Shock absorbers (also known as dampers) are designed to “dampen the oscillation of the spring after the wheel travels over bumps and dips.
There are many different explanations and examples of how to understand shocks, however shocks article at TurnFast! seems to explain everything quite clearly.
Without shock absorbers, the vehicle’s springs will continue to “oscillate” or repeatedly compress and uncompress, or “bounce.” This reduces the tire grip with the racing surface due to erratic shifts on the suspension and tire contact patch.
The stiffer the shock, the faster the weight transfer occurs. This will help the vehicle have very responsive steering, but the transfer can be too fast for the driver. This does not necessarily mean the faster the car will corner, but rather the faster that the weight will come to rest on that corner of the car as it is shifted either in corner entry or corner exit.
During cornering in particular, the driver must be able to induce smooth weight transfer and feel the tires reach their maximum grip. If the weight transfer occurs too fast, the driver will not feel the tires approach that peak grip, and will likely overshoot the traction capacity of the tires causing excessive sliding or spins.
The shock’s purpose is to control the oscillation of the spring’s response to bumps and dips. The stiffer the shock, the faster the dampening. The shock also controls the rate of weight transfer. The stiffer the shock is for compression (or “bump” as it is often called), the faster weight transfer occurs which determines how fast the tires will take their “set” in a corner, and the resulting steering responsiveness of the car.
It is possible to have too stiff a shock which will overpower the springs, and results in weight transfer being too fast for the driver’s experience and sensitivity to feel when maximum tire grip is achieved in a corner (generally resulting in a lot of spins).
Shocks need to be selected knowing the ratings of the springs.
Below is a general guide from Raceline Central that should assist you in fine tuning your shocks.
See you on the track!
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