Shocking Rumination About Race Dampers

Reading the recent threads about various ways to tie down vehicles to trailers for transport got me to thinking about some other trailering stuff.   I spent many years crewing on some pro teams and then about 7 years as Chief Steward for a pro series.

One evening at a watering hole near a race track I got in a conversation with a fellow who's only business is building race dampers.    He made the comment that my race shocks got more mileage and maybe even harder use going down the road in the trailer that they got on the track.    For instance my home track is Road Atlanta, a 700 mile round trip in the trailer; yet at an average SCCA double Major weekend I may only turn ~200 miles on the track.

I started noticing some race teams dial back all the shock settings on their car before loading, and

disconnect or soften the ARBs.    

He even mentioned a team that  inflated an airbag under the car after it was tied down in the trailer to help "quiet" the suspension.

Maybe there i something to it.   Just Saying.

Please Note:   I didn't ... and many times was just happy to get help pushing into the trailer and getting on the road.      That said I also didn't win any national championships.

If I recall correctly, I've seen blocking place under the chassis before tightening the tie down to keep the suspension from bouncing during transport. 

It makes sense that the trailering with suspension free to move could be harder on the shocked than the track. On the trailer you can have the vehicle moving down while the trailering moves up (and the opposite), creating higher acceleration rates than just the vehicle moving against a stationary surface (the track).

Also, public roads tend to be rougher than the track, and my trailer didn't have dampers.  He said the big semi trailers may ride smoother than us folks in small lighter trailers.

I tried to use that argument with Mrs. Frog to buy a semi for the team.. didn't work.

The deal doesn't apply to big League teams like IMSA, CrashCar, etc.   because they rebuild/dyno their dampers every event.