Using Aero Balance to Offset Mechanical Grip Balance Loss due to weight reduction

In the excellent Aero Fundamentals course, it talks about the importance of reducing mass for cornering speeds. I have been able to reduce overall car mass, but it mostly is towards the rear wheels, so the weight balance has gone from 50.2% F / 49.8% R to 51.8% F / 48.2% R. given this will cause less mechanical grip in the rear, I was confused that the course suggests that I add more FRONT aero (or reduce rear aero), rather than adding more rear aero to help "balance" grip during higher speed corners. can you please confirm and give me more context on what adjustments I should make with this weight reduction?

Hey Ryan, I think what you're looking for here is some context on Lateral Load Transfer (LLT) which we cover a lot in our Suspension Tuning & Optimisation Course and we have this free video from the course on our Youtube channel

While you do lose mechanical grip in a straight line in the rear by having less load on the rear tires as you've correctly noted, you more importantly reduce lateral load transfer in corners. Any amount of Lateral Load Transfer (LLT) will reduce overall mechanical grip while cornering, which you can learn more about in the suspension course or the linked youtube video.

Simply put, although the outside tire gains grip as you corner the inside tire loses more grip then the outside gains so overall the total mechanical grip is reduced during cornering, due to load transfer.

Reduced load transfer = less grip lost on the inside tire = improved total grip mid corner relative to straight line mechanical grip.

As your weight percentage has shifted forward the LLTD has also shifted forward, so there's more load to be managed at the front end mid corner and therefore reduced lateral grip potential as summarised at 9:20 in the Youtube video.