Hi guys, At the MNRL on Champion Motorsports, we've been running a Brazilian Stock Car series and since the beginning, I have been struggling with how this cars react to setup change. Lately, to understand the mathematics behind suspension physics, I've switched how Automobilista displays the shock absorbers adjustments. In the Player's file, .PLR, the field "Damper Units", permits the display either as "Settings" (e.g. 1-20) or as "Rate" (e.g. 1000-9000 N/m/s). It's line number 400, it's 60 lines from the bottom, there's a succession of QUICK Race Laps MULTI Race Laps QUICK Race Time MULTI Race Time It's 2 lines up from that series, the exact line is: Damper Units="1" // Display dampers (shocks) in garage as: 0 = setting (e.g. 1-20), 1 = rate (e.g. 1000-9000 N/m/s) You will not see what I'm talking about if your adjustments are 1,2,3,4,5, etc. When the Rate display is switched on, the shock adjustments are shown as N/m/s or as lbs/in/s. Which, from an .SVM file, equals: SlowBumpSetting = 7 // 34.3 lbs/in/s SlowReboundSetting = 7 // 42.8 lbs/in/s FastBumpSetting = 7 // 14.3 lbs/in/s FastReboundSetting = 7 // 20.0 lbs/in/s The funny thing is this: If you augment the Slow Bump rate, the Fast Bump rate will diminish. Same for the Rebounds, augmenting the Slow rate lowers the Fast rate: SlowBumpSetting=13//44.0 lbs/in/s SlowReboundSetting=13//55.1 lbs/in/s FastBumpSetting=13//11.8 lbs/in/s FastReboundSetting=13//17.5 lbs/in/s or SlowBumpSetting = 7 // 6000 N/m/s SlowReboundSetting = 7 // 7500 N/m/s FastBumpSetting = 7 // 2500 N/m/s FastReboundSetting = 7 // 3500 N/m/s and SlowBumpSetting = 13 // 7714 N/m/s SlowReboundSetting = 13 // 9643 N/m/s FastBumpSetting = 13 // 2071 N/m/s FastReboundSetting = 13 // 3071 N/m/s So I looked all over for a Brazilian StockCar mod for rFactor and found a 2014 from GSC. The damper specs seem to match the present 2017 AMS Series: SlowBumpRange=(4000, 285.714285714286, 15) SlowReboundRange=(5000, 357.142857142857, 15) FastBumpRange=(3000, -71.4285714285714, 15) FastReboundRange=(4000, -71.4285714285714, 15) 1st value is the base setting. 2nd is each step. The third value is how many steps. The step of the fast range are negative? Does not compute! I never saw that before. I checked all of my installed mods that have a readily available .HDV file. I made a search, in AMS; 30 HDVs, in rFactor 1; 405 HDVs. The only other mod to have negative Fast Bumps and Rebounds is the PaceCar Mini_SC. All other have positive values. Is that for real? In real life, in South America, do they have their Shock rates upside down? I would be surprised. I suggest that the values should be switched to positive ones. Thank You
Pardon the late answer, but perhaps it is useful: Without the exact knowledge of the used shocks and their regulation, there is no definite answer, but the negative value is plausible. The function of a shock is to slow movement between two states. Typically the medium is an oil flowing from one chamber to another as a simple example, while the friction dissipates some of that energy into heat. These two chambers are connected through an orifice which we can reduce. The oil moves slower than before. This corresponds to the increased Slow Bump and Slow Rebound setting. But when we hit a sizeable pothole, we want to displace much more oil in a given timeframe than for turns and acceleration, to avoid traction loss and dissipate more energy as well. Therefore we need a second oil circuit inside the shock which is loaded like a spring and only opens these secondary orifices when we hit something like a pothole. This is the Fast Bump and Fast Rebound setting. Now when we adjust one value, we don't want to change the other, however, if the shock is of a more simplistic design, which could very well be for cost saving reasons, both of these circuits are linked to each other. And each adjustment of one, will change the other, because for example it might be impossible to adjust the spring tension of the Fast Bump/Rebound circuit. As a result, the reduced Slow Bump orifice, will cause more oil to press against the Fast spring, causing it to open sooner than before. In most racing classes, especially the more high-end or free ones, you won't see this situation, but in cost saving reality, absolutely.
