Ballast

Ballast in a race car serves a critical function, primarily related to achieving minimum weight requirements and, perhaps more importantly, optimizing weight distribution. Often, a race car's chassis and components are designed to be as light as possible. This allows teams to add specific amounts of ballast in precise locations to bring the vehicle up to the regulated minimum weight for a particular racing series. This strategic placement directly influences how the race car behaves on the track, impacting handling characteristics such as understeer and oversteer.

Race car ballast is available in various forms, including dense materials like lead, steel, and tungsten, often shaped into ballast blocks or contained within a ballast box. The exact placement of this added weight can dramatically affect the car's balance through corners, under acceleration, and during braking. For example, adjusting the weight distribution from front to rear or side to side can improve tire grip, stabilize the vehicle during high-speed maneuvers, or fine-tune its responsiveness to driver input. These adjustments are a key aspect of race car setup, allowing teams to tailor the vehicle's performance to different track layouts and conditions.