For those of you that are less fortunate across the US shores and received poor
documentation(strange, considering that you most likely do not know much about
NASCAR), I hope this helps you...
Weight distribution on a stock car is very important, especially when driving around
in circle! You want to try and maintain a good balance on the car and at the same
time, have a decent sense of control...sort of being "in control to the point of being
out of control"(Days of Thunder; Paramount Pictures, 1990). There are three
important ways of acheiving this.
The first is the weight distribution of the car from side to side. We are dealing with
high banks here, so the idea is to try to go as fast as possible while maintaining a
low line through the turn(the shorter and preferred path through the turns).
Obviously, when a car is going 160+ mph, it's going to want to drift towards the top
of the banking( I won't dwell on the physics involved). How do we help prevent this?
We help prevent this by biasing the weight distribution of the car. In short, we put
more weight on the left(inside) side of the car than the right(outside). This "lowers"
the center of gravity on the car through the turns, thus making it more stable. Of
course, the more weight you put on the left, the more stable the car becomes
through the turns, thus NASCAR rules allow a maximum of 1900 lbs. bias to the left
side.
The second way is by distributing the weight of the car front to rear. When the car
is at a constant rate of high speed(let's say Talladega), the rear of the car is going
to have a lot of weight placed on it compared to the front of the car. This is due
mostly in part because of the rear spoiler. This will tend to make the car oversteer
due to the weight overcoming the adhesion limits of the rear tires(again, physics).
On high speed tracks, you can move a little of that weight to the front if the car
feels that it is understeering, and back to regain some of the steering. You would
want the weight reasonably balanced or slightly rearward if you are racing on a
short track, or a road course.
The third (and probably the most important) is the cross-weight distribution. A
stock car has a pair of bolts that run down the centers of the rear springs of the car.
they are attached to plates that when tightened, compress the spring. The spring
rate of the spring will always remain the same, but when pressure is applied to
them, it will "push" itself against the chassis. This in turn will put more "weight" on
the opposite wheel of the opposite end of the car. i.e. if more pressure is placed
on the right rear spring, it will load more "weight" to the front left wheel. When that
pressure is released, it will lessen the weight. This is important. As it relates to the
game, placing more cross-weight will add weight to the left rear and right ront tires.
Lessening that weight will balance tham more towards the other two tires.
WARNING!! Placing to much weight on a particular tire(s) will cause that tire(s) to
heat up and wear much faster than normal. This will result in loss of grip; the exact
opposite of what you are trying to accomplish!
Thus, here it is in a nutshell. I'm no expert, but I do race radio controlled race cars,
and the same laws of physics have applied there(there's that word again!) as well.
I have applied these same measures in my racing, and believe me, they make a
world of difference! If you have any comments or question, please respond to this
post or E-Mail me. I'll be happy to explain whatever I can...
Julio C.
Officially Sanctioned Race Fanatic...
