Mass

Weight is a result of the Earth's gravity pulling the mass of the vehicle towards the center of the Earth. In terms of vehicle dynamics, the main effect of mass is to change the inertia of the vehicle which affects the way the vehicle accelerates and rotates. The position and amount of weight of the vehicle also affects vehicle handling and stability.

Center of Mass/Center of Gravity

The center of mass is the point that describes the average of the mass and position of every part of the vehicle, while the center of gravity is the point that describes the average of the weight and position of every part of the vehicle. For the purposes of this article, center of mass and center of gravity will be used interchangeably.

Inertia

According to Newton's 1st Law, an object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion. We are familiar with this concept in the form of momentum. As a general rule, engineers try to reduce the inertia of the vehicle in order to increase the maximum acceleration of the vehicle.

Polar Moment of Inertia

The Polar Moment of Inertia is defined by how far the mass is from the pivot point. When the mass is closer to either end, you have a high polar moment of inertia, and when the mass is centralized close to the pivot point, you have a low polar moment of inertia. Mid-engine cars are considered the best layout for Road Racing because of their low polar moment of inertia, since both the Engine and Driver are in between the wheel axes.

Weight Transfer

Weight transfer is a result of the vehicle accelerating. When a vehicle accelerates (for example when turning or braking), the tires create a moment that causes the vertical force applied to each tire to change. This can be seen by drawing the forces applied to a vehicle. Using Newton's 2nd Law we can calculate the forces on each tire in a steady state situation.

Non-Suspended Mass

The non suspended mass is the mass that, as the name implies, is not suspended. For example the tyres are non suspended mass. There are however parts of the car that are quite hard to describe as only suspended or non-suspended mass. Parts like the push rod can be partially suspended. Because of this we need ways to measure the non-suspended part of the vehicle's mass. There are three main ways of doing this.

English Method

Measure the mass of all suspension components and assume that only a third is suspended while the rest is non-suspended.

Scale Method

Make sure the car is in ready to race condition with tyres (at least when it comes to wheel and suspension). Raise the car and put a weight scale under the tyre. Mke sure the raise the car just enough for the wheels not to be touching the scale but as close to touching as possible. Then disconnect the pushrod from the chassis side. Let the wheel fall onto the scale and the mass you measure is the non-suspended mass of that wheel. Do this for all four wheel to obtain the total non-suspended mass.