Any well else underweight at Snetterton?

[JTRacelogic]

After a thrilling 6 hour FunCup race at the weekend, we came home P2 in class, only to be excluded for being underweight by 6kg. The car was checked before and afterwards on the team's scales, and it was over weight by 1.5Kg at the end (maybe a bit too close, but should be just okay). The scales have always been accurate in the past, and they prepare a large number of similar cars, and have done for many years. They were mystified.

Anyone else have the same issue at Snetterton at the weekend? There was a Caterham sprint race going on there at the time, and I heard some of them may have had similar issues?

[Furyblade_Lee]

Harsh. But rules is rules! Is it possible to check your scales back-to-back with official ones before each race?

[JTRacelogic]

Yes, next time we'll check the weight on the official scales before testing, always learning!

[kimducati]

Weslake-Monza said:

Ask for the calibration certificate for the Snetterton scales and check that it is in date!

Doesn't matter!
Thems the scales used 'on the day' and its up to the competitor to check weigh on them if they're in any doubt. It'll be written into the series regs somewhere.
Fell foul of this ourselves once (you only do it once) and after that always check weighed where possible, or if not made sure that we added ballast to make sure. Lesson learned!!
Kim

[TheDeadPrussian]

Sorry to hear of your problem Julian - especially after you had made your way back up through the field. It was a fantastic race, with closely fought battles throughout the entire order. 6 hours of hard racing and a winning margin of 0.559 seconds...
Unfortunately I can't offer any assistance with weight comparisons, as we are not near enough the front to warrant weighing once in Parc Ferme. I think the scrutineers have taken pity on us!

A real shame about the result; see you at Brands (we can’t make Spa).

Mark C – Car No 21 – Ecurie Helga.

[JTRacelogic]

Hi Mark

Yes, it was an absolute corker of a race, really good fun, so competitive all the way! See you at Brands, where I think the Petrols could well show the Diesels a clean pair of heels...

[JTRacelogic]

Well, an interesting development, JPR sent their scales off to get them calibrated, and it turns out that they are spot on, only 600 grammes out at 800kg! It really looks like there is a fair chance that the scales at Snetterton are seriously under-reading at the moment.

• Warning to all competitors - check your car on the Snetterton official scales before the race, because you may have to add significant ballast if you set your car up close to the weight limit.

[Marc W]

I know several competitors at a club meeting at Snetterton last year were found to be underweught on the official scales when they were certain they were fine. One car was then reweighed with the team having made no changes and this time it was easily the correct weight. This does suggest there is some issue with the scales (Or the way they were used) as there was no way the car could be several kilos different on two occasions with no changes made.

[DSM2]

We're out at Snet in F3 Cup in three weeks so this is interesting. We were at Silverstone last month and found underweight after qualifying. ( bang to rights as it happens!)

Later checks showed our scales (new) were exactly in line with Silverstone's.

Will make sure we check on Friday test day at Snet.

[procomp]

Always worth checking if the scales you are using give different reading when running direct off the inbuilt battery and when plugged into the mains / charger. Some give differing results by as much as 10KG.

Cheers Matt

[DSM2]

procomp said:

Always worth checking if the scales you are using give different reading when running direct off the inbuilt battery and when plugged into the mains / charger. Some give differing results by as much as 10KG.

Cheers Matt

Our scales are the baqsic Intercomp, and use a regular battery, no mains or recharging option. We tend to compare them with the track scales early in the weekend if possible, its been OK so far.

[thunderbelmont]

I've found my Intercomp scales read the same on battery or on mains.

If Snettertons scales of justice are that far out, I'd be asking for the calibration certificate.....

[Count Johnny]

thunderbelmont said:

If Snettertons scales of justice are that far out, I'd be asking for the calibration certificate.....

^This.

[Piglet]

thunderbelmont said:

I've found my Intercomp scales read the same on battery or on mains.

If Snettertons scales of justice are that far out, I'd be asking for the calibration certificate.....

If they were that far out, you'd expect a significant number of cars to have been effected rather than a small number.

[JTRacelogic]

A number of cars were affected, but they weighed their cars before the race. Some found them to read 15kg less than Caterham's own scales, so had to add considerable ballast.

[jasonxr2racer]

had similar problem at most circuits where scales are out of sync

[andy97]

More trouble with noise meters than scales

[Count Johnny]

Based on last weekend's experience (and upon an admission from a scrutineer) Donington's scales are under reading by ~ 10kg.

[DSM2]

Just back from our weekend at Snet. Checked their scales against ours. Exactly the same!

[Marc W]

I think they don't weigh consitently underweight but seem to vary up and down on different occasions. With the story I mentioned earlier in the thread, the same car was weighed twice in the space of about 5 minutes and the weight was significantly different both times with absolutely nothing done to the car. This suggests either some kind of mistake when using them or an intermittent fault.