I guess this would go into the Aerodynamics/body design section. How important is it to have the same or close to the same weight on all three wheels? Does it have an effect on how the car handles depending on where the batteries, motor, controller, ballast weight, and the driver are at? I tried keeping the weight on my car as close as possible. I know the back wheel is carrying more weight that the front wheels. I have the motor on the right rear with the shaft facing towards the middle of the car, with enough room for the battery (red or yellow) to fit in neatly next to the motor. In the centerline part of the car under my seat, I have the controller in front of the motor and the rear battery. Then I'm in the middle over the controller. Up front I have a battery (red or yellow) going in between my legs almost in line with the font axles, battery terminals going inline with the car. On both sides of the battery, i have ballast weight, 15 ponds on each side totaling about 30 ponds. My car handles very well, I had the frame designed so the motor, controller, batteries, ballast weight and myself are as low to the frame as possible to keep the center of gravity very low. Input is welcome if you would like to share how your cars are set up.
A few years ago I had an engineer tell me to go 60% on the front 40% on the rear for our three wheel design. Weight distribution does not affect rolling resistance, but does affect handling. The 30%/30%/40% was an approximation that was quickly figured without spending days working out the math so it may not be exact, but it should be close.
short track use, 60% with 2 wheels at front 40% with 1 wheel at rear short track use, 30% with 1 wheel at front & driving front wheel, 70% on 2 rear wheels obviously both examples are 3 wheel cars. we use a balance board with all components layed out where we want them. First mount the rear wheel where you want it, then you can determine where the front axle should be to get weight distribution correct
