Is it just me....or do bodies make a difference?

[Enjoi Honda]

has anyone else gotten the feeling that bodys u use on the car makes a fairly decent difference in how it performs? Seeing hte mechanics of the car i tell myself it cant, but my civic body seems to be much different as oposed to the red/black 911 turbo's and acura NSX that i have, which have a less controllable feel to them?

[sprhs]

ya It could have to do with weght

[GerG]

ya duh. I notice a big difference with the 350z its a pretty light body.

[DarkTari]

The weight of the body has no bearing on it's performance, or should I say there's not that much difference in the weight of the individual bodies to make a difference. It's geometrics, the way the body sits on the chassis. Some bodies sit higher than others which tend to raise the center of gravity therefore will not handle as well as one that sits lower. Take that same body that performs poorly. lower it and see what I mean! In the Bit world we have such a body that in stock form performs poorly! (tends to flip very easily) the Perfection Supra ! But lower that body, and with the way it fits the chassis when lowered, it becomes one of the best performing bodies I've modded. One of SuperFly's & Hue35's favorites!!!

[GerG]

Originally posted by DarkTari
The weight of the body has no bearing on it's performance, or should I say there's not that much difference in the weight of the individual bodies to make a difference. It's geometrics, the way the body sits on the chassis. Some bodies sit higher than others which tend to raise the center of gravity therefore will not handle as well as one that sits lower. Take that same body that performs poorly. lower it and see what I mean! In the Bit world we have such a body that in stock form performs poorly! (tends to flip very easily) the Perfection Supra ! But lower that body, and with the way it fits the chassis when lowered, it becomes one of the best performing bodies I've modded. One of SuperFly's & Hue35's favorites!!!

Yes that two I dont know how I missed that, Its all common sense...

[silentracer]

the reason why certain bodies seem to preform better is the weight and aerodynamics. if u had a a high riding bulky truck body on ur car u would experiece poor prefomance due to a high center of gravity and drag. a lower body with a sleek aerodynamic shape that would cut through the air would experience less roll due to a lower center of gravity, better accel and speed due to less drag, and improved handeling and tire placment to the ground due to the greater down force on the car. the ideal most effiecent body would have a low to the ground froont wedge shaped bumper that would increase slightly as it moves bac over the rest of the car staying as flat as possible. this would experience less drag and a good amount of air would go over the top of the car pushing down on the wheels for grip instead of having air going underneath making the car lift off the gound as it sped up inceasing roll. y do u think high prefomance cars, stock cars, indy, dragsters, are so low to the ground with very sleek bodies. le mans race cars are a perfect example of this.