Hi, I’m curious if anyone has weighed or scaled their midget. I’m curious about the weights. If someone could give me a ball park about how much weight is on each tire I would really appreciate it. RR, LR, RF, LF. With or without driver is fine, I would like to see weights with driver in car though. I think we have too much weight in our rear, and not enough weight on the front making our Subaru midget hard to drive. Also is there any ideas to move the cars weight to the front end without having to add any additional weights? Our weights with driver in car we have now are RR 296 LR 430 RF 194 LF 195.

dirt or pavement? Better weigh it for either to pass min weight, but I've been told hardly any do for dirt (where as on pavement I think almost all do or wish they coulda). On the RARE occasion I had "extra" time b4 a dirt race, I had thrown it on the scales a time or two for the heck of it. Figure whats it hurt to write smthn down and use the scales if you own them; but there may be better stuff to focus on for dirt

There is a lot in your question, what do you feel it is not doing, turning in, is usually a big problem to get corrected. Do you know your KPI, and what is the angle on the axle spuds, how much do you lean back the axle, degrees, is front axle square with the rear end, it should not be. Just from your numbers, I'd start adding weight to the RF, makes it turn in better, try 20# and see if it helps, also helps transfer rear weight thru and off a turn. With nothing else to go on, can the builder help any? I am assuming this is a dirt car, what brand, and what wheelbase all enter into the equation, I've always assumed any car could be made to handle, you just need to get some fact upfront. Do you scales allow you to turn the front, you can gain a lot with static numbers, without a trip to the track. Just some common sense stuff to get your mind off TDC. Bob

I'm really old school, but won a lot of races in the 70's and 80's but I'm way behind now so excuse me. I do not think some of the basics has changed though. But i see people blocking the cars and all kind of other gimmics to set them up. In my opinion it still comes down to how hard those 4 tires are pushing down on the ground. (Less so with the front but you still have to turn the corner). With that said, I'm in favor of scaling the car. Without the driver. On very level pavement. Use a water level to find the most level place. Shocks disconnected if possible, if not set on the lightest compression and rebound settings or use some old shocks with the guts removed so they're only holding the coils in place. Put the tires on that give you the approximate stagger for the track you're going to run. What's the proper stagger? In a perfect world, the LR would be just large enough that if the RR and the LR were connect to an axle (only an axle, even a piece of tubing with hubs installed to mount the tires would work) the same width as the car. The axle with tires should roll freely and follow the race track and but ultimately have just enough push that the RR would hit the wall coming off the turn. In other words, a little push. Because of the offset of the cars today, I'm not sure this is possible but some left rear weight should be adjusted into it. Start with 20 LBS left rear. Increase inside weight if its loose. Don't add weight to the car, adjust the preload on the bars or coils. I think you had 134 Lbs of left rear with the driver. That would have made any of my cars impossible to turn a corner. I'm probably going to be told i'm crazy or wrong but you need to start somewhere. Good luck

I was gona say this part too: "Don't add weight to the car, adjust the preload on the bars or coils" (but I never knew much and I tried forgetting everything about working on racecars after I quit racing...lol) - I remember you can go back & forth and get to where you wana be (with the weight) and still have good ride heights (turn in here, out here, etc).

I'd also suggest at least buying a setup book and calling your shock manufactors...everyone will say hang around another team too, but I realize how much time that takes from your own effort...you guys have been messing with this for a few years now tho (if I recall correctly from your posts)...gota be an experienced guy around the track you can buy a pit pass and dinner for? Or pay someone to set it up? I know its different for every driver and combination, but could be somewhere to start...

Steve Smith has book MIDGET CHASIS TECHNOLOGY. The answers to all of your questions are in the book. Great way to bypass opinions of well intended people that have not run a midget successfully in years, if ever. $30 on AMAZON. But I bet you probably know someone that is racing that has a copy that you can borrow. Read it twice. But I would suggest that you spring for your own copy so that you can go back to it from time to time. Well worth the price. Racing a midget on dirt or pavement is like the difference between dating a busty redhead that likes to be bad or a skinny one from a ballet school. They both will take all your money. But you will have so much fun with one; you might think it was worth it. And the other one will NEVER be seen at the Chili Bowl. There is a reason Emmit is so successful.

Bought a Steve Smith book about micros when I was racing, it was a valuable resource. Back in my hot rod days I bought a Holley Carb book and it too proved to be valuable reading. BTW I scaled my micro for weekly maintenance just to see if any springs may have changed, but really just to make sure things were consistent from previous week. I am a firm believer that races are won in the shops, well before getting to the track. If you are out to lunch hire someone that can get you in the ballpark the rest is up to you