Race Engineering: Racing car ride frequency ranges
Typical racing car ride frequency ranges are in the table below.
| Ride Rate | Vehicle Type |
| 0.5 - 1.5 Hz | Passenger car |
| 1.5 - 2.0 Hz | Low and moderate downforce race cars |
| 3.0 - 5.0+ Hz | High downforce race cars |
Front / Rear considerations:
The key debate is flat ride vs pitch — should the car stay flat through bumps (flat ride) or is some pitching acceptable for performance?
Road car goal “flat car” —> minimise front to rear pitching —> Front / Rear ride frequency ranges are different —> 10-20% higher at rear.
Race car goal “performance” —> higher damping ratios —> less differences front / rear in racing car ride frequency ranges.
However this is more too this. See:
Racecar Spring tuning guide [link]
[Tuning for Traction self-paced workshop (with spreadsheet) [link
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