Quote:
Originally Posted by gerno
Is it possible to explain the difference in how JJ is setting up the shocks to perform vs what Ron had done? JJ obviously knows his stuff, I'd like to hear what a shock expert says a shock should be doing for you on a track throughout a corner. I believe Ron stated he used shocks to "tie the car down" in corners to set the car for proper roll center .. is this not correct?
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When a car has a "high travel" front suspension that has a lot of caster gain with compression, then the desire is to set and hold the compressed condition in order to get the benefits of both the improved dynamic camber when the wheels are turned (increased negative camber on the outside, increased positive camber on the inside tire) and to hold the roll center at the pre-established optimum dynamic value. In order to hold the compression, the shocks are valved to hold the nose down from braking just prior to turn-in to roughly the apex when you start to unwind the steering wheel and apply throttle. NASCAR used this early on with their soft spring/big bar set-ups, but when the minimum ride height rule was relaxed, they just went to setting the car at the compressed height (splitter almost on the ground) and let the shock bump stops hold the nose off the track. Cars with stiff spring rates, lots of body roll, limited front end travel, and/or that don't have geometry that adds a lot of caster with travel benefit less from shocks that pin the nose down.
Pappy