2012 Minimum Weight

#21

Someone mentioned a passenger seat. IMO it’s important that we don’t add hassles for folks that instruct. A seat, mounts and harness is probably 30lbs.

There’s risk in trying to get too close to the min weight. Our scales have their good days and bad days. Last Spring I weighed the car before Qual and was surprised to find that it was 25lbs lighter than I was sure it should be. So I temporarily added 25lbs and after the race I flunked weigh in by a couple lbs. I should have had 10lbs of cushion and I flunked weight. I was pissed.

So after the event I added 35lbs. I figured that would about give me my 10lbs of cushion back. Fast forward to the next event. I weighed in prior to Qual on the same damned scales and I’m 35lbs beyond my 10lbs of cushion…WTF.

There’s plenty of other anecdotes like this.

The morale of this story is don’t try to cut the weight too close. IMO the target should be 15lbs of cushion at race end.

#22

Remembering what I read on here from probably Jim L. was that weight reduction trumps weight distribution. I am sure there is a limit to this but basically removing weight will help handling (speed) more then keeping it distributed better.

Also, if you want to carry an extra 15# then that is great! I would suspect most of those at Nationals were not that conservative. Scales are all over the place and that is a fact. The one time I was under half my wheel was off the pad. They rolled me back, zeroed the scales and centered me on them. I had 3 lbs to spare. The problem is that they do not take that much effort to weigh when just running across and you can get bad data that can screw you up.

I would be for a 25 lb reduction no problem. I am still thinking on the 50 lbs but would not object.

#23

FWIW, I liked the 50lb reduction this past year (got rid of my ballast) but another 50? I’d have to work hard to find it. I vote no.

#24

How are the cars so different? I’m not questioning the racers…but Rob’s and Anthony’s are much lighter then others.

Mine is an '87, 4door

I worked like heck to take weight out during construction
no front windows
no sunroof cassette
no tar
no oil cooler
it does have a heater core
13.5 lb wheels
210 lb driver, full of fuel: 2748 pounds

Leave rules alone.

RP

#25

I would like to be able to take off the horns and hood mechanism. The steel pipe and brackets that make up the hood hinge are dead weight and could be replaced by 2 hood pins. Would make work in the engine bay easier also. Best of all its all most free. And those who want to be street legal only need one horn anyway.

#26

I built my car to 2750 and have a very robust cage and run a cool suit and heater core intact. I’d prefer not to have to make major changes to the car - and I think having a weight that most folks can achieve is ideal (notwithstanding the anecdotes about non-spec E30s weighing in lighter). It was easy to get to 2700 by removing the trunk tar but I’m not sure there are many ways to drop weight further without cutting out my passenger side NASCAR bars in favor of an X.

[quote=“turbo329is” post=61083]I would like to be able to take off the horns and hood mechanism. The steel pipe and brackets that make up the hood hinge are dead weight and could be replaced by 2 hood pins. Would make work in the engine bay easier also.[/quote]Patton has a great solution for this. Drill out the hinge pivot points and replace them with trailer hitch hasp pin thingies. Easy to open the hood solo, easy to remove the hood for more in depth work. Best of both worlds.

#27

but if the min weight drops then i’ll be too heavy with my fancy new splitter! guess we’ll just have to make the min weight 2650 and outlaw splitters.

just kidding, i’m way too lazy to make a splitter.

#28

people are complaining of the tires we use, yet now that a viable option to taking better care of our tires comes up, a bunch say they don’t want it.

My vote is go to a larger tire width, maybe a 215 to reduce temperature and heat soaking as well as less overdriving of the tires, or get these cars as light as possible, plus it might keep those pesky miatas off our tails.

i voted for 100 lbs loss. I have plenty of weight to take off the car 88 2 door. Im currently running about 70lbs over weight, but i have floor boards, trunk tar, full passenger seat and spare tire, plus a heavy battery. I also could use an excuse to loose some weight myself.

#29

My thoughts on this…

Some guys are carrying over a hundred pounds of ballast, I have seen it and it’s kind of ridiculous. One car I remember the floor was starting to tear. :frowning:

I have a slightly different perspective; I feel that if a competitor wants to build a car to the absolute limit of the rules, he should not be penalized. If John Doe wants to maintain his heater core, power steering, whatever… then I believe that individual should suffer, ie John Doe must struggle to get close to the minimum rather than the alternative where the majority suffers by carrying huge amounts of ballast to make up for him.

