Weights for small coupes?

[Bal r 14]

I have a few little compact coupes (like the NSR Abarth and Fly Renault). They are fun little cars, but are tall and top heavy, so they don't handle tight turns very well; they fall over a lot. I have been fooling around with adding weights, which seems to help. But, I thought it would be a good idea to ask the experts how they would weight this type of car... weights in the center, weights on the sides , etc?

[Mickey thumbs]

Think of the outer tires as a pivot point when cornering. The farther away from the pivot point the longer the lever arm, so a given amount of weight will have more anti-roll effect on the sides of the chassis compared to the middle.

[Kevan]

There's a lot of 'it depends on...' going on here.
It depends on your chassis/pod design, it depends on the width of the car, it depends what kind of racing the car is doing, it also depends what the car is doing on the track.
I've found the narrower the tyres and car and higher the ground clearance, the more proportional weight is needed.
I usually start adding ballast out wide between the axles, this steadies the ship but can lead to dumbed down handling. If you need more rear grip then adding ballast to the pod or just in front of the motor will do this, if the car suddenly deslots in sharp corners you need to add ballast up front in the middle.
Don't worry about adding weight to your car, you'll reach a point where the brakes and acceleration are suffering but the car is easy to drive and consistent. If you're a dragster driver between corners then ballast is a no no, a hugely overpowered motor and a drill for adding lightness is your best friend (and the marshals are alert ).

[Brumos RSR]

Solid advice from both, cut weight up high also where possible. I’ve been considering an Abarth, I love my NSR Clio.

[waaytoomuchintothis]

That Clio is insane. Have you glued the tires yet? Mine (2) were both so fast and light that at top speed, the tires spun away from the wheels, then when a turn came, the tires were in a different spot mostly off the wheels. We stood there laughing and taking turns running them the day the package arrived. A little glue and the problem was solved, and they were very fast.

[Brumos RSR]

I only run trued and glued. On the yellow chassis figured it would flex more to help with tipping a little. I may rebuild with a blue chassis if it flexes more.

[Kevan]

Another option...

[Bal r 14]

I like that. I may do that to my Fly Renault.

[RichD]

If you are trying to lower a car's center of gravity you need to get your ballast as low as possible. If there is enough track clearance try sticking lead sheet to the bottom of the car. Some clubs will not allow that for fear that there might be short circuits. Slot Car Corner and Professor Motor sell peel and stick lead sheet in several thicknesses.

[Bal r 14]

I do have lead sheets on the outside bottom of my Fly Renault, but there isn't enough clearance for that on the NSR Abarth.

[Kevan]

That's a laughable excuse when there's metal chassied cars also on track.
...lead ShoeGoo'd to the chassis is going nowhere without a pair of pliers first.

[Bal r 14]

I did end up putting lead weight on top of the side rails in my NSR Abarth. But, it takes a fair amount of weight and tends to slow the car down.

[Kevan]

The idea of ballast is to enable faster cornering where more time is made than one straight, adding weight won't slow it down but it will increase the acceleration/braking time.