How do I know if a car is "balanced"? power/weight ratio question

[Stigsblkcousin]

How do I know if I car is balanced? I know it has something to do with the power to weight ratio. How do I figure out the ratio after add ons, is there a mathematical formula? Whats a good ratio?

Recently, I've been trying to tune a EVO for max speed, but after topping out at 193 mph(downhill )I scratched that and went for a better track car. After messing around a bit I managed to shave a second of my time around the TGTT by as second by just tuning. Now, I'm not the best driver, nor am I the weakest, this is another problem I have. I don't know where the tuning stops and my driving begins.

How can I tell if a car is balanced after tuning?

 

[SoMe0nE2tAlK2]

How do I know if I car is balanced? I know it has something to do with the power to weight ratio. How do I figure out the ratio after add ons, is there a mathematical formula? Whats a good ratio?

Recently, I've been trying to tune a EVO for max speed, but after topping out at 193 mph(downhill )I scratched that and went for a better track car. After messing around a bit I managed to shave a second of my time around the TGTT by as second by just tuning. Now, I'm not the best driver, nor am I the weakest, this is another problem I have. I don't know where the tuning stops and my driving begins.

How can I tell if a car is balanced after tuning?

As far as I can tell there's two ways to approach this.

1) get your laptimes on a track very consistent, then tune and see if it improves or worsens.

2) ignore lap times and just see how a car behaves on different kinds of turns (slow, steady, fast, banked, off-camber, etc.) and just tune the suspension settings till it handles to a way that fits your driving style

 

[nomis3613]

Yeah, "balanced" is a handling thing, not really related to power/weight. It's about understeer and oversteer. In theory, a car that is balanced has equal grip front and rear, so it steers accurately but the rear doesn't slide (this is a simplification, but hopefully it explains the theory).

Balance is a matter of driving style so what driver one person thinks is "balanced", another person might call "understeering" etc. So there's no mathematical formula for tuning balance.