F1technical.net

With all the knowledgeable people on this message board I would like to ask for some help. My son is starting to race RC off road cars. I have little knowledge on the subject of suspension setup for off-road. I have read every book out there for on-road but never off road. Can someone point me in the right direction? I know some things will remain the same but I am trying to find out more about how compression and rebound effect overall performance. Also ride hight seems to be right out the window with these cares. Not sure how to keep him from bottoming out without killing the corner speed of the car. Any help would be appreciated.

I know cars are different to bikes, but similar in many ways (I have raced plenty of bikes in the dirt (both push and motorised) and the basic princaples (I would imagine) would transfer to 4 wheels.

Compression - as little as possible so the car isn't slowed by bumps
Rebound - as fast as possible so the wheels stay on the ground - limiting factor here is the tendency of the rear to be launched over jumps (to fast is not good here).

As for bottoming out run higher oil levels in the shocks, this will give a much greater ramp rate, without increasing the compression rate begining and mid-stroke.

Thank you so much. I at least now have a place to start. Not I just need to teach him how to use the brake