Wait a second how c an a high damper # give you a smooth ride.. I tought the higer the number the harder the shock
For extension yes, but comrpression - no.
So if your dampers have extension 5 and 5 (front rear), the softer (more) compression would be 7 & 7, harder (less) would be 3 & 3.
So at Le Mans, all I have to do for my setups is raise the compression and maybe each roll bar by 1 click (softer compression makes it roll more, so roll bars adjusted to compensate for this) - and voila, silky smooth ride and car doesn't roll, it feels great.
Easy with a balanced setup...
ARB is the single most critical factor in how much a car might "bounce" off road inconsistencies. On tracks like Sarthe, I usually run 2/2 or 1/1 ARB, with medium-low shock and spring settings, and some extra ride height to compensate for the softness to keep from bottoming out.
No.
We race alot at Le Mans online, you can run high springs, dampers or roll bars, the bumps ar easily sorted with a well balanced setup that uses softer compression value on the dampers.
Ride is a smooth as silk and car doesn't roll at all, nor do tyres go 'red' in the indicator.
If your car feels better by lowering the roll bars it doesn't mean this is "right", it might be because the springs, dampers and roll bars were "out of sync" in the first place and lowering them put this "in sync", thus making car feel better..
Higher spring rate then use higher numbers on dampers.
Lower spring rates then use lower numbers on dampers.
If you have high spring rates and low damper numbers the suspension will be very firm. Good for maximizing grip on smoother tracks but you'll notice every bump around.
Soft springs and high dampers give you a ride like your grandma's cadillac, pillow soft and smooth over the roughest track surface. But, that's not good for maximum grip and handling.
Offline, maybe, I don't know, never drive offline, ONLINE - er..no, this is so wrong. I drive so many different cars each week, some of them will have high spring and low damper with no problems at all..
You can run high spring and low dampers in some situatoins easily, especially if everything is balanced out.
Spring and damper values are different for each car and situation you're tuning for. Some can be general, but others you have to treat with a bespoke setup for that situation i.e. car / track etc etc
A bumpy surface like Le Mans is different to say a bumpy track like Trial Mountain that not only has bumps but alot of elevation changes too.
You also always have to take into account what type of car you're driving, as FWD tuning is going to be different to MR. There's so many variables to take into account, start with drive train and then track (specific requirements) too.
But one rule that works for all cars in all situations, no way.
You can start with general balanced setup for alot of cars (of which there will be similarity and cross over between some of the variables from the same drivetrain), but you will need to tweak for specific situations and always remember, in most situaitons there's always going to be at least one car that breaks every rule - especially after 2.08.
