I should mention that at nationals last year we were 993#. We have added
accurately weighed lead hunks (in 60# pieces, with one cut in half for a 30#
slug), and added 3x60+30=220# more. That gave us a 13# cushion. After my
runs in the a.m. Saturday, the car weighed 1204#. After John's runs in the
afternoon (with gasoline the same), the car weighed #1209.
So Sunday I ran and the car came out weighing 1201#! We added a few
wrenches (5# total), and when John finished, the car weighed in at 1212#.
We know full well the scales are THE scales at an event, but they should
be somewhat consistent, especially in for cars where weight is so critical.
BTW, we also weighed the car Friday evening mainly to get the corner
weights, percentages, etc.
I draw no conclusions except to note I think these are the same scales
used at the nationals. Frank S has been said to pack an extra 50# for
insurance and was caught short by 4# at this event...
--Pat K
----------
>From: "Donald R McKenna" <donbarbmckenna@earthlink.net>
>To: kirkm@zeta-idt.com, "John F. Kelly Jr." <76067.1750@compuserve.com>,
"BayArea Team.Net" <ba-autox@autox.team.net>
>Subject: Scales
>Date: Mon, May 6, 2002, 1:04 PM
>
> Kirk Meline writes, in part:
>
>>On the scales issue, I was one of the people working impound and the scales.
>>Basically, most people were happy with the results except for a few that
>>fell a couple pounds shy. We put the two 50 pound weights on to test the
>>scales and two were showing one pound off. It could have been a tenth of a
>>pound off but who knows. If you figure that error for one, two, or three
>>thousand pound cars and it probably was off by at least a few pounds. I am
>>no expert on scales so that was what I saw on Saturday. Maybe the car
>>owners can just throw in ten or twenty more pounds to be safe next time.
>
> We should all remember,unless grossly in error, the scales at the event are
> THE SCALES, period.
>
> Since all things have "tolerances' (euphemism for errors), its to be
> expected with scales. A good way to "hedge' against scale variances is to,
> if possible, weigh the car on the event scales BEFORE running. At a weekend
> event, where things aren't always set up early enough, and there's lots of
> other things for all of us to do it may not be possible to always do that.
> However, at Nationals, its smart to get a scale "baseline" ahead of time
> then, make sure there's a 10+# cushion to cope with whatever, including
> possible wind influences, after accounting for fluid losses.
>
> Don
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