

The tight restrictions on Formula 1 testing has seen at least one team resort to using a banned technology to accelerated development. Force India has been using a form of active suspension during its straight line aero tests. However there is not suggestion that the teams is breaking the rules, as they do not cover testing.



Active shocks were pioneered by Penske in the early 1990’s for use in Indycar, and have become very popular in NASCAR in recent years. They allow teams to go through a wide range of ride heights and setups without having to pit for changes. Such systems are common place on rigs and are often used in track tests. Only two firms are known to offer systems off the shelf, Penske and JRi. Both have F1 specification dampers available also. The article below details the development and operation of active shocks – similar to the system used by Force India



RacecarEngineering-June2011

