How do you make weight with 85lb diff?

[compaddict]

Between drivers? My wife wieghs 85LBs less than me and if we co-drive. What are others doing?
TIA,

Vince

[Modo]

Get two wives......stuff the extra one under the front cowling clear the pedals and remove both when u r in der!!

[compaddict]

Two cars would be better!

[Modo]

TOUCHE'........Yea, my response was a EOS response.....not our beloved Eric but END O' SUMMER........two cars'l werk well!!!


More on Point........quick removal ballast!!!....that means steel bars/plates and top notch "safe" fastener/location thinking

[Locked]

Lead seat? I'd guess, she's also shorter and would need a different seat...

[RudeDude]

85 lbs is a lot of weight. It won't be easy especially if you and your wife run in the open class together. Imagine having to swap 85 lbs of weight between each run....

Luckily, my wife and I don't have the problem (don't tell her I said this!).

[Modo]

Is that a Lola 440.... Locked?? one of the prettiest small bore cars.......my angle to get over- the 440 understeer-misgivings was to tilt forward or forward rake the car.....nifty dam formula car...the history would be neat and perhaps the guys in the UK dealt with the understeer and KNOW................of course can't really see ur avatar so may not be a 440

[Scootin159]

I've seen people hollow out foam seat inserts and fill the void with lead shot - allows you to quickly change the ballast weight when changing the seat insert between drivers. 85lbs is a lot of ballast though...

Another trick that someone did at nationals to run a DM car in EM was to quickly bolt a thick steel plate to the floor pan of the car as needed.

[compaddict]

Does Ladies class have a lower weight max?

[Scootin159]

Does Ladies class have a lower weight max?

Nope - identical technical rules

[Barry Ott]

Yikes! 85# is a lot. I have ~70 lbs of lead in my car for me (I'm a stick! ) but only ~35 is easily removable, but.... If the back of the seat is flat, can you lay a big flat piece there, like maybe 1/2" thick x the seat dimensions (14x14 or whatever it is) that would be 40 lbs or so. Maybe the rest of her seat, and her, would hold it in? I have ~17 # pieces on each side of the car, between the frame and the "firewall" around the fuel cell. They are made up of: a 10# ingot, half a 10# ingot, wrapped with 1/16 lead sheet, covered with Gaffers tape (seat cover tape) with a rope "handle" incorporated in it so I can pull them out. I got all the lead on eBay, it was mostly recycle bullets, surprisingly inexpensive to buy and to ship ("if it fits, it ships" USPS boxes)

Good luck!
Barry

[compaddict]

Uhg.

[Modo]

Ugh! second wife thing might be easier........just kidding EOS!!

[Dick R.]

Is that a Lola 440.... Locked?? one of the prettiest small bore cars.......my angle to get over- the 440 understeer-misgivings was to tilt forward or forward rake the car.....nifty dam formula car...the history would be neat and perhaps the guys in the UK dealt with the understeer and KNOW................of course can't really see ur avatar so may not be a 440

Locked's car is an 85 Van Diemen. No understeer from these.

Dick
Also an 85 VD

[Lynn]

If I did the math right, you need a cube of lead that is six inches per side.

[Fred Michael]

Depleted uranium

[compaddict]

Mecury...

[Neil_Roberts]

Krispy Kreme

[El Guapo]

Tungsten....


EG

[mwizard]

I have a similar problem, just not w/ a wife. I would guess that you are larger than your wife. This would give you a chance to fill the seat with a bag of lead shot(I use a foam pad). The metal panel behind the seat seems like a good idea too.
The other thing to think about is that it takes someone in your class( CM L) to protest the weight, so, if you are not at risk of that happening, just drive and enjoy the great car.
Mark

[Scootin159]

Does someone have to protest the weight? I thought underweight vehicles were automatically protested by the impound chief.

[Dick R.]

Does someone have to protest the weight? I thought underweight vehicles were automatically protested by the impound chief.

At major events with scales the car will be weighed and DQ'd if underweight.

The "best" thing to do while sorting all this out would be to run in a class the underweight car would be legal in such as A Mod. Then your wife won't have to "worry" about class or PAX times being with an underweight car even if she is "only in class". If she and you enjoy the car then figure out how to add weight.

Dick

[mwood]

For local events, I don't think anyone protests Renee, Vince. For anything bigger, she'll be under on the impound scales and be DSQ'ed. 85lbs is a bunch....how about you both go on diets, in opposite directions and at least split the difference? LOL!

