[Trak Ratt]

At the last years PCAP’s Club Race my car would have been pretty close to minimum weight (2812) with drover and ~4 gals of gas left after a race. But because I've removed weight from the car since the CR I’ll need to run some ballast this year even with the new 2012 minimum weight for E being reduced to 2779 lbs.

I figure I'll need around 4 gals in the tank to not have the car cut out in tight corners (e.g. T-6 / T-7 at SP). So to try and calculate how much ballast I need I emptied the ‘84s tank (rinsed it out and cleaned the filter too WIT), then added 4 gals of gas before weighing the car. Even weighed the gas since getting exactly 4 gals from a pump is nearly impossible.

I know this all seems a little DrK but I’ve never really monitored gas consumption on the track. But since gas is the only real variable my question is how much gas do you start a session with? Kind of nit picking I know, but I’ve seen plenty of racers get DQed for being a couple pounds under minimum. Just as I suspect a few have lost because they weighed more than needed.

Reference: Max Carrera’s gas load ~21 gals. Figure minimum at end of sessionn for most tracks with a stock tank at 4 gals. Gas ~6.1 lb/gal so the 17 gal. = ~103 lbs.

[smdubovsky]

Originally Posted by Trak Ratt

I’ve seen plenty of racers get DQed for being a couple pounds under minimum. Just as I suspect a few have lost because they weighed more than needed.

Run extra gas. At our level I don't think anyone can notice an extra 20-30#. IMO, They definitely never lost because of it (it was their lack of talent but they'll never admit to it.) I think the guys who get DQ'd either lost weight somewhere (eg: I lost 20# myself in 2011) and forgot to account for it or just plain forgot to put more gas in the car after qual. Personally, I like to run a full tank. It limits sloshing and puts wt where needed (911 on the nose and the e36 on the butt) Makes it easy to gauge too. Trying to use 1/2 tank needle mark or something is difficult and error prone.

[Trak Ratt]

Originally Posted by smdubovsky

... Personally, I like to run a full tank. It limits sloshing and puts wt where needed (911 on the nose and the e36 on the butt) Makes it easy to gauge too. Trying to use 1/2 tank needle mark or something is difficult and error prone.

Me too and have been. Plus unless you drain the tank it seems easier to subtract the weight of a full tank than try and estimate how much is in there when the gauge shows 1/2 or so! Just wanted to see if others have come it with alternative solutions.

[Vicegrip]

Originally Posted by smdubovsky

Run extra gas. At our level I don't think anyone can notice an extra 20-30#. IMO, They definitely never lost because of it (it was their lack of talent but they'll never admit to it.) I think the guys who get DQ'd either lost weight somewhere (eg: I lost 20# myself in 2011) and forgot to account for it or just plain forgot to put more gas in the car after qual. Personally, I like to run a full tank. It limits sloshing and puts wt where needed (911 on the nose and the e36 on the butt) Makes it easy to gauge too. Trying to use 1/2 tank needle mark or something is difficult and error prone.

I wish more people would read this and follow it. I have DQed people for being light and it sucks to do so. Set your car up for a full tank and run a full tank. By the time you get to the pointy end of the grid you will know how to ajust the fuel and all the other little things that make the last .1 of a second.

[antonioconceicao]

That means you set up the car empty with the drover and no gas at 2779lb and then you fill it up the gas??

[Der ABT]

i came the closest ive every come to weight after removing the exhaust...i think i weighed in at Club Race with the beginning of fuel starvation on track during a practice (for me its about 1.5 gal left as i was able to put in 19.something when i filled back up.)
and i was like 20 lbs or so over 2836 or something....

as kurt said until your running up front who cares....make it over legal and learn to drive it and dont ever worry. if your battling for tenths with another guy maybe it will make a difference but as other said..hell my first time running up front and i came off track well over 70 lbs over yet ran faster then my practice times

Also keep in mind that some scales weigh different, we had guys at watkins race go over the scales and then do a circle to the back of the line and weigh in several lbs different. thats why its good to go at least once when scales are open.

[HoodPin]

X4 of running a full tank. Much safer in the long run to be slightly over rather than under.

And FWIW, those running cool suits remember that the ice/water can be a few pounds. If you try to finish the session at 0 +/- pounds, and you forgot it was too cool to fill the coolsuit cooler.......

[Trak Ratt]

Originally Posted by antonioconceicao

That means you set up the car empty with the drover and no gas at 2779lb and then you fill it up the gas??

If you are running something other than an '78 to '89 911 in E or a fuel cell you might want to think about it some more. But to me it means I set my ’84 Carrera with drover AND something like 20 lbs. of gas. Since it cuts out in tight sweepers when it gets much below an indicated ¼ tank.

[Jose]

Agree with most of above. I always start with a full tank. It takes out the guessing of how much fuel is in there, and eliminates that possibility of fuel starvation.
I have my car set-up so I'm pretty close to minimum weight at the end of a 45min race (usually NASA's longest race of a weekend) starting with a full tank. I have some small ballast plates that can be removed for the shorter 25-30min races, but like SMD said, we're nowhere near good enough to notice 15-20lbs difference.
I do remove/install a ballast block that weighs the same as the coolshirt cooler set-up depending on whether its installed or not.
It takes some time to figure out weight loss in a race. Even though many times you will run laps under caution, you have to assume the race will go green for it's entirety to be safe with weight. Somehow the national championship GTS race this year stayed green for 45 minutes...I was 7lbs to the good at the end, and that is cutting it a bit too close for me.

[Trak Ratt]

Originally Posted by Jose

... but like SMD said, we're nowhere near good enough to notice 15-20lbs difference.

Bro that's cold!!! Expect that from SMD, but really U 2

and me the one who named U