Weight

[paho]

I purchased a Brooklands Ace (1995) in July last year; I´ve been smiling ever since.
   I went through the Swedish registration and road-worthiness inspection in September. The inspector could not find the EEC conformancy registration info. so we used the handbook info. The environmental figures for exhaust were very good, mechanics were o.k., rust acceptable, but when it came to the WEIGHT we both got a shock! The car was just a few kilos shy of 1750 kg on the weighbridge scales
   
   My question is has anyone else experienced this, and is there an explanation for all this overweight?

[hawk289]

Hi,
   
   Kerb Weight was 1513kg, now being a small production car and changes occurred I can see some differences, but not by this amount. Did it have a hardtop?
   
   Thanks
   
   John

[hawk289]

Also forgot the South African variant was about 1510kg. So assume yours was an early variant.

[paho]

Thanks John for the quick response.
   
   The chassis number is DE 1052, I believe its one of the last Brooklands Aces to have been built in UK and its a soft top version.
   
   Well the inspector suggested ditching either the passenger or ditching the tools, jack and spare wheel. I chose to ditch everything in the boot replacing it with a "spare tyre in a can". We ended up with a kerb weight of 1725 Kg. As far as I can see everything is standard on the car so I can only speculate on why the figures differ by so much. I´m wondering if it has a mild steel chassis, this is heavier than stainless steel I believe.
   
   The car is hibernating in a barn at the moment but I plan to give the car a thorough inspection in April/May. Hopefully I´ll find some hidden treasure causing the overweight, but I don´t think so as there is nowhere to hid anything.
   
   Cheers /Paul

[Wally]

Our Ace (One of the post AC cars with 4.6 Quad Cam)came in at 1800kg with full tank of fuel without any hidden treasure!
   
   Wally

[paho]

Hi Wally,
   In comparison with your figures the kerb weight of my Ace doesn´t seem unreasonable.
   
   /Paul

[hawk289]

The problem with any low production car, the engine, gearbox have a big difference in weight. If you have a aluminum head, etc. a lot of weight can be lost. I will be doing corner weights on my Aceca Brooklands which should be interesting. I have a lot of articles which shows a lot of variants in weight.

[Nev]

Mine states 1750 kg on the plate under the bonnet, but I have not had it checked.

[paho]

Mine states the same, that´s the gross weight of the car i.e. the maximum operating weight of the car which is the total of the vehicle's chassis, body, engine, engine fluids, fuel, accessories, driver, passengers and luggage weights.
   
   I plan to do a thorough inspection after Easter, car is hibernating in a nice warm Swedish barn at the moment, should be able to see if there is any obvious reason for the weight as soon as its up on the lift. /Paul

[bnwood]

Just had mine MOT'd. Rear weight 740kgs, Front weight 820kgs  Total weight 1560 kgs spare wheel in plus jack but not much fuel, under an eighth.
   Under bonnet it is written : 1700 kgs, 860F, 860R. - Two times 860 equals 1720 kgs!
   Hand book says 1510kgs.  Max permissible axle weights:- 875 kgs front, 950kgs rear.  Total 1825kgs
   Mine has 4.6 Quad cam. also has a composite bonnet not alloy. 245 tyres at rear not 255.
   Just to add to the confusion!!

[paho]

I have slightly different figures 1750 kg, 850kg front, 950 kg rear on the chassis plate. I have different tyres though 235/50 R16 on the back and 225/50 R16 on the front, with alloy bonnet and a 4.9 litre 302 engine.
   
   I wonder how your car was weighed, mine was weighed on a huge weighbridge, big enough for a continental truck and trailer, though it was sensitive enough to weigh a biro pen! If yours was weighed per axle or wheel there is a risk for weight transfer affecting the figures. We hoisted up my car last month and gave it a close inspection. I can confirm it has a stainless steel chassis but as to the weight we couldn´t find any apparent reason for the excess, disappointingly we didn´t find any treasure either!
   /Paho

[David S]

Whilst doing a quick hunt for the brake upgrade e-mail, came across this topic from 2014 and thought I would see how my car compared.  So the car as per bnwood above, except 5.0 supercharged running 17" wheels, hardtop (no softtop), spares wheel & jack with 10 gallons of fuel.
   The weight figures from MOT station show Rear weight 650kgs, Front weight 660kgs Total weight 1310 kgs
   Handbook is as per bnwood's
   
   I did check there was 4 wheels on the car and engine still present

[paho]

I found a thread in another forum that seems to indicate the Ace is heavy, see http://acownersclub.co.uk/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=133&SearchTerms=heavy,steering .
   
   To quote from the thread "but it does handle quite well - for a 2 seater tank weighing 1.75 tonnes anyway!"
   
   It can be that the figure stated is from the handbook and not the result of weighing the car. I think the differences in the weights will
   remain an unsolved mystery.
   /Paho