How much have you spent on modifying your car? Hundreds of dollars? A few grand? Or tens of thousands?

Car modification enthusiasts all over would hardly bat an eyelid while splashing cold hard cash on modifications for their beloved rides. Now the list of modifications (both legal and not so legal) to bump up a car's dyno figures is endless. But let's forget the heady chase for bhp for the moment and let me proffer my suggestion for the very first modification every car enthusiast should undertake.

Weight-loss. No, not for the car; but for the biological lump behind the wheel - you aka the driver!

Now before you click the back button, hear me out. It is a widely acknowledged fact that Singaporeans are increasingly becoming obese. And this has an effect on your car's performance. Think about it. It is already trite that weight reduction can help a car's performance. Car enthusiasts would splash thousands of dollars on aftermarket forged rims. Other than potentially improving handling, one benefit of such rims is a reduction in overall car weight. But just how much weight would one save? I did some research for my ride and I would save roughly 2kg to 3kg per rim depending on the one I select. That translates into a total weight saving of 8kg to 12kg.

8kg? I lost that amount of weight just by regularly exercising over the course of last year! Best part is, this weight loss came at no additional cost to me!

Now translate that logic into the amount of dollars into other weight saving modifications such as replacing parts of the body work with lightened ones and you can see where I am going with this. Of course, I am not dissing the utility of weight saving modifications. After all, there has got to be a limit to the amount of weight a person can reasonably lose. What I am advocating is: before decreasing the car weight, lose some weight first! It is a free mod!

On the flip side, you could see what would happen if you splashed out moolah for those shiny light weight rims and spanking CF hood and hit the buffet table one time too many! All that cash would be wasted!

So here is one more reason for you to watch that weighing scale this festive season!