Ballast rule in ST6?

[1jeffcat]

So while prepping the car to run this year, we need to run more weight, and will be running near the max ballast of 250lbs. 

Quote

CCR 15.20—Up  to  two  hundred  and  fifty  (250) lbs.  of  added  ballast  is permitted.   All  ballast  must  be  of  solid  material (no  fluids  or shot  pellets),  safely  secured  in   any  location  on  the  vehicle  not  disallowed  by  NASA  safety  technical  inspectors,   and  comply  with  Section  15.20  of  the  NASA  CCR.

My question is what criteria does the 250lbs fall under?....the lead ballast itself, or the lead ballast + whatever mounting hardware? The reason I ask is because I would like to add some thick reinforcing steel plates to the underside of the floor pan, as backing plates for the large amount of ballast being mounted on the passenger floor, however, depending on how the rule is interpreted, it may change my ballasting strategy.  

Edited May 10, 2019 by 1jeffcat

[Greg G.]

The rule was made over 10 years ago, when someone wanted to add 600 lbs of ballast to the car, which was not felt to be safe on that model.  I don't think that anyone will be checking to see if someone has 250 lbs or 270 lbs of ballast, because a mounting plate is 20 lbs.   Obviously, it is a rule, so it can be protested, but NASA's main concern is the safety aspect on this one.  We don't want to see someone's floor fall apart and hundreds of pounds of lead hit the track in front of another vehicle.  While the rule requires ballast to be solid material, there is nothing preventing a competitor from retaining a passenger seat and harnesses, adding more structure to a cage, etc.

[1jeffcat]

2 hours ago, Greg G. said:

The rule was made over 10 years ago, when someone wanted to add 600 lbs of ballast to the car, which was not felt to be safe on that model.  I don't think that anyone will be checking to see if someone has 250 lbs or 270 lbs of ballast, because a mounting plate is 20 lbs.   Obviously, it is a rule, so it can be protested, but NASA's main concern is the safety aspect on this one.  We don't want to see someone's floor fall apart and hundreds of pounds of lead hit the track in front of another vehicle.  While the rule requires ballast to be solid material, there is nothing preventing a competitor from retaining a passenger seat and harnesses, adding more structure to a cage, etc.

Agreed.  This is why I wanted to tie larger plate steel, along the lines of 8"x30"x0.25" to the undercarriage, below the OEM seat reinforcements, to disperse the load over a larger area, and spanning across more reinforced areas, instead of the thin floor pan steel, that way, short of the car being split in half, the ballast couldn't move.  My fear is running lots of ballast and then being limited to the typical small backing plates, however with larger amounts of weight, I like the additional security.  Being able to readily move and swap ballast in and out makes the car interchangeable between multiple classes for us if need be.  

Edited May 11, 2019 by 1jeffcat