Torsion bars for better handling; your experience?
I'll be brief for now.
Shocks were and are super important. They were especially key for doing well in nationals in the stock classes. As they were considered 'replacement' items some would spend big big bucks, which didn't guarentee a good package, but the point is shock tuning was used to gain an edge.
Bottom line is shocks are really important for transitions and autocross is all transitions.
Lowering the car has many limits, one of which is ground clearance. It also can come into conflict with larger wheels and tires. Running the stickiest, widest tires allowed by the class is generally a very priority for serious competitors.
Eliminating body roll is not the goal, its limiting the roll. As long as the roll is reasonable the suspension angles will not get out of hand, in fact they may get better. For example, a Chrysler front suspension gains negative camber as the wheel comes up. Different drivers have different tolerances for how much a car rolls and how it may lift wheels off the ground.
As far as smooth pavement goes, that's all very relative. LOL. Our lots here are 'smooth' but have their shares of bumps.
Nationals this year was run in water deep enough that the big cars like the 'vettes were washing cones away with the wakes from their tires. Cones floated away by the wake were counted as 2 second penalty.
Fair enough.
I'll be brief for now.
Unless the vehicle was designed without shocks, pretty much yes in all of the classes. (Kart classes were added about 15 years ago, so yes you can run a kart)
Shocks were and are super important. They were especially key for doing well in nationals in the stock classes. As they were considered 'replacement' items some would spend big big bucks, which didn't guarentee a good package, but the point is shock tuning was used to gain an edge.
Bottom line is shocks are really important for transitions and autocross is all transitions.
To the extant allowed in the class, many do just that. Stock, now called Street, there's very little that can be done. Street Prepared, Street Mod, can be lowered as much as the stock system and suspension points allow. Prepared and Modified classes allow further alteration to suspension. If you want to examine 'muscle cars', look at C Prepared along with the new CAM-T class.
Lowering the car has many limits, one of which is ground clearance. It also can come into conflict with larger wheels and tires. Running the stickiest, widest tires allowed by the class is generally a very priority for serious competitors.
Eliminating body roll is not the goal, its limiting the roll. As long as the roll is reasonable the suspension angles will not get out of hand, in fact they may get better. For example, a Chrysler front suspension gains negative camber as the wheel comes up. Different drivers have different tolerances for how much a car rolls and how it may lift wheels off the ground.
As far as smooth pavement goes, that's all very relative. LOL. Our lots here are 'smooth' but have their shares of bumps.
Nationals this year was run in water deep enough that the big cars like the 'vettes were washing cones away with the wakes from their tires. Cones floated away by the wake were counted as 2 second penalty.