AST Holland has just sent the first run of AST 4150s to our shores.  Expected delivery is the week of April 15th, 2013.

The AST 4150s will replace the highly successful AST 4100 models.  The new AST 4150 is also a single adjustable, monotube, high performance coilover system.  The original 4100 was TUV tested and approved including a 24 hour test around the Nurburgring. The 4150 series dampers combine all the lessons learned from our experience with AST 4100s, Moton 2 Way Pro, and road racing in GRAND-AM.  The new package starts at $2,200, a price that beats similar competitors by approximately $400.

AST 4150s include these improvements:

• New digressive piston design proven over two years in GRAND-AM road racing offering an increase in the low speed rebound adjustment range allowing for racecar damping on full stiff and a compliant street friendly damping on full soft
• Modular design to make easy upgrades – can be upgraded to 2way, compression adjustable dampers
• New lower friction seals proven in endurance racing, but safe for the street
• New strut design with increased rigidity from external and internal improvements
• Aluminum rear dampers with fully threaded bodies, allowing easy upgrade to coilover shock orientation
• Improved click adjustment on dampers
• Switch to synthetic fluid proven in race environments

Our first production run includes sets for the following vehicles:

• A 504 001 – Honda S2000
• A 505 001 – BMW E36 chassis (all)
• A 505 002 – BMW E46 chassis (all)
• A 505 003 – BMW E90 chassis (all)
• A 517 002 – Ford Mustang (all S197)
• A 531 004 – Subaru GD STI (call for non STI applications)
• A 531 006 – Subaru GR STI (call for non STI applications)
• A 531 001 – Subaru BRZ and Scion FR-S

Check with dealers from our dealer page for details on availability.

Its that time of year again – AST Inventory Clearance Sale.  Last year, all items went FAST.  The best way to order is to call our sales department and purchase over the phone.

CALL – 972-424-3700

2012 Inventory Clearance Sale Items

Picture from Facebook.com/onelapcrx

AST Suspension – USA offers its 2012 Motorsports Contingency programs.  AST has deep roots in motorsports from the amateur level to the pro ranks.  The 2012 contingency programs reflect AST’s commitment to motorsports at every level.  Drivers will be able to earn awards, issued in the form of a certificate to be used toward the purchase of AST suspension products or rebuilding services.

Below is a list of the 2012 Contingency programs by sanctioning body.  Click on the link to view all rules and directions to submit a racer application.

Grand Am – Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge
Official Supplier and Contingency Sponsor – GS and ST
http://www.grand-am.com/
Program details

NASA Pro Racing – Regional Events
Contingency Sponsor – AI, AIX, CMC, GTSU, GTS1-5, HC1-5, PTA-F, ST1-2, and TT
http://nasaproracing.com/
Program details

SCCA Solo – National Tour
Contingency Sponsor – All Classes
http://www.scca.com/solo/
Program details

SCCA Solo National Championships, NASA Pro Racing National Championships and SCCA Club Racing Runoff programs will be made available Summer 2012

AST Suspension – USA President, Brian Hanchey said, “ we are excited to provide strong opportunities to subsidize motorsports for our loyal amateur and pro racing customers.”

The first round of the 2012 GRAND AM Continental Tire Challenge at Daytona was dominated by AST Suspension.  Teams running AST dampers continued their dominance by taking the top 13 finishing positions in the Grand Sport class (GS) and 7 out of the top 9 positions in the Street Tuner (ST) class.  The winners of the GS and ST class were both using AST Suspension.

AST Suspension once again dominated the GS class, taking the top 13 positions and sweeping the podium.  The No. 61 Roush Racing Mustang Boss 302R won followed by the No. 48 Fall-Line Motorsports team and the No. 46 Fall-Line Motorsports took the final the podium position.

AST Suspension occupied 2 of the 3 podium positions for the in the Street Tuner class.  The No. 31 i-MOTO Mazda Speed 3 took the checkered flag and the No. 81 Bimmerworld BMW 328i took 3^rd place.

