reducing unsprung weight:

[IDreamOfChapman]

Hi - so, I was watching this very fun Chris Harris video review of the new Supersport Caterham.

 

http://drive.jalopnik.com/these-two-british-sports-cars-are-a-ton-of-fun-literal-510332792

 

I noticed that the shocks are inverted, with the valve body and spring perches on the upper end. Which would reduce the unsprung weight of the car. At least I am going to assume that is why Caterham has done this.

 

So, this made me wonder: any reason why I could not just flip over my shocks? Anyone done this?

 

Either way, I recommend watching this. It will make you go drive your car some more, as if you needed a reason to do that...

[Kitcat]

I think the issue is whether your shocks are gas filled, like Bilsteins, wh/dont care if they are upside down, or oil based hydraulics, like Koni, wh/do care a lot.

[dallasdude]

I believe the lower spring collar is from the top of a rear shock for clearance.

 

Not a huge savings in unsprung weight, but I think this is standard procedure on Academy cars.

[JohnK]

Koni shocks can run inverted if they "mono-tube" types but not if they're "twin-tube". Koni makes quite a number of different models. When I spec'd mine with Koni Racing the decision of which type to run came down to the type of car it was to be run on, fitment issues (min and max lengths and available space, controlling suspension movement, motion ratios,...), and how the car was to be used. Wheel and chassis control in a high performance road race car running racing rubber means having very precise valving control of dampening over very tiny movement distances. Doing that is technically and mechanically hard (and expensive!). Happily for me, I paid attention to what I was being told and got a set of very good shocks that suite a road-going seven with track use in its future - I.e. considerable suspension movement was to be the norm. Without the advice I could easily have spent twice what paid. If you're running race-only on velvet smooth tracks, you can well justify spending LOTS of money on a set of shocks - and reduce your unsprung weight by running your gas-filled types Inverted (-: .