Big Dog wrote:
Put your car on scales and see what the affect is of adding your ballast in the legal position. It is not as far rearward as you would like but is still better, IMO, than weight that moves around during cornering, braking, etc.
Agreed. I'm going to through it on the scales and play with weight placement. That should tell me a lot.
Big Dog wrote:
...and between the axles is better than higher and behind them. For that reason, putting the spare tire back in is a poor solution.
This isn't always true. I've seen many cases where adding weight to the end of the car is beneficial. The biggest problem with the spare is that it adds the weight relatively high--higher than additional fuel in fact.
An example of using weight at the end of a car to improve handling is the BMW E30 Convertible. That was the first convertible BMW had made in 50 years. They wanted it to handle as well as the coupe. In the back passenger corner of the trunk there is a 50 lbs (yep 50!) weight. This was added there to improve the handling. It is actually called a suspension component.
Big Dog wrote:
At the end of the day, how much it matters I do not know. It matters some but????? The driver is more important than much of what we do to our cars so the important thing is to do what gives you confidence and go out and have FUN!
Agreed. Honestly I think with the limited suspension and aero on our Spec cars, a lot of these things aren't worth a lot. I still need more work on the driver than I do on the car.
-bj
