Can someone explain drag racing suspensions?

  • Thread starter Boz Mon
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Heres the deal: Some time ago, I bought IHRA Drag Racing 2 for my PS2. Its probably the most complicated drag racing game I have ever played. You cam pretty much build any engine or transmission combinationt that you want. But I have no idea of how a drag suspension should be set up. I can change any aspect of it at all 4 wheels indapendantly. Any help would be greatly appriciated.
 
I've set up a suspension for drag racing before, but it was on a little formula SAE car, which is like 460lbs and 80hp, not exactly a real dragster. We set it up for zero camber in the back, and that's about it.

I've never really thought about dragster suspension :) One thing you do want is to have the rear tires equally loaded, the torque from the motor going to the differential is going to transfer load from one of the rear tires to the other. So you might want to set up the suspension so that the tires are unequally loaded at rest, that way when you get on the gas they are closer to equal.

I'd imagine there is other weird stuff they do... car setups for really specialized cars, like dragsters or oval track racers, always seem a little bizarre to me :)
 
I don't know much about them, but this:
-Soft tire pressures on rear, hard on front. They must be equal from side to side.
-Soft rear suspension, hard front.
-Zero camber on both ends
-As wide a tire as possible on back, narrow on front.
-Soft bound/slightly harder rebound

Accounting for engine torque and frame twist must be done in real life, but I doubt it would be a factor in a video game.
 
Huge rear tires, and lift up the front by 4" so it sits even. Like this:

But that's a car.. Hmm.. Maybe make it soft so that all the torque gets on the ground instead of turning the car into a pretzel?
 
And the son of a former drag racer steps in, albeit it was a muscle car, but the principles remain the same.

A. Tire pressure is never solved by simply setting low, every car, suspension, and tire has an optimal setting, usually between 12-24 psi (most common is 15-20)
B. the rear shock/springs are specially designed, to provide very little resistance to compressing (going down), and an extremely high resistance to decompressing (going up). this way not only is your weight transfer maximized, by softness in compression, but momentum doesnt lose your precious weight transfer when you shift.
C. The front suspension is the exact opposite as the front, to a T. And for all the same reasons.
D. Your optimal ride height will depend, but you'll want to start at equal, or with the rear sitting .5 - 1 inch lower than front, and drop it from there.
E. Swaybar ridgity, assuming you have one, is something you'll need to play with. A small one is a good idea, as it will help ensure both rear tires get equal weight, and therefore equal traction. Just make sure it's not to big, or stiff, so you don't get axle hop, or just firm your suspension to much.
F. Camber on rear should definetly be zero. front could be set to to an angle, but with the skinny tiny tires used, you'll want to make sure you can still turn a little.
G. Chassis twisting will happen, you can't stop it, other than beefing it up, but I doubt that's in the game. If it is, the stiffer, the better.

Hope this helps, if you need clarification on any of it, let me know.
 
Accounting for engine torque and frame twist must be done in real life, but I doubt it would be a factor in a video game.

What I'm talking about isn't the frame twisting, its the rear tires being loaded unevenly due to the torque the engine is putting on the differential.

Normally I wouldn't expect a video game to simulate this, but if the game is allowing for assymetrical editing then it might. Especially if it's a drag racing specific game. Some other games, like grand prix legends, definitley do simulate this and allow for independent settings on all four wheels. (As opposed to like GT4, where you just setup front/rear suspension).
 
Thanks for the replys guys! I will give it a go tonight. But just in case, here are all of the suspension aspects that can be changed:

Front and rear roll bar can be adjusted to stiffer or softer
Steer ratio and steer lock
spring rates for all 4 tires independently
bump and slope (whatever that is)
shock travel
ride height
and there is this graph that shows bump:265lbs@25in/s
I have no idea what all of this means:nervous:
 
I cant get the car down the track for the life of me. It takes off, spins the tires like crazy, and then seems to float? This is the most retarded game ever.
 
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