b'TECH TIP PAGETech Tip 27B: As mentioned earlier, shock technologies advance very rapidly. And for goodreason. Shocks play such a crucial role to race car handling, tuning, grip & lap times. There is a story in this catalog where Ron worked with a top GT race team, who were previouslychampions, but a little behind in their shock program. Rons newer tech shocks made their GTcar 3.5 seconds faster at Button Willow Raceway in California. They went on to win WERC,USTTC & Trans Am championships with that car on Rons shocks.Autocross has been called road racing in a closet. Everything is shorter straights, corners,chicanes, hairpins, etc. There is less time for the car to react. So, the fastest responding shockhas an advantage & running slow reacting shocks is simply dumb. The 3200 series (smallbody) single adjustable monotube shocks, from Advanced Racing Suspension (ARS)reactin 5.3 milliseconds (ms). These shocks were designed by Ex-Indy Car racer Corey Fillip, whose shocks are winning in open wheeled & full body race cars all over. The ARS 3200 series (small body) double adjustable monotube shocks with external canisterrespond in 4.5 ms. For comparison, the quickest reacting shocks from Fox, JRI & Penske (alsowith canister) respond in 5.0 ms. Fox, JRI & Penske non-canister shocks respond in 5.5 ms.So why dont we run these ARS 3200 series (small body) shocks in everything?The smallbody & small piston help achieve the quick response. But the shock body, even with canister,doesnt carry enough oil volume for long usage, like road courses. Like everything in life, racing is about pros & cons, as well as finding the best balance for your usage & goals. Currently, Penske shocks are the leading technology in road racing. The 5.0 ms response timecombined with digressive/decoupled pistons make these Penskes the highest grip shocks in road racing. Their 8300 double adjustable & 8760 triple adjustable shocks are winning ineverything from IMSA to Indy Car. Ron worked directly with Penske Engineers to develop ourSecret Sauce valving that utilizes tie-down technology in the bleed circuit to create the highestgrip valving possible for road race cars with a ride height above 2. Tech Tip 32: Under hard braking on corner entry, there is a huge amount of force pushing upon the front tires & therefore the chassis. The front frame literally bows upward. This chassis flex is lost energy & reduces the loadand gripon the front tires. Adding strength tothe front frame clipin the correct path of the forcesreduces this flex significantly & addssubstantial front grip to your race car. Adding an engine bay bar structure to reduce the amount the front frame bows up, reduces this lost grip. Unfortunately, that force is all directed at the spring or coil-over mounts, twistingthem inward. Again, this flex is lost energy & lost front grip.The second part of the solution is to strengthen the bay bars on both sides so they cant twist inward. That is what a bay bar brace does. It prevents each side of the frame & cage bars fromtwisting inward, towards each other. This two part solution restores almost all the lost grip,allowing you to drive in deeper, with more grip, speed, stability & predictability.375'