Like I said, I am a novice at this. I found this as an example on the net.
Harry and Larry are twins and two months ago they turned 18. Their sugar daddy (ed: name removed under court order) bought them identical cars for their birthday and gave them some spending money. Harry spent the money on 3 midget hookers while Larry installed a lightweight flywheel in his car. Their cars are identical except Harry has a heavier flywheel and Larry has a lighter flywheel.
To show off their sugar daddy rides, the boys decided to cruise George Street on a Friday night. On their way they encountered lots of traffic. Larry discovered that his car now accelerates faster. Each time he steps on the gas the revs respond quicker but when he changes gears he noticed that his revs drop off faster as well. He had to adjust his driving style to shift quicker. He also noticed that he was using the accelerator more frequently to compensate for his fluctuating speed. This did not please him since he couldn’t cruise in a relaxed style like Harry.
Halfway through George Street, to his surprise, Larry stalled his car trying to take off from a set of lights… on several occasions. Quite an embarrassing situation and he attributed this to the flywheel since Harry had no such issues with his factory spec flywheel.
When the boys passed The Rocks, they came across some clear road. Larry looked over to his brother who nodded in agreement. They, like many of their peers, live their life a quarter mile at a time. A furious drag race commenced. Larry noticed that he could shift earlier through the gears. It was like his car felt lighter to his engine and his instincts proved right. His lighter flywheel effectively lightened his car.
Unfortunately for Larry, he missed a gear and his revs dropped quickly which allowed Harry to catch up. Side by side the boys raced while the world warped around them. A quarter of a mile seemed to last minutes. Larry was amazed to discover that his flywheel didn’t actually give him more horsepower like the guy that sold it to him promised.
All of a sudden, the boys saw a defect station up ahead. They both geared down to assist their brakes with engine braking. Larry’s revs shot up very quickly to match his wheel speed and didn’t slow him down as much as what Harry’s car did. The lighter flywheel just didn’t offer enough resistance to change in speed. Seeing that he could not slow down in time, he made a rash decision and started to drift his way into a side street before the defect station.
Very quickly, Larry discovered that the lighter weight of the flywheel hindered his clutch dumping. He had to use higher revs and it was harder for him to break traction which he suspected was related to a lack of weight behind his flywheel. Like a pro, Harry easily overtook his brother while drifting on the outside lane.
Dirty with his inability to drift donuts to get chicks numbers, Larry dropped the hammer and went all street racer style on his brother. With a few tight back street corners between the brothers, Larry made up the difference in no time and was grinning into the disappearing reflection of his brother’s car in the rear view mirror. He realised that the flywheel he had installed was well suited to high rev driving and accelerating out of corners as quickly as possible.
So in summary:
City driving
acceleration has improved with a lighter flywheel
the engine has to rotate less mass so it works more efficiently
you will have to adapt a new driving style to avoid stalling
gear changes are more frequent and need to be executed faster
it requires more frequent adjustments to maintain cruising speed and hence burns more fuel
Drag
acceleration, as above, is quick with a lighter flywheel
you run through the gears too quickly, spending precious time off the accelerator
when changing gears, you lose more revs
a lighter flywheel does not add horsepower
too light a flywheel in a heavy car will struggle to get it off the line quickly
Drift
the lighter the flywheel the more revs you need to break traction
the fluctuations of a light flywheel require more frequent adjustments upsetting the balance of the car
Race
a lighter flywheel is an all round improvement
quicker acceleration
lower effective car weight
precise rev control
