Mike D wrote:Denny,
I'm sorry your engine broke a race later....but you still owe me dinner for fuel pump diagnosing..lol

Mike D

That I do, sir!
And I'm good for it.
Denny

re Bob Breton - "Minimum weight should be reduced to 1,620, in line with the reduction in the car weight. That will support drivers up to 200lbs with no ballast. Adding 50 lbs of ballast to the majority of cars could be a challenge (and safety issue.)"

Taken Bob's comment a logical step further - if adding weight to the car is a safety issue - THEN every one of us (some 25% by survey) who are well over the minimum are being allowed by SCCA to drive an UNSAFE vehicle.

The same light weight drivers with their excuse to not raise weight because putting in ballast gets the cars too high in weight always ignore that the heavy drivers are already driving the car at sometimes 80# over the minimum without any safety issues - no extreme stressing of the chassis & suspension, etc.

There is a newer driver down here in Texas (Jerome Mee) who is a biiiigggg man - played college football - 6'5" - was 325# and worked hard to get to 275# - and he is doing a great job of racing with limited experience. But he can never get close to the minimum. Some of us are just fatter in our golden years (yes me!).

Again - I trust in Mike (a lightweight) and Erik to come to a fair weight.

OK, then, for minimum weight let's go for 80% percentile. Maybe we need to do it by Region 'cause they grow them bigger in other part of the country

claysylvester wrote:re Bob Breton - "Minimum weight should be reduced to 1,620, in line with the reduction in the car weight. That will support drivers up to 200lbs with no ballast. Adding 50 lbs of ballast to the majority of cars could be a challenge (and safety issue.)"

Taken Bob's comment a logical step further - if adding weight to the car is a safety issue - THEN every one of us (some 25% by survey) who are well over the minimum are being allowed by SCCA to drive an UNSAFE vehicle.

The same light weight drivers with their excuse to not raise weight because putting in ballast gets the cars too high in weight always ignore that the heavy drivers are already driving the car at sometimes 80# over the minimum without any safety issues - no extreme stressing of the chassis & suspension, etc.

There is a newer driver down here in Texas (Jerome Mee) who is a biiiigggg man - played college football - 6'5" - was 325# and worked hard to get to 275# - and he is doing a great job of racing with limited experience. But he can never get close to the minimum. Some of us are just fatter in our golden years (yes me!).

Again - I trust in Mike (a lightweight) and Erik to come to a fair weight.

I'm guessing he means that the bolt-in steel plates are themselves a potential safety hazard in a bad incident.

The extra 20 lbs some of us carry around 24/7 is probably not going to do much damage in a wreck. It may even help!

Mike D wrote:...by updating the ECU we can add some features or functions that are common place in racing today.
The first of which is a SERIAL or CAN output, that means if your dash or data system has a configurable input, it will not be necessary for redundant sensors to display or record engine operation data.

Sweet!

As to minimum weight... I am concerned about the amount of ballast that has to go into the cars for the smaller drivers. I worked hard to lose ~40 pounds of my personal ballast and don't mind meeting a high minimum car weight but I'd like to know the bolts that hold in the weight plates are going to handle it. So far it's survived a couple unplanned crash tests, but my old chassis is not as light as a new one and there are definitely some drivers that are a good 40 pounds lighter than me so I worry about them in a new car.

But I didn't mean to wander into negative territory... I like the idea of a newer engine that will be easier for Enterprises to support and maybe be a bit racier. My son isn't very book smart so he won't notice the missing contribution to his college fund

In my humble opinion and after 27 years of observation I have never seen the weight plate studs ripped from their weld points and I have seen some horrific crashes. When you consider the probability that most severe impacts occur in the frontal aspect that would put the attachment points of the studs in shear. The weldment of those studs is spread across the depth of the 1" tube they are welded into welded at the top and the bottom. I am not at all worried about the safety of carrying any reasonable amount of ballast there. I do support a minimum weight that allows a 200 lb driver in a typical car to not have to run with a handicap. While I do not drive anymore I am 6'4' and am 200 very slightly plus and can sympathize with the larger crowd. I have a couple of drivers in my group that need to add 30 to 40 lbs and I have no problem doing that.

New guy, having not run my first race yet; it seems the idea of keeping things even or as even as possible the weight of the driver should not be a handicap. All things being equal adding plates is still an advantage vs. being on the large size. And yes like Steve I am 6'4" and 225,, at 215 people ask if I sick.. I figure the weight topic has been discussed since day one, am I right. Expecting to possibly be one of the heaver cars due to my size did not discourage me!! Thx Joel

Oh, my first project is to add the seat belt ladder!

Steve, from your note then I assume you're OK with adding 80-90 lbs? BTW, I watched a driver adjusting ballast the other day by reaching under one side, pulling out a plate, and dropping it in the other side (no tools used!) That got my attention!

BTW, NASCAR mandates a minimum driver weight of 200lbs (interestingly, there seem to also be a maximum ballast rule that no more than 50lbs of ballast is required even if you don't meet minimum weight). Maybe that's the answer...

Bob,

I agree with your concern that the ballast be effectively secured. I would estimate that I'd be carrying about 70 pounds with the new engine. That weight will have a lot of momentum given a sudden stop or high speed side impact. Would be nice to know that it's not going anywhere ...

Rich Kenny
#33, San Francisco Region

I think there should be 4" added to the wheelbase to allow for more leg room.

Dave H