The Science of Setup: Part 8 – Shocks (aka Dampers) Part 1

This is an ongoing series of articles written by its creator Bob Wright. You can download a free trial version of the software, and learn how to get the most out of your car when you take it to the track.

The Science of Setup: Part 8 – Shocks (aka Dampers) Part 1

Shocks aka Dampers. This may be one of the most difficult aspects of car setup to comprehend and also to simulate. Before we go too far we need to look at the type of shock we will be discussing in this series of videos, the basic principal of operation, how to quantify damping and how the shock model was validated against test data.

Shocks are critical to having a vehicle that can handle the different conditions you can through at it. Cornering, bumps and jumps to name a few. They must perform over a wide range of strokes and speeds while keeping the chassis under control. Springs and Anti-Roll Bars provide the muscle and shocks provide the brains. Gain a good understanding of how the work and you will be able to squeeze out a little more performance than the other guys.

So let’s get started.

If you wish to follow along with the demos you can download RC3 here.

The program will install in Trial Mode which means a few file management functions are disabled but otherwise it’s fully functional. All the on road and off road models that will be used in the demos are also pre-installed to make life easier.

Click Here to view Part 1 - Set-up Physics and Terminology

Click Here to view Part 2 - Suspension Properties 

Click Here to view Part 3 - Weight Transfer 

Clich Here to view Part 4 - Overall suspension stiffness.

Click Here to view Part 5 - Camber and Camber Gain

Click Here to view Part 6 - Roll centre and Camber Gain Relationship
Click Here to view Part 7 - Steering Geometry (Ackermann)