Shock Oil wt

[justchris]

[Reuben]

what happened to the post Chris?

I was hoping someone would walk the plank before I decided to post but obv not.

Springs and Oils are for me at the moment very hard to explain what they do seperately.

its How they work together is what gives the way the car handles.

Soft oil with soft spring - car will roll more and generate more grip, go to soft and it starts acting like a boat.

Hard oil hard spring - car becomes very stiff, doesnt roll as quickly or as far. and the grip from the rubber wont be enough to resist the force applied to the tyre and the car will start to slide/skate on the surface

soft spring harder oil - car still rolls a fair bit, but the speed of the roll is reduced

hard spring - soft oil - car bounces arround a little, reacts very quickly to inputs, tends to pogo left and right.


its all about controlling the car about quickly it pitches arround its roll centre, compensating for bumps in the track and suiting grip levels.

However - there is a fair chance that I am completely wrong, but this is how I think it works :S!!

its one of these things that drivers should try also, as certain damping will suit certain drivers.

eg. on the schumacher, I cant drive it consistently and as quick if the oils are less than 45wt front and 40wt rear. However Jason prefers the oils to be softer than this and finds it hard to make the car quick on these heavier oils. This just suits our driving styles and something you fine tune to suit how you control the car on the track - no one is wrong with what they choose, as long as they can make it quick. Something I know Jas played with Sunday.

[lesbaldry]

Ps and just to open a small can of worms ;D......strangly stiffer springs can increase grip (makes the rubber work harder)...Eastbourns track is a classic example,a fine grain Tarmac and dusty,very very slippery!! at first impression you may think you need to run the car soft (low wt oil and springs and let the chassis roll) wrong!! quite the opposite,I found this out to my own cost (took me all day to suss it)"didn't we Matt!! ;D
A "wet " car is another strange example, stiff springs,hard'ish damping with a very very flexi chassis works well.Run the car heavy too, at least 1500 grms

Springs and damping is very much a personal choice,there is too many other factors to give correct explanation,it will vary too from car to car,type of tyre,and chassis flex......Spings and damping seemed to be the most "fiddled" with set up option at any major meet,especially Nationals as the grip is alway changing.

[justchris]

Thanks ever so much, Les.
I edited the post because the more I looked at it, the more it sounded stupid. As I say, thanks a lot for the information above - I will speak to you or one of the others about a couple of things you have written as soon as I can print it off when the ink arrives.

Chris

[lesbaldry]

Oct 12, 2010 18:20:01 GMT justchris said:

Thanks ever so much, Les.
I edited the post because the more I looked at it, the more it sounded stupid. As I say, thanks a lot for the information above - I will speak to you or one of the others about a couple of things you have written as soon as I can print it off when the ink arrives.

Chris

No prob Chris....there is a basic "rule of thumb" method with damping and springs as we discussed on Sunday,stick with this and you wont go far wrong!......Its normally the faster bunch who play with shocks and springing in fine detail to try and gain that extra 10th. to be honest the difference in handling between 45 and 40wt on the track is not worth worrying about at the moment as long as your shocks are working absolutely spot on!!

[yellowshark]

Don't forget the other basic principle that whilst the softer setting will give you more roll and therefore grip (something I have never understood cos performance real cars have stiff suspension) you will be disadvantaged in chicanes because the car will not react as quickly to direction changes. Eg I would suspect a harder setting might suit Yately but don't know

Also if you are lucky enough to have XRAY kit springs like what we has, you can adjust the weight of the oil with shock attached to the car in about 15 secs per shock; really useful during practice or if the track suddenly changes.