Discussion about car weight, weight distribution and turning

[Kilgon]

Using the 1971 AMA Specifications I came up with this:

Coupe with 302 and automatic 57.0%/43.0% front/rear

Mach I with 302 and automatic 57.2%/42.8% front/rear

Mach I with 351 Cleveland 4V and 4-speed - 58.0%/42.0% front/rear

Mach I with 429SCJ and 4-speed - 60.1%/39.9% front/rear

I'm out of space, so couldn't post the chart.

Any figures for sportsroof with a 460 - C6

 

[Don C]

It looks like it would add 7 pounds to the front and 1 pound to the rear. Not a lot of difference.

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

When I got my 73 Mach 1 new I did a lot of autocross runs. What I had to do to improve the handling was to actually raise the rear by putting the helper springs on the shocks. The cars have horrible push in the turns. I tried radial tires a couple brands, B.F. Goodrich and Dunlop but neither worked on the car. Did better with bias plys. I actually almost rolled the car first time I ran the radials. We ran in the same parking lot was actually where I worked so I knew speed to run for the turns. Went into a turn and the car did not turn it just broke loose and slid sideways into concrete curb and people said they could see the whole bottom of the car. 

When I worked in the race shop and we built a car for circle track the boss would take all the weight off components that were not carried by the springs or un sprung weight. We got every I think Buick aluminum brake drum that showed up at junk yard. 

We also had to cut every scrap of metal we could out of the top and then sand the top with a side grinder until it was like tinfoil. We eliminated the rubber bushing in the leaf spring eyes and put in aluminum with a thin nylon bushing in the center for the bolt. 

The front end got the A frames boxed up to strengthen them.

If you are road racing you want all the weight you can take out of the rotating parts in the drive train. Aluminum flywheel, drive shaft. the lightest axles you can get by with. Light wheels and brake rotors or drums. Why you say when road racing you are constantly on the brakes or going wide open on the gas. If you have a heavy cast iron flywheel, steel drive shaft and other heavy components they store energy and act like a flywheel and increase your braking distance. Also when accelerating you need less torque to rotate the lighter part. You have to have a good balance of torque and rpm. Lots of rpm on a road coarse is good. Not so good on a circle track you want more torque there. 

Saw this video on facebook the other day love the sound of that Ford 289 winding out. It sounds like he runs out of gear on the long stretch. Second gear goes fast also.