Race car ballast weights?

About 300 lbs available locally.

Anyone know the composition/hardness?

Could be anything. Probably lead of some sort but could be Zinc as well. Proceed with caution. I would have it analyzed for certain.
Good Luck,
Rick

The are made from junk wheel weights! If it melts it is a ballast! The drivers do not care. As long as it is heavy.

I made a mistake purchasing race car ballast several years ago and adding it to my general lead supply. I had to dilute it in over 200 lb of metal in order to make it functional, it was producing casting defects and causing leading.

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Yikes. Hard pass on those.

If the price was decent, I would at least test for zinc with a drop of acid. Then cast a known alloy with a large flat nose and a sample of this alloy with the same mold. compress the two nose to nose in a vise or arbor press and see which is softer. And by casting samples, you will get an idea about the casting character.

Those weights in older police cars must have been before my time 68-80 because those were basically normal production, or with the HD package. What manufacturer used weights in the police package that would have also used mercury? The race car weights were more likely shade tree castings of whatever was available, like sail boat keels.

Race car ballast could be about anything. There was no standard. For what its worth, the few that I found were made from wheelweights. Probably due to race cars close relation to tires, wheels, garages, ect. Mine were cast in valve covers.

When I raced we tried to get close to pure as possible, but that was me. Others use whatever they can find in a scrap yard or tire shop

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Speedway motors sells it for three dollars a pound!

Good case for a Pencil Test of hardness. Scratch the surface with differing hardness pencil lead. The harder the pencil lead, the greater the BHN of the sample. It is all there in the Stickies.