Chassis tuning with adjustable dampers

[Racecomp Engineering]

http://www.derdizmedia.com/publicati...jhfn&pageid=38

Excellent article that talks about how damper adjustments can (or should) be used to improve laptimes. There are some really helpful tidbits in here and some reminders about what shocks can and can't do on a car. It's not a laundry list of what to do and when, but gives some good general ideas on how to approach adjusting your dampers.

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Shocks do NOT affect how much weight is transferred.

They do NOT affect where weight is transferred.

They should NOT be used to control body roll or have a significant effect on mid-corner balance.

The do affect the rate of weight transfer, which means adjustments are extremely helpful on corner entry and corner exit.

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The amount of time the article says can be gained from fully dialing in your shocks may sound small, but the article makes a point of noting that the baseline set-up of a car should be set before trying to find time with shock adjustments. This includes the base valving of the shock...your shocks must at least be in the ballpark and not completely suck. Going from stock or crappy coilovers to dialed in quality dampers is a BIG difference not just in available grip, but driver confidence, consistency, and ultimately laptimes.

I see a lot of people go to their shocks as their PRIMARY handling tuning tool. They'll chase their tail trying to cure a major handling problem with their shocks, but can't tell you where their alignment is set or and haven't even looked at their tire pressures. Get the tires right, get the load transfer right, get the shocks baseline right, and then worry about playing with your knobs.

- Andrew