The main focus of racers is the actual race itself — everything leading up to the trip to the staging lanes can get overlooked pretty easily, and that includes how you strap your car down to the trailer.
Why should you be worried about how you secure your vehicle on a trailer? Because, if the vehicle isn’t strapped down correctly it will cause your shocks to work harder than they should and that will lead to performance issues.
Towing a race car seems like a fairly straightforward task and wouldn’t be that harmful, but that’s a bad assumption to make. The vehicle’s suspension is constantly working as the trailer moves going down the road — this means that any bumps or sudden movements are transmitted directly to your racecar’s shocks. This is why you’ll see some racers go as far as swapping shocks out on their vehicle before they load it up to save wear and tear on the expensive hardware.
QA1 makes a variety of shocks that drag racers at all levels use. Since the company is in the business of building shocks, it understands just how stressful trailer travel can be, and it has the following information on its website about how to strap your racecar down the right way.
“To help eliminate premature shock and suspension wear, always tie your vehicle down in a manner that minimizes vehicle bouncing. Most of us generally wrap our tie-down straps around the axle housing and front suspension, but this isn’t strapping the suspension down. One way to help prevent the shocks from doing any unnecessary work is to always strap the body or chassis directly to the trailer. This causes the body to move with the trailer, rather than independently, and will help lessen the stress that falls to your racecar’s suspension.”
Make sure you check out the QA1 tech center right here to learn more about shock tech and how to get the most out of your suspension at the track.