Why are dampers important in drifting?

In drifting, often only two numbers make the headlines – the points the judges award and horsepower. The latter has a famous quote attached to it – power is nothing without control. This is where dampers come in, acting as the mediator between ultra-grippy soft tyres and the chassis, whose movement on the track is judged. Dampers play a huge role here, because modern drift cars rarely have less than 1,000 HP, and combined with massive grip this leads to insane speeds and performance. To control a car on different tracks and surfaces at the highest level, you need trust that the car will behave as it should. This has also been acknowledged by one of the best in the world – James Deane:

Dampers are extremely important in drifting, especially in modern-day competition, where the majority of drivers and teams are using very similar soft tyre compounds. With such a wide range of track layouts and surface conditions, it’s critical to extract every bit of performance from the car. This is where quality dampers and the fine-tuning of their settings make a huge difference.

Performance is one thing, but to perform you need to know that the car will withstand the forces and movements, especially on tracks that are bumpy and have changing elevation. Teemu Asunmaa, coming from the rally world, understands very well that in those tricky track conditions it is essential for the car to stay on the track despite the speed and angles:

Shock absorbers are important for safety reasons alone. In drifting, car speeds have increased significantly and especially on motor tracks they are really fast. The first corner of Mondelo Park in Ireland is very fast and goes over the top. That's where the shock absorber needs to perform. And if we think about the next Drift Masters competition in Finland, there's a place where the car is completely in the air. These alone tell us why the shock absorber needs to be top-spec and, as the performance of cars increases, it is clear that "cheap" tuning shock absorbers are a factor that hinders development.

Damper tuning is basically a never-ending process because conditions are changing every second, starting from the car itself and ending with different grip levels on the track on each pass. We are more than happy to gain and share experience with top-level drivers:

It was an absolute pleasure to work with Samsonas Motorsport dampers this year. Working closely with the engineers at Samsonas has been an unbelievable experience. We’ve learned so much both on and off the track, and made some serious gains with the Ford Mustang RTR in Drift Masters, achieving multiple podiums and finishing fourth overall in the championship. - James Deane

If you want to succeed and develop both the car and the driver, then the dampers must also be top class. Our team has been very happy with the Samsonas dampers. We have developed them together and found a lot of good improvements. They are easy to adjust and the effect of the adjustments is easy to feel – very functional in all conditions. - Teemu Asunmaa