Lets use a BBC steel head Nova,No fiberglass anywhere . Like mine. Weighs 3,750 with no Nos bottles. Me in it. If I scaled it what would be perfect? Has 10.5/28 tires with Caltracs.
Posts: 1922 | Location: in a van down buy the river | Registered: September 07, 2002
My Chevelle weighed 3880 lbs., all steel with a cast iron headed BBC. Ran on 30/10.5 tires with a bolt on suspension. It's front to rear weight bias was 59%/41% or 2289 on the front tires and 1590 on the rear tires. Don't know if I still have the actual corner weighs but it was ~ 50 lbs. heavier on the passenger rear tire compared to the driver's rear tire and about the same heavier on the driver's front tire compared to the passenger front tire. Perfect scaled? You tell me.
Posts: 13522 | Location: NJ | Registered: August 20, 2000
Originally posted by Footloose: Lets use a BBC steel head Nova,No fiberglass anywhere . Like mine. Weighs 3,750 with no Nos bottles. Me in it. If I scaled it what would be perfect? Has 10.5/28 tires with Caltracs.
Perfect as far as what? front to rear weight percentage or individual corner weights, or?
Some cars scale better than others, but alot of the times it depends on what your trying to accomplish.
Some cars just won't scale at all no matter what you try, for example a ladder bar car with a very heavy driver.
Originally posted by Footloose: Lets use a BBC steel head Nova,No fiberglass anywhere . Like mine. Weighs 3,750 with no Nos bottles. Me in it. If I scaled it what would be perfect? Has 10.5/28 tires with Caltracs.
I Super Pro raced my 1969 10" tire steel headed BBC 427 & 454 with 375 lbs of ballast in the trunk on a bar that ran between the two bars through the speaker deck into the trunk to make it 50/50.This message has been edited. Last edited by: Mike Rietow,
Never had mine on 4 corners but I know it's nose heavy even with fiberglass parts and aluminum heads. With good track prep, I've still had it on the back bumper a couple of times.
www.hardtail.com Stephen's Racing Page Best ET: 9.029 Best MPH: 150.45
Posts: 1356 | Location: Calgary | Registered: June 06, 2001
As was said every car is different. All steel car with a big block is going to be a bit nose heavy.
Our 64 Polara is 3250 w/o driver. It scales at 1750 front 1500 rear. It is slightly altered wheelbase as was done with a lot of those cars back in the day.
Posts: 457 | Location: coquille,or | Registered: November 18, 2003
I want the best traction I can get at the slipperiest track conditions. What happens if it is 40% front and 60% rear? I do not know much about this subject.
Posts: 1922 | Location: in a van down buy the river | Registered: September 07, 2002
Originally posted by Footloose: I want the best traction I can get at the slipperiest track conditions. What happens if it is 40% front and 60% rear? I do not know much about this subject.
Sounds like your wanting to go street racing.
These cars will often carry 300+ lbs in the back to get the rear percentage 55-60%.
But if your track racing and want to make sure you can get down marginal tracks then have alot of front end travel (5" is a good starting point) along with a good adjustable shock. Sure you can run some ballast in the back, but no sense getting crazy with a huge rear weight percentage.This message has been edited. Last edited by: <DOTracer>,
Front end travel biggest gain in traction but it has to at least inital hook to get it to transfer. Then weight. If thats not possibile then Davis Traction Control and let it eat.
Posts: 321 | Location: ohio | Registered: June 06, 2006
You can often get more weight on the rear tires than the car actually weighs. Chassis and suspension setup is where it's at. Many place a lot of emphasis on "scaling" the car but IMO, that is done to establish a baseline after you get the chassis to work like you want it, so you know where you are at in case you make a change that the car (or you) don't like. Speaking of street racing, anybody seen the suspension setup on a high end "no prep" car? The shocks alone....cost more than my entire racing operation.
Posts: 540 | Location: central Ar | Registered: June 21, 2002