Seriously, trying to devise a "quick change" piece that would weight that much and also be safe will be a real challenge.

[compaddict]

Thanks Mike. I could lose 15 pounds and be healthy. That would help...

[Dick R.]

Thanks Mike. I could lose 15 pounds and be healthy. That would help...

I lost 10# easily in 4 months since retiring . . . simply by going to a lot of major autocrosses and not sitting at a desk all day eating snacks. I feel better and the car is that much less over the minimum . . . I now weigh about 155 with helmet ready to drive. I would like to lose another 5 lbs or so but that may take more "effort" and will power than I have this year. Certainly less expensive than a lot of light weight race car parts.

Dick

[MarkOfZero]

Here's a somewhat crazy idea for you. How about some sort of water tank/container.

You would have to fill it completely to avoid sloshing liquid. It could be easily drained into an external container after the lighter driver runs. The tricky bit would be quickly pumping it back into the car between the heavier driver's run and the lighter driver's.
You would need about 10 gallons of water.

[Greg S.]

When my daughter drove my car, I needed to add almost the same amount. Since she needed to sit higher, I placed 3 25# bags of shot in the car so she could sit on them. Worked well and only took about one minute to add or remove.

In my opinion, lifting something much heavier than 25 pounds twenty or thirty times on a hot day can get to be a PITA!

[compaddict]

Bags of shot! I can handle that.
Thanks!

[Neil_Roberts]

Ballast should be securely mounted, whether or not it's required. It is.

[Greg S.]

Bags of shot! I can handle that.
Thanks!

It worked really well and with my daughter strapped in there was no way for the shot to go anywhere.

Just a side note. I placed the bags in cut-off denim pant legs. It was easier to grab, and I didn't want a bag to tear open. I would suggest shot size of somewhere from 4 to maybe 6 or 7 1/2. It won't move around at all once the bags are in place.

[Beartrax]

85# of lead shot is a whole lot cheaper than a second wife!

Especially if wife #1 is not pleased with the idea, it could cost 1/2 of everything you have!

[Barry Ott]

It worked really well and with my daughter strapped in there was no way for the shot to go anywhere.

Just a side note. I placed the bags in cut-off denim pant legs. It was easier to grab, and I didn't want a bag to tear open. I would suggest shot size of somewhere from 4 to maybe 6 or 7 1/2. It won't move around at all once the bags are in place.

I think lead shot is great, its kind of flexible.. I went with ingots because its more "dense", i.e more weight/volume, it doesn't have any air in it like the shot does. Depending on how you end up installing it, either may be easier to remove/replace. I guess it depends on where you end up installing it.

Best of luck!
Barry

[Randy Cook]

Please only use ballast that is independently secured to the chassis. I wouldn't want 85 pounds of lead shot buried in a seat to become additional load on my wife's pelvis pushing against the lap belt if the car flips!! Think through all eventualities please.

Randy

[Greg S.]

I understand your point, and if the car was being raced wheel-to-wheel or hill climbed, I would probably not use the shot.

Given the relative dangers involved in Solo, I feel that the shot has minimal risk compared to other alternatives I have seen. If I was trying to reduce all risk to zero, I would do many things differently.

[rmfortini]

My wife and I had (almost) the same amount of weight diff when we autocrossed, and we ended up buying lead sheet (I think it's used for roofing) and creating an 8"x10" 'book' of sheets about as thick as a Tom Clancy novel. Wrapped it in layers of duct tape, added a couple rope handles for easy placement/removal between runs, and voila...

We captured it in the car with four 1/2" angle brackets bolted to the floorpan that located it longitudinally somewhere just "north" of our knees and "south" of our glutes, so at least the weight was as close to the yaw axis as we could get it. Given where it was located, it never got in the way, and was easy to put in/yank out once the driver was out (at least as easy as 80+ pounds of dead weight can be to lug around).

Have fun! -- Ross Fortini / VD RF88-89

[Greg S.]

Kiersten and I ran open class most of the time and there is no way I could haul 80 pounds in and out 8 times!

[Robert Puertas]

Probably worth testing to see how much faster you are with the 85 lbs. removed from the car. If you are not consistently a measurable amount faster with it out, then you can save yourself the trouble of pulling it out! :-) Or maybe you just yank it for the last run at Nationals...

[Greg S.]

Based on my not overly fast performance, 85 pounds would be irrelevant. The problem would be sitting 4" higher in the car. I would be way above the roll bar, and probably couldn't turn the steering wheel.