Weight a minute
- In a perfect world, we’d add our missing 100 pounds to the right rear corner.
We’ve done a lot of work to the BMW Spec E30 project lately, including some pretty dramatic weight-changing things like removing the heavy stock exhaust and replacing it with the very light spec system. It was time to put the car on our Longacre corner-weight scales and see how it measured up.
The rules state that our car must weigh a minimum of 2750 pounds with the driver in place. Our fuel tank was much closer to full that it was to empty, so rather than try to drain it out we topped it off to the brim. Knowing that street gasoline weighs approximately 6.2 pounds per gallon, our 16.5-gallon BM1B-style fuel tank gives us an approximate fuel weight of 100 pounds.
If you can’t read the numbers in the photo, the totals were:
LF: 729 RF: 743
LR: 691 RR: 591
TOTAL: 2754 lbs.
This means that even with a nearly overflowing fuel tank and our driver in place, we’re just four skinny pounds over the MINIMUM weight. Looks like we’re going to have to add some ballast.
This blew our mind a little bit, as the car was weighed with a spare wheel/tire and carpet in the trunk as well as fully operational all-glass power windows still in the doors. Our driver weighs about 175 pounds in regular clothing, probably closer to 180 with a helmet and driving gear on.
Get a fatter driver? :shrug:
Comment by Michael Kelley — May 1, 2008 @ 4:54 pm
I’m available for the fatter driver position. Just saying.
Comment by Wowak — May 1, 2008 @ 5:05 pm
Find the Stig’s American cousin… I here he lives in Florida…
Comment by Ian F — May 2, 2008 @ 10:17 am
Find the Stig’s American cousin… I here he lives in Florida…
Comment by Ian F — May 2, 2008 @ 10:18 am
The Stig’s American cousin.. Jerry Stein? (Its what I’ve heard, thats all.)
Comment by Wowak — May 4, 2008 @ 3:38 pm
I would not put much stock in the absolute numbers your scales return, and just concentrate on its use as a corner-weighting device. These scales (I have a similar set) are notorious for being non-repeatable as they age. My SSM will go up and down 50 lbs. during the course of a scaling session.
It will help to check your scales against a known weight, but even then, the accuracy will not tell you much, because there is no linearity to the degree of error - or, 2% off at 50 lbs. does not necessarily equate to 2$ error at 2754.
Ultimately, the only set of scales that matters is the ones at the track, since they will determine your legitimacy on any given weekend. Make certain to avail yourself of theirs as often as you can on a race weekend.
Comment by Wreckerboy — May 7, 2008 @ 8:09 am
Been following progress of project and I’m learning alot. Sold my Spec e30 project car but now looking for another.
btw - BMP Designs has a nice shock trailer tie down.
BMWCCA Pocono Chapter
Comment by Barry King — May 7, 2008 @ 2:00 pm