Anyone good at math???

[spymoto]

If you are I have a problem for you.

In a quarter mile, if you lose to another car by an "x" # of feet (not going by time or time slips) how much weight would you need to cut inorder to gain on that car to be even?

What I mean is: Say I lost to another car by 5 feet, how much weight would I need to drop to make up that 5 feet?

I know I've hear somewhere that you loose .10 sec for every 100 pounds less in the quarter mile.

Is there a way to get that into feet?

Some kind of equation to use with the power to weight ratio into accelerated time from 0 mph or something? I don't know, call me stupid if you want. Just woundering how the weight factor would play into time and distance.

Thanks

 

[Laser0385]

Let me give it a shot:

First, we would need to know your 1/4 mile trap speed. You would convert the MPH into feet per second. Then, you would figure out by how much you lost (i.e. the "x"). So, say you lost by 10 feet or so. Put that into the equation and figure out how many seconds or tenths or however much of a second that is. Then, put that into your equation and figure out how much weight you would have to lose to make "it even." Use the basic, 100 lbs. interior weight loss = .1 second 1/4 timeslip loss.

That might work, might not.

Jake

 

[Defiant]

You can make some stabs at it, but there's just too many variables in a quarter to really tell. Varying gear ratios, power curves, track/weather/driver factors.... it just gets nuts.

 

[pneumo]

At DSM.org they have a horsepower calculator that I like to play round with. Try entering different weights and see how much that affects the time for the same HP. Then use the speed/ distance math that Laser0385 suggested to find out how much time you need to make up.
Another quick formula I like to keep in my head is the weight to power ratio. I like to keep it simple so you can figure it out even after a few beers. If a car has 300 HP, and it weighs 3000 pounds, that's a 10:1 ratio. So removing 100 pounds is almost like adding 10 HP. Bye, Bye rear seat and spare tire!