NASCAR State of Shocks – Why They Must Be Adjusted for Each Racing Track

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NASCAR State of Shocks – Why They Must Be Adjusted for Each Racing Track

Thursday, April 10th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed

It’s easy enough to understand that different cars and trucks have different requirements when it comes to having an efficient and effective shocks system, but it comes as a surprise to many when they find out that NASCAR drivers change their shocks according to many more factors than simply the kind of car or truck that they are driving. When it comes to NASCAR, speed is the name of the game, and in order to truly speed, you have to have a smooth ride.

Okay, so get good shocks, but that is hardly the solution. There are plenty of ‘good’ options for shocks; the catch is that some of them work better at certain temperatures than others. What’s good in February might not be what’s best in October. This is only one of the many factors that affect the shocks in NASCAR and in all cars. The other very important factor is in choosing the right shocks for the particular track that you are going to drive. While two sets of shocks might perform similarly at the same temperature, one might be better suited for a short track with tight curves whereas the other set might be a better choice for a more varied course with both left and right turns.

Shocks have much more importance than the average consumer or even the average NASCAR fan might think that they do. Of course, it’s nice to have a smooth ride, but when you’re talking about speed, about honest to goodness speed racing where every fraction of every second counts, bouncing up and down seriously affects the lap time and the efficiency of the car. Every motion in an up and down manner is motion that should more effectively be applied in the forward-moving motion. Bouncing up and down has serious effects on the aerodynamics of any car, but again, when you’re talking about racecars, the effect of bad shocks is disastrous.

It’s clear that shocks that are in poor condition or of poor quality are not a good idea for a NASCAR race, but how do you find out if one set of shocks is better for one set of conditions and another is better for another type of condition? The answer is that NASCAR is a team sport although at the surface it may not look that way. The drivers get a lot of publicity; the public sees them splashed across bulletin boards and commercials. The average American knows the names of at least one or two NASCAR drivers; however, only the most hard-core of fans will know the names of the team members that make up the crucial support system on which the drivers rely.

Each NASCAR team has a vast group of technicians who work on various aspects of the car and the race on race days. Some of the team members focus on fueling and others on tires. Some of the team members are scanning the track with their eyes and their ears looking out for helpful hints that they can pass on to their driver that could shave tenths of a second off their time or let them know of potential dangers or problems. Some of the technicians are focused on the shocks and the performance of the car in light of how the shocks are performing on that track, at that temperature, and with given weather conditions.

With over a hundred types of shocks available to NASCAR teams, making the choice between this or that set of shocks is no easy matter. It takes a tried and true specialist with years of experience to make a recommendation that is really and truly going to work.

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