Carbon is one of the stiffest fibers you can get as a consumer. When carbon is layered over a glass shell, it becomes a box beam type structure. Also 100% of the stress/strain in a multi fabric structure will be taken by the stiffest fiber (carbon) until that fails then it transfers the load to the next stiffest fiber until that fails..
Vacuum bagging is one primary way to improve the resin to fiber ratio, too much resin, it is heavier than necessary, too little and not enough bonding of the fibers.
Many epoxy resins use heat to accelerate the curing time but IR and UV light can damage the fibers so don't try to cure a part in the sun...I used a heat gun in an old refrigerator to get the temperature up to 140*f and it accelerated my west systems epoxy from 24 hours down to about 4.
You have to be careful when you order carbon parts. The material costs twice as much, but weighs the same as fiberglass. The ONLY way the carbon hood is lighter, is because there is less of it, because of strength. BUT and here is the tricky part........to lay up the super light weight, super thin carbon stuff, you have to be able to pull a vacuum on the mold to do it correctly and few can do that. Also the "carbon" parts you get from some companies not only weigh the same as glass, they are also not really carbon. They will be glass, with the final layer carbon, to give it the "look".
So if you are looking for a true, super light carbon hood for a 70 GTX, probably not going to find such a thing. If you just want the "look" buy a glass one and have a carbon wrap put on it
