I think Jeff's a little more passionate than I am about this, but the issue is one and the same.
I feel sorry that Jeff feels pressured to take weight just because he's fast. As many journalists have previously pointed out, it's not about slowing down the fast guys, it's waiting for the slower ones to catch up!
If I personally knew the competition would be identical to the end of S6 where I competed in 2 races, it'd be easier to take ballast because you know where you stand, but I don't know how S7 will start out, how fast Jeff'll be, how fast Adam or Brian or Darren or anyone else will be. So I doubt I'll take anything for this race.
If I win the race by a minute, I know I need to add ballast, but that only really happens after the race. Everyone picks their own weight, but I'd advise Darren not to penalise himself too much, if at all. Dave's pointed out it will make the racing closer (I'm sure it will). Personally, I'd rather pick a car I don't like instead of ballast to handicap myself.
I think we should keep all ballast discussion in the S7 ballast thread. This should just be for the race.