b'TECH TIP PAGETech Tip 52: The old school belief the driver needs to always be on the gas or brake, andnever coast, is no longer true. It used to be true, but modern shock technology changed that.Visualize this, its corner entry on a fast course. The driver brakes hard & the front end dives acertain amountthen, while still braking, the driver initiates steering into the corner. Ideallythis racer has dialed in their camber, caster, toe & Ackerman settings to create optimum fronttire contact patches while in dive, roll & turning. If they are advanced, theyve worked outtheir roll center to load the tires optimally too. Plus, the front CG is lower (by the amount ofdive), less air is flowing under the car & more air is flowing over the hood creating downforce. But when the driver steps off the brakes, deep into the corner, the stored energy from thecompressed front springs pushes the front end up in milliseconds. You instantly have lesscontact patch on both tires, the roll center is no longer optimum, the front CG is higher & more air is flowing under the car again. The car instantly goes into a push condition (understeer). For this reason, old school racers learned to keep brake pressure on, all the way to the pointwhere they needed to get back on the throttle. Thats where the phrase you need to always be on the gas or brake, and never coast came from. BUTthis longer braking zone is scrubbingoff lots of speed, killing lap time. Modern shock technology has cured this. Winning Pro Racers learned they could modify theshock bleed circuit to keep the front end tied down for a short, controlled time. The rest of the time, the shocks work normal. This tie-down allows the driver to get off the brakes and the front end stays down where thetire contact patches are optimum, the roll center is optimum, the front CG is lower & the airflow is still going over the car, not under it. This allows the driver to get completely off thebrakes earlier, creating a roll thru zone, before throttle pick up without pushing (understeer)!Back in the day this roll thru zone did not exist unless you were going so slow it didntmatter, which the fast racers called coasting. Now, with the front end tied down for a short period of time, before the throttle pick up point, the driver can carry greater mid-corner speed. The longer the tie-down time, the more speed we can carry through the corner. Ron Sutton hasliterally seen 3-5 mph mid-corner speed increases from racers switching to the new tie down shock technology. But, factors like how long the corner is & how rough the track surface is,play a role in how long we can tie the front end down.If we get greedy & dial in too much front tie down valving rate, the front tires will literally skip over the asphalt undulations in the corner, creating a push (understeer) towards the outsideof the corner. Your goal at each track is to find the limit of tie down you can run, withoutcreating a push condition. Ron Suttons Front Tie-Down Guide: o400-600# (0.50 - 0.90 sec) Works Best for Rough Courseso600-800# (0.90 - 1.30 sec) Works Best for Average Courses o800-1000# (1.30 - 1.70 Sec) Works Best for Smooth Courses o1000-1200# (1.702.10 Sec) Works Best for Super Smooth Courses488'