Weight vs ET

I would love to here your take. whats your opinion?

 

Well Mike i have heard such numbers in the past but i dont belive 100 pounds is a tenth, I guess you would have to know what is the perfect ratio of traction vs tire size vs being able to accelerate the weight? Our car weighs 2310 and has run low 70's (100 OVER) i dont think that translates into low 60's granted i would love to be wrong! a killer 330 for tafc is around 2.46 to 2.47

 

Yes Mike we have friends that run SC and they have done some of tests like that also with mixed results. I know on a junior dragster it makes a big difference! I figure with all the talent here we will get some great opinions on this subject.

 

I would guess that as horsepower increases the effect of weight will decrease. For instance a top fuel car i would guess would be less effected by a change in weight than an alcohol car and so on down the line to you get to the jr dragster. Other than that I just lost all train of thought and I'm not sure where i was going with this.

 

Mark
just hang a 100 pounds on it and see if you slow down a tenth
i have always heard the same #'s
not sure if i believe it thou

 

100 lbs per tenth is what most say. i think the biggest factor is the starting weight of the car add 100 lbs to a 3000 car and thats a 3% increase in wieght. add 100 lbs to a 2000 lb car and thats a 5% increase, on a jr dragster it would probably be close to 10%. so the lighter the car the more diff 100 lbs would make. as nick said the more power the less difference. I'm sure you were talking in specific on a TAFC, so I have no clue. Just felt like rambling on a bit. While I'm at it, I'll say that more weight could help plant a tire better, but then inertia comes into play. allright, enough talking in circles.

 

good topic which i am definetly going to keep my eye on as in our class there is NO weight minimum at all, so over the winter we are looking at lightening and changing as many parts as we can (safely).
But if 100lbs equals a 10th then its well worth at least trying to take some weight from a car.

 

jr dragsters are a good example of power to weight ratio. 10 lbs = a tenth of a second in the 1/8 mile. that is how we keep them in their index. i have seen medium hp cars (s/c, brackets, etc) keep pretty true to around 100 lbs = a tenth. i do'nt think really high hp cars (especially nitro) are as affected by this rough formula. load seems to sometimes benefit them. jmo
frank

 

This will sound like an obvious question but where is the best place to start losing weight from the car? photos on our site shown below.

 

I'm probably as big a weight freak as any body. Ever bracket or piece that goes on the car is looked at on how it can be made lighter. It all adds up. Look at 100 different places, you'll be surprised at the results.
That's my thought's anyway.........

 

Well I will give you a little example of how much 100 lbs affects a tafc. 1999 qualified #1 at the world finals 5.62 255 at 2145 when the minimum was 2125. We also ran 63 and a couple of low 70's. Minimum jumped up the following year to 2250. Played well trying to get back in the 60's could never make the car as happy as it was no matter where we moved the weight. Evertime it it would run the right numbers in the front it would either pitch the rods out or throw the blower of or both lol. Mark if I was running as well as you guys are and wanted to put the car on a diet I would do it in small steps and see what gets affected where. I think it does affect the power to weight ratio a bunch put also affects the way the car reacts as well because of the lack of no suspension. As for Barry remark the said oil company car owner he is talking about propably forgot more ways to lighten a car up than the rest of us will ever know. I think it was probably some brain surgeon out in california thinking that if they add 25 pounds to the screw cars that some of the good running IHRA guys are going to be more willing to try to run NHRA. Just another stupid rule from the incredible brain trust at NHRA. Anyway enough of that Happy holidays to all Franny

 

it sounds like one more year for us in IHRA, so we have to run DIV 1 this year for grade points for 07. (slip and slide)..lol

 

100 lbs = .1 et is the same as saying 2500 hp = 6.00 et so 5000 hp should = a 3.00 et. Mark- are you getting excited about the +25 lb deal for 06 ? or is pop having trouble getting into his fire suit.

 

Just for fun , i looked to a Morose power speed calculator, a lighter car is a little more sensitive than a heavy car if you remove 100 lbs.. I'm thinking that the power/weight ratio must be considered, not only the weight .

 

No Barry, i just wanted to cause trouble!..LOL.. +25 i wonder where they came up with that?

 

Mark- I could't POSSIBLY imagine where they came up with 25lbs. BUT if i had to take a wild guess, it might have had somthing to do with a oil company coming in #2.