You can look at the weights on kind of a matrix, yeilding total front, total rear, total left, total right, and in my opinion, the most important, the cross-weights, LF-RR and RF-LR. THAT is where the overall neutral balance comes in. If you can get the cross-weight (expressed as a percentage of total weight) in the range of 49.9-50.1%, you're in good shape. If the cross-weight is skewed, it will exhibit a tendency to behave very differently in left and right turns.
In an ideal world, get the car as light as you possibly can, including pulling all systems and components that don't have a rulebook dictated location, then scale the car and start adding them back in. If you can get creative enough, you can target pretty close to a 50% front, 50% left and 50% cross-weight including driver and "X" amount of fuel. The fuel load in the S197 is honestly kind of a joke, given the saddlebag tanks, but at least it's worth it to try...
By "systems" and "components," I'm referring to battery, fire bottle, cool-suit tank, and whatever ballast you may need to make weight. BIG difference in mounting them in the right-rear corner of the trunk rather than right behind the driver's seat, or under the hood.
