IHRA Hot Rod

[bobby]

Originally Posted by Jason Oldfield

I would personally just add the weight and forget about it. I had to add about 200 lbs. to my car to make it legal for NHRA S/St, and at first I was taking the weight in and out of the car. Not only was that a pain in the *****, but it also meant that I had to run two different throttle stop setups depending what weight the car was at. You will need to make a LOT of runs to be able to do that and be good at it.

Your car will be SLIGHTLY slower with the extra weight in it, but the consistency advantage that you will gain from only running one throttle stop setup will far outweigh the one or two extra MPH that you might get at the lower weight.

Also, if you are at 2,510 lbs. now, I would probably add 115 lbs. to account for scale variance from track to track. It would be a bummer to be disqualified because you were at 2,595 lbs., when you thought you were legal.

Good luck...

Yea, ask Larry Morgan about that. I can't remember which race he was at, but the wind was blowing from the rear of the car and made it light. NHRA wouldn't allow him to turn it around on the scales to get an average. Boo on NHRA.

[hotrod]

Thanks guys for all the info. One more thing Jason how did u mount that much weight in your car?????? What would be the best way to add 100 + lbs in my car?????

[Jason Oldfield]

Originally Posted by hotrod

Thanks guys for all the info. One more thing Jason how did u mount that much weight in your car?????? What would be the best way to add 100 + lbs in my car?????

It wasn't easy!

Seriously, I added 3 small weight bars that were about 18" long and made of 2" x 3" square tubing (these weighed about 30 lbs. each), I added a one very large 2" x 3" weight bar that was about 48" long (this ended up being almost 100 lbs. exactly), and then I made up the rest with small 5 lb. lead weights bolted to the (stock) front cross-member. Again, it wasn't easy finding room in the car to put all this weight.

To add 115 lbs., I don't think you'll have much problem though. Chassis tuners could write pages about weight distribution, but you generally want to put the weight as low as possible on the chassis, and distribute it so that your weight distribution is close to 50/50 front to back and side to side WITH YOU IN THE CAR.

I don't know if you've ever scaled all four wheels of your car before, but if you haven't, before you just throw some random weight in there you might want to scale your car to find out where the best place to put the weight. I would expect any local professional chassis builder will have a set a scales, or find your local friendly circle-track racer, as they will definitely have a set.

If you can't find scales or can't afford to have it scaled, then I would put the weight as low as and as near the center line of the rear axle as possible.

Also, if you decide to make up 2" x 3" weight bars like I did, just make sure that you melt the lead shot that you put in the bar. If you don't, you'll end up with a bar that's only 60% as heavy as it could be, due to the air gaps between the spherical lead shot (trust me, I made that mistake). You can either just buy the raw materials yourself, or places like Bickel and Quarter-Max sell kits and completed bars. Here's a couple of links:

http://www.quartermax.com/details.ph...rchTerm=weight

http://www.quartermax.com/details.ph...rchTerm=weight

If you need more help, don't hesitate to ask...

[THE LEGEND]

Never seen a car weighed at an IHRA divisional. We do weigh at nationals though
Chip

[danny waters sr]

You never know now do you !!!!??????

[Rakhouse]

I have seen them weigh winners at NHRA divisionals and national opens.

Nick

[mcaruso]

Chip just keeps all that money he wins in the car to make weight

[Charlie Yannetti]

Be careful...... I got weighed at the E-town divisional last year....... BOY!!!....... was I shocked, but then relieved when I came up 10 heavy........ LOL