Not really, the belt is still turning on the compressor which places drag on the crank.
Wrong. It turns the pulley on the compressor until the A/C is turned on. Otherwise it is just the pulley freewheeling.
The A/C itself, the compressor, the belts, the heat exchanger ... All add weight too, even when turned off. Weight kills your highest speed, acceleration, cornering, add stuff under the hood you need for other gadgets and for ducts and coolers and extra carburetors/fuel injection manifolds/turbos and superchargers .. Even an in-car heater is a waste on a race car, and on a wanna-be race car at the highest levels. Now, true “supercar” 200,000.00 and 300,000.00 dollar models will add creature comforts, but those too are rare.
But anybody complaining about “no A/c” in a Shelby is missing the point of owning a Shelby, Porshe, Lambo, or other “really cool” car. They’re for looking at, for driving fast, for driving faster, for comparing to other fast cars, for talking about with fast car enthusiasts, and for envy and for purchase and for re-building and maintaining.
Ain’t for comfortable driving.
When the compressor clutch is disengaged i.e. the AC is turn off, there is negligible or 0 HP being used. If you are deleting A/C because of that reason then that is ridiculous. There must be other reasons. It looks cooler under the hood with no A/C?