Corner Balancing for Different Drivers

[dutchman1]

Maybe I should put this in the track forum, but it is a suspension question so I'll start here.


Those who have experience corner balancing this car, how much does driver weight influence corner balance?


My autocross car may have a second driver this year, and our weights our about 50lbs apart (200 and 250). Is there a significant shift in corner weights with additional driver weights in this car or is the balance going to remain pretty much the same?


If it does change quite a bit I'll have to decide to either set it up for the fastest driver, or split the difference and balance it for a 225lb driver.


Thanks for any notes.

[churchx]

If one does corner weight balancing to gain all possible competitive edge, i'd care about if doing that for with just driver or with driver+passenger, according to which driving on track is more common. But in your case with 50lb different drivers weight i wouldn't bother. Yes, there will be slight change, but not big enough to justify corner rebalancing. You don't realign car depending on how much fuel in tank is several times per each tank, do you?

[strat61caster]

Less than half a percent difference between you two in my experience, 50/2850 is less than 2% change and it's going in roughly the same spot. I see about half a percent to one percent Max change from a 200 lb driver getting in and out of the car iirc.

Since you own the car corner balance it for your weight and your codriver is unlikely to spot the difference. Good luck next season.

Oh, if you're having a shop do it you can probably request the numbers for both weights, balance for 200 and give me the numbers for 250 just for kicks. Worth noting that 50 lbs is the difference between a full tank and an empty tank so expect a similar handling difference, ie not much, there are bigger fish to fry when it comes to autox.

[dutchman1]

Thanks for the input, that's basically what I was thinking. I just wanted to verify their wasn't something funky with these cars, I know some cars have some interesting balancing issues.


And strat61caster, I'll see if I can get him to pull 50lbs out of the driver seat when it's still on the scales and let ya know how it comes out.