There are a number of high-tech operations that go on in the suspension system of a drag racing vehicle that occur during the course of a run without those watching trackside ever being aware of what’s at-play between the fenders. One of the less noticeable attributes of modern shocks and suspension setups is the use of air-assists and air dumps to drive the backhalf of the car into the racing surface and get the spoiler out of the wind.
JRi Shocks has equipped their air-assisted, double adjustable drag racing shock with a smooth body and other elements to allow for air dump operation, providing racers with an added degree of tunability further down the racetrack.
“It all works off of air and a timer, so once you get out about 100 feet or so, you can start dumping the air to lower the ride height down, up to two inches. The benefit of that is that once you get out in that spot where you really want to start throwing more power to it and accelerate the car, you can lower the car and put more angle into the four-link to give the tire more bite. The other advantage, particularly on the 1/4-mile, is that when you tuck the spoiler down out of the air, it will get you more speed out the back.”
The shock is operated via CO2 and a solenoid and controlled with a timer that’s built and sold by Jerry Bickel Race Cars and can be programmed by the tuner to come into play at a specific point in the run. The shock requires around 300 pounds of air pressure to hold it for the launch, and once the air is release, drops the position of the shock in the travel. With the addition of extra spacers, one can control how much the shock will drop, which Smith says for many racers will end up more in the 1/2- to 1-inch range, citing that a full 2-inches would provide more bite than many slick tire cars would need.
Converting the shock to an air-assist version requires the use of a 10-inch spring, as confirmed by Smith.
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