Originally Posted by
Matt49
Because shocks can be used now to really control attitude more so than in the past, I really believe that the days of using shocks only to "fine tune" are far behind us. We all know somebody (or might BE somebody) that uses pretty much ONLY shocks and tire pressures to tweak their car through the night even with VERY different track conditions from hot laps to feature.
I also think that the old adage of "heavy spring gets the weight" and then only thinking about how the wedging or dewedging associated with that is going to affect handling are far behind us.
Two examples:
1) The old way of thinking told us that a heavier RF spring should help the car turn on entry due to dynamic wedge freeing the car on entry. A new way of thinking could tell us that a softer RF spring will help the car turn on entry due to increased rear steer because of the LR action that comes with pinning the RF. So just the opposite result.
2) The old way of thinking told us that a heavier LR spring should help tighten the car on exit due to dynamic edge. A new way of thinking tells us that the softer LR spring helps with LR hike-up and generates more LR thrust angle to tighten the car on exit. Again, just the opposite result.
Shocks are controlling all of this which just makes it all that much more complicated.
Whoever thought 15 years that adjusting rebound on the RR shock would change how the car handles on the gas. But today, we know that it makes a big difference.
My point is that shocks are no longer just fine tuning tools on these cars. Once you have a decent balance, you can do just about anything with shocks including tune yourself right out of a good setup.