Racing in rallying means dealing with shit that any sane driver would avoid: jumps, stumps, rocks, ruts, all taken flat out. Over the years, rally suspension has grown to be about the best suspension in racing, and here’s a video explaining how it all works.

The people up in New Hampshire’s Team O’Neil Rally School put this brief explainer together. On a direct level, it explains what makes rally suspension so good, how it is built and why, along with explanations of why there’s a second thing hanging off to the side. (That’s all part of the wonder of bypass shocks.)

Rally genius Wyatt Knox also sent me along this accompanying diagram to talk about some of the set up decisions briefed in the video.

“This is a beginners guide,” Wyatt made sure to note, “and all cars are slightly different. I could see some dude with an MR2 or something squawking, but it’s solid for 90+ percent of cars.”

On a more conceptual level, this video explains why rally teams spend so much time tweaking their suspension set ups, and why they spend tens of thousands of dollars on their equipment. And it explains why you wish you had rally suspension in your life.

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