PP racing, Adding weight(ballast) or lowering hp?

  • Thread starter Thread starter ampire
  • 9 comments
  • 2,696 views
ampire

ampire

Messages
255
On my PP racing cars I weight reduce to level 3. I usually add ballast to the lighter end of the car if the car has an uneven weight distribution. I usually use the ballast instead of downforce because running more ballast actually lowers the PP unlike downforce, and therefore allows me the option of running more horsepower.

Is it better to add ballast and run more horsepower or to lower the horsepower and not add ballast?
 
It would depend on the course. If its wide open with lots of long straight, you'd want more horsepower. If its tight with lots of kinks and chicanes, you'll want no ballast. It's just a personal preference type thing.
 
In a straight line, will a car with ballast (more overall weight) and more horsepower be faster than a car with less horsepower and a lighter overall weight?


I am always getting passed on the straights even though I kill in the turns.
 
It depends on how long the straight is. If you have ballast, it will take longer to accelerate, but when you do you'll have a higher top speed.
 
Slow technical courses make cutting horsepower the way to go. High speed courses make ballast the way to go.

The wild card is elevation change, because the bigger the elevation differences the more power you want to be putting down.
 
I spend a lot of time doing PP racing on the 'ring, and as Toronado mentioned, the elevation changes on there definitely require more power. Countless times I've seen the lighter, less powerful cars fly through the corners, only to drop behind in the last quarter of the track. I'd say its definitely a case of tuning for the track you're on, and unfortunately its moments like these where being able to have multiple setups would be ideal. Though with the seasonal payouts as they are, you can always afford multiple versions of the same car with different set ups :p
 
Gotcha, I've got an Evo X that I tuned for 550PP and it is amazing in the corners but once I hit a straight I start losing seconds to the competition. Maybe I should just detune it to 500 and buy a higher horsepower higher weight car for 550.
 
Varies from car to car and track to track, but at the lighter end of the scale (1000-1100 kgs or less) you will begin to struggle on the hilly courses and longer straights more, even something like Deep Forest with the uphill section after the double left hander at the bottom of the course. It's also not necessarily true that handling suffers very much with added weight and often the added horsepower that comes with increased weight is more beneficial because the handling is reduced only insignificantly.

To throw a monkey wrench into the gears, there is also a tradeoff between downforce and hp. Take a car with 20 df on the rear and lower it to zero, add some ballast to even up the weight distribution and increase the hp...makes a big difference on some tracks.
 
Bought an M5 and tuned to 550PP, no downforce (no spoiler), no ballast, just engine detuned to 540 horsepower and it is substantially faster than my 550PP Evo X.

I did Trial Mountain in 1:26 with the M5 and Tsukuba in 0:55.

On the M5, I tried adding 50kg ballast to the 40th position (just in front of rear axle) and raising the power, the added weight meant that the car had less agility during switchback corners because there wasn't enough room to compensate with the increased power. I lost about a second and a half on Laguna Seca. The M5 does start out with 50/50 weight distribution so adding weight to the rear axle is only useful as a spoiler substitute at high speed.
 
ampire
Bought an M5 and tuned to 550PP, no downforce (no spoiler), no ballast, just engine detuned to 540 horsepower and it is substantially faster than my 550PP Evo X.

I did Trial Mountain in 1:26 with the M5 and Tsukuba in 0:55.

On the M5, I tried adding 50kg ballast to the 40th position (just in front of rear axle) and raising the power, the added weight meant that the car had less agility during switchback corners because there wasn't enough room to compensate with the increased power. I lost about a second and a half on Laguna Seca. The M5 does start out with 50/50 weight distribution so adding weight to the rear axle is only useful as a spoiler substitute at high speed.
Click to expand...

Try leaving the weight in the middle or moving it slightly to the rear to try and adopt some MR characteristics with better turn in and lift off oversteer. Doesn't work on every track. Try the same thing on Road Course Indy and see what happens.
 

Latest Posts

Back