What We Autocrossers Need

Scales.

Not the kind that Reptile from Mortal Kombat would rock out, no. Picture what the semis have to stop at prior to bridges. Now, divide that in to four individual plates and give it a full computer.

The system is actually pretty cool. It can determine centre of gravity, weight bias front/rear, left/right, front-left/rear-right and front-right/rear-left. It's accurate to 0.1%. And, of course, it has the weight of the vehicle.

Can you imagine the possibilities? One could adjust around all dead weight (Battery, amps, heater coil, etc) to their own desire. Figure out if their last weight-stripping venture accomplished as much as they thought. See how much one body upsets the balance of the car.

Of course, there is a minute downside... It's $1050. But I mean, hey, divided up between five of us that's only a mortgage payment or two!

 

 Or just go here, its the Mecha of the car geek crowd.  Scale sets as cheap as a couple hundred bucks.

http://www.racingjunk.com/search?searchString=scales

AllanJ wrote: Patrick wrote: How about four bathroom scales bought at Value Village for 20 bucks tops? Those and a few measured jigs and you'd be set.  http://www.rverscorner.com/tongueweight.html

Cool!

 

VCMC I think has one, or UBC...either way there is one we could find as a club night and weight our cars...I had mine done

'Aye, I did. But you'll also note that there IS going to be a worse accuracy rating that way. Now, compound inaccuracy for the left-front, then inaccuracy for the right front, on a fairly light section of the car. I think I'd just save up, and actually get the measuring devices. Hell, the first one on that racing junk was $600. Expensive? Yes. Useful for both autocross and off-roading? Definitely.

I do have coil-overs for the rear, not for the front yet though. Would be nice to move the weight around as much as possible though to sort've "set it neutral", or as close to as possible. That would be the exceptional of matching the weight on both sides of each axle.

I lack the finances to constantly replenish ultra-soft slicks. Coil-overs are really cheap and easy to do. And while I will concede that the Koni's are a touch expensive, like the K&N for my truck, at least it's just a one-time expense.

And the Fiero can be adjusted quite a bit. I noticed with the Konis that they're grooved in both bolt holes, so if swinging the bottom out doesn't net you enough camber, you can tilt the top in as well. Caster is still an issue, but Colby managed a work-around for that too.

Bassman wrote: You still need driver skill...and my car is proof that the best investment is tires, you could run OEM suspension with R-comps compared to what you want to do and the R-Comps would win plain and simple  Now having what you are doing just adds to a performance feel...but you still need skill...Joking with ya buddy...lol

Oh, I'm fully aware that I am nowhere near your level, nor do I believe that the suspension will make the same level of difference as the tires will. However, when I finally do get good enough to warrant them then I'll still have the suspension and the tires. Well, good and serious, because as it stands, I'm also not really concerned with winning. It's hard to take my odds seriously against 100% race spec BMWs and Honda S2000s in a streetable commuter car from the mid-eighties.

Haha, exactly. Short of dropping race-spec parts in myself, I recognize that I'm already doomed to fail, so I might as well just enjoy my car in street form.

Tris...not comparing driving levels, just a point that drivers skill not matter the condition of the car is the main difference, ask Allan after his driving coach took his car for a spin...lol, let's say Allan was sweating a bit...lol