View Single Post
  #117  
Old 08-01-2014, 07:42 AM
Ron Sutton's Avatar
Ron Sutton Ron Sutton is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Folsom, CA
Posts: 2,422
Thanks: 45
Thanked 35 Times in 26 Posts
Default

Hey Ben & Lance,

One key reason Lance's car rolls more is we raised his ride height to achieve more front suspension travel. You can't make a car "high travel" if the suspension runs out of travel and something binds or hits.

All too often guys lower their production car a LOT for appearance sake and or perceived better handling ... without taking into account how much suspension travel they have left. I forget Lance's numbers, but shock travel was limited to somewhere in the 1.5" range ... IIRC ... and we raised the car to achieve over 2" of travel measured at the shock.

Lance's car still travels to the same spot it was before. We just start from a higher position. What this does is increase the dynamic rake of the car in "dive" and shifts more tire loading forces from the rear tires to the front tires.

Of course in purpose built suspensions ... especially in race cars ... we build the cars so they will sit as low as the rules allow & travel the front suspension until the front spoiler or splitter grazes the track. That is hard ... if not impossible ... in most production cars. So in the quandary of, "do I lower the car in the weeds or run it a little higher to make sure I have travel?" ... travel wins for handling purposes.

__________________
Ron Sutton Race Technology
Reply With Quote