#30

[quote=“TOOLEAN” post=61089]My thoughts on this…

Some guys are carrying over a hundred pounds of ballast, I have seen it and it’s kind of ridiculous. One car I remember the floor was starting to tear. :frowning:

I have a slightly different perspective; I feel that if a competitor wants to build a car to the absolute limit of the rules, he should not be penalized. If John Doe wants to maintain his heater core, power steering, whatever… then I believe that individual should suffer, ie John Doe must struggle to get close to the minimum rather than the alternative where the majority suffers by carrying huge amounts of ballast to make up for him.[/quote]

Who carries >100lb of ballast with a full tank of gas in order to make weight after a 40min race?

In your example, how is the “absolute limit” guy penalized? Why not make it easy to acheive weight parity than it’s easier for everyone and no one is penalized.

#31

I’d like to change my vote to 2400 then. Let’s see how light we can really get these things. I will just stay at the back with the John Does and the “competitors” can take the plastic trophies.

#32

exactly, lets get these cars as light as possible, if someone doesn’t want to be light, then so be it. i personally want to make my car as light as possible simply to maximize the time between brake changes and tire changes as well as use less fuel. As far as any change i have seen discussed this season, this seems the most practical. It costs no money and will actually improve the drivability of the cars and lower overall cost of the series. if you don’t agree for whatever reason, then run a heavy car. just don’t complain saying that you already did work and don’t want to do more. While i know this is a fun series, it is still racing and racing is not an easy sport, especially without a crew, so buck up and get greasy.

Sorry if its a little harsh but its just my perspective

#33

I am carrying 125 lbs (max allowed) and running a full tank. Go back to post #1 for the details.

#34

I’m game, let’s do it!

#35

If someone takes the time and effort to reduce weight, according to the rulebook, and then he is forced to run large amounts of lead to equalize the field, all of that competitive advantage is lost. I am all for making an even playing field for multiple reasons including driver weight, cool suits, safety equipment, but triple digit ballast?

This chassis is just not that heavy, but if the majority want to run a higher weight, so be it.

#36

The lighter the better, do you really need power windows? Its a race car and a good and fun series but if there is a free way to make the car cost me less to operate then im all for it, after all isn’t that why this series started, cheap, decent handling fun?

#37

We also have undercoating to scrape off if need be. Not sure how much that weighs.

#38

[quote=“TOOLEAN” post=61095]
If someone takes the time and effort to reduce weight, according to the rulebook, and then he is forced to run large amounts of lead to equalize the field, all of that competitive advantage is lost.[/quote]

Don’t waste all that time and effort then. Also don’t you have the advantage of moving that weight around some, plus its low to the ground.

Aside from Anthony who else has to run over a 100lbs, seems strange to me. With all the different weights I think its in a good spot. Anthony’s car is obviously at one end but other cars are at the other with bigger drivers. Look I’m fine with taking another 50 off but I also only weigh 150 and I know another driver in my car would not have an easy time reaching weight and I don’t think thats fair.

#39

My car has no trunk tar, no passenger seat, gutted doors but no Nascar bars, and without the cool shirt and with enough gas to not sputter it’s still about 2720. It still has heater core, which I find to be a virtue at times.

So no, I’m not interested in further weight reduction.

Maybe Hans and Franz tripled the welds the day they made my 89 2-door but I sure don’t see how you dudes are running 100 lbs of ballast to run at 2700. Apparently these cars do vary, or I’m a dumbass carrying jugs of wheel weights in the back seat area, so no, I do not support a further reduction. I’m not the only one who could not feasibly get down yet another 50 lbs lighter.

#40

My car is an 87 and was completely stripped prior to adding the cage. The cage is not skimpy (TC designs) and I added nascar bars to the drivers door. With all 3 rear windows and windshield and drive line and everything else needed to drive the car and seat with half a tank of gas and no driver my car weighed in at 2456. I added a trunk mat that weighs just at 50lbs I also added the weight that came with the convertible that fits under the spare tire and the spare tire to make weight at 2715 with me in the car. I have a five lb fire system and another 2.5 lb extinguisher no heater core and a tc designs front skid plate, which is fairly heavy, and a full size battery.

I really dont see how these cars can differ in stock weight that much?

I also lost all the hood hardware and just use pins, I have all the heat shielding under the car too.

dont forget that there is an extra 10 pounds or so of wire that you dont need from the interior.