Adding Weight or ballast in the trunk.

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If my memory serves me correctly, there is a YouTube video where a guy goes through a Sox & Martin car (Barracuda?) for sale. He talks about these metal plates in the trunk that were used for removable ballast and there is a good picture.

(7) The Sox & Martin 1968 Hemi Barracuda - YouTube

Ballast explanation starts at 5:25.
 
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Scampin said:
Not technically nhra legal but I use sandbags in duffle bags. Quickest my car has run was with 200lbs in the trunk.
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You could just throw a fat gal in the trunk.
 
Best place for ballast in an E body is the rear floor. Made my old car work better when I removed weights from the trunk to the center, above the axle, in the passenger compartment. I suppose if a car had the rear seat, ballast would work good, under the seat or behind the front seats. Weight done this way adds to the CG. Weight added to the trunk is farther from CG and makes it harder for the car to rotate.
Please make sure to secure the ballast, if it is inside the car!
 
Stage weights from an old theater fly rail system. Roughly 30lbs each
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Some of my dirt track buddies melt down old wheel weights and fill old valve covers with them. Works pretty good.
 
sst3193 said:
Best place for ballast in an E body is the rear floor. Made my old car work better when I removed weights from the trunk to the center, above the axle, in the passenger compartment. I suppose if a car had the rear seat, ballast would work good, under the seat or behind the front seats. Weight done this way adds to the CG. Weight added to the trunk is farther from CG and makes it harder for the car to rotate.
Please make sure to secure the ballast, if it is inside the car!
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Still have the back seat in my car.
never thought about moving weight forward of the axle.
Not pulling the front tires off the ground, so the more/further back i put the weight the better...........?
I have read a couple of chassis books(read but never need to apply until now) so i have a slight knowledge of CG. I find it interesting that you say it will rotate better with the weight further forward.
 
Here a short video of the day. It look like it hooking but it spins all the way thu first gear, until it hits the rev limiter. Launching and accelerating but, not hooking.
I video only semi and final round. Semi's her reaction time was slow and i caught here about 3/4 track.(this was her first time racing so she did quite well!) The finals was a bike that tried to hard and red lite. I almost caught him at the finish line.......But would have broke out, if he hadn't of red lit.

 
HeyFever,
I get that some times.
As far as ballast goes think of a barbell, put the weights out at the ends, like normal. Now try to rotate one end of the bar down and touch the ground. Next move the weight much farther in, towards your hands and see how much easier it is to flip the bar, end for end.
 
justinp61 said:
I need to figure out how to add weight in my Dart. I have four lead square bars that are about 27lbs each, just hate to drill a bunch of holes in the trunk floor. May look at adding them under the bumper.
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I bought some clamp on weight ballast boxes from Tim Mcammis racing that you actually pour the amount of steel shot into the containers and then clamp them to the roll cage tubing wherever you want to...... rear bars or anywhere for that matter in the car.
 
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