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The shock absorb parts (Japanese: ショック吸収パーツ, Shokku Kyuushuu Parts) referring to parts that can absorbs some kinds of impact shocks.
Types of impact shock[]
There are multiple types of impact shocks to a Mini 4WD cars while running on a track.
The first, and perhaps the most common one, is having the car hitting the fences of the circuit during cornering. To put in simple terms, the faster the car when entering the curves, the harder the impact shocks will be. The sideway impact (depending on the roller setup) will cause the inner wheels of the lift up, increasing the risk of being coursed out on cornering. Even with the roller setup that prevents that from happening, the rollers, the screws, the spacers, the bumper, the rear stay and/or the reinforced plates has to withstand the impact shocks causes by hitting the fence, and weaker and/or softer structure(s) of any of those parts will cause them to breaks and/or bends.
The second one, most commonly seen on technical tracks, is having the car landing after a jump. As the car lands, the collision between the wheels and the track surface create the shocks to the Mini 4WD car, causing the car to bounces even after the landing. This is more apparent with cars with chassis reinforcement and/or having hard-compound tires equipped.
Countermeasures[]
The shock absorb parts are countermeasures to the impact shocks. Their main purpose is to absorbs the impact shocks and reduces the risk of being coursed out.
The Wide Sliding Damper sets, which are meant to be install on the bumper or the rear stay, typically has a movable plate with spring. As the car hit the fence, the sliding damper's main plates (made of plastic, aluminum or carbon fiber) will slides to one side to absorb any sideway impact. The spring in the sliding damper will slide the plate back to its default position as the load lessen.
There's also a series of mass damper sets, typically used to counteract the landing shock. The mass damper features a freely movable weight (Usually made of brass), hold into one place by a series of screws. As the car is in the air, the movable weight will floating, and as the car lands, those weight will quickly move down and pushing against the car, creating a negative force that keep push the car down to the road surface.
There's even the more obscure parts like the semi-pneumatic wheels and tires set, in which feature the tires in pneumatic design. The natures of this parts helps absorbs the landing shocks at the tires level.
Advanced modifications[]