile trap time is way lower than some of the turbo or big displacement cars who run the similar time.
Less weight = improve braking and acceleration. But you need to keep balance of car's weight.
In race cars even if they have a class weight requirement they strip as much weight out as possible so they can corner weight the car for the best possible handling. ie. shift the weight to where they want it. Even adding lead weights / balast.