Billy Johnson, driver of the No. 61 Roush Racing Mustang lead the final 18 laps of the GS race despite a string of BMW M3s working the draft in the final laps.  Pierre Kleinubing, driver of the No. 31 i-MOTO clinched his first win in the ST class by beating the No. 10 Kinetic Motorsports entry by 0.021 seconds!

Brian Hanchey, President of AST Suspension – USA said, “It’s good to be back at the track.  We had several top teams mention after the race that the shocks made the car ‘the best it has ever been at Daytona’.  I-MOTO’s  team manager, Tom Badger, told us he couldn’t be here (in winner’s circle) without us.  They have struggled to make the car work for the driver’s, but their last two wins definitely changed that.”

GRAND-AM Continental Tire Challenge teams utilizing AST dampers include: Turner Motorsport,
Roush Performance, Stevenson Motorsports, Fall-Line Motorsports, BimmerWorld Racing, Rum Bum Racing, DeMan Motorsport, CKS Autosport, Subaru Road Racing Team, Starworks Motorsport, Mitchum Motorsports, A.M. Performance, i-MOTO, Trade Manage Racing, BGB Motorsports, Doran Racing, Multimatic Motorsports, Dempsey Racing, Rebel Rock Racing, Automatic Racing, Autometrics Motorsports, CJ Wilson Racing, Rehagen Racing, Vehicle Technologies and Compass 360 Racing.

We are having an Inventory Clearance Sale from now until February 15th to sell all remaining AST 4100 and 4200 series dampers located here in the US and in Holland. This is to make way for the new AST 4150 and 4250 series dampers. The clearance price is $200 below the 2011 prices!

The remaining kits mostly include BMW E36, E46, E90; Honda S2000, and Subaru GD.  Some of these are in stock at AST – USA while others are being produced in Holland and will arrive in the next few weeks.

Get in on this deal before they are gone!

Call us or visit one of the AST dealers for more information!

AST Suspension – USA is proud to announce the new AST 4150 Series Damper. The new design builds on the success with the AST 4100 series damper and the recent wins in GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge, including new technology developed specifically for GRAND-AM racing teams.

DDP Technology Piston

Our latest digressive piston developed for GRAND-AM gives drivers and race engineers the best of both worlds. Drivers love the low speed damping response and body control, while race engineers love the “blow off” at high shaft velocities. When the rebound adjustment is soft, the damper curve looks similar to an OEM street shock profile. When the rebound adjustment is hard, the damper curve looks like a race shock!

This “Jekyll and Hyde” personality is exactly what AST 4000 Series customers want: soft street ride and race car track performance in ONE shock – all with the turn of a knob!

Lower Drag Seals

High performance seals are a challenge for any damper. They must balance friction and sealing ability while not impacting shock performance and not leaking; a difficult balancing act! While the seal was originally developed for GRAND-AM road racing, AST is taking our knowledge from the track to the street again. Newly redesigned seals decrease hysteresis in the damper and decrease seal drag over 50%.

Discontinuing Steel Shocks

In 2012, most AST 4150s will come with aluminum shock bodies. Strut bodies will continue to be built from steel, but all shocks will switch to aircraft grade aluminum. Economies of scale have allowed us to switch to aluminum without a large increase in cost of manufacture. For some models, this represents a 50% reduction in the weight of the damper (unsprung weight).

Structural Improvements

Several new designs proven in GRAND-AM racing will be added to various products on an “as needed” basis. All strut models will receive a new two piece top guide assembly that separates the dust seal assembly from the oil seal/bearing assembly. This two piece design is stronger in compression loading (bottoming out) and side loading (in the turn). Some models will receive weld-on stabilizer brackets which take the guesswork out of setting the stabilizer height and torque setting of the clamping ring.

Upgradeability

4150s will be upgradeable to 4250s! Using a modular build system, customers can send their shocks to AST at a later date and upgrade from a 1 Way shock to a 2 Way internal reservoir or remote reservoir system. Some models may only upgrade to remote reservoirs. An upgrade matrix will be published in early 2012.

Congrats to Emilio and his team.  He just posted this on our Facebook page!

“Team 949 Racing/SuperMiata wins the Thunderhill 25 hours. The T25 rookie team soldiered through contact, mechanical failures and strong opposition from last years E2 winner to win. We also placed 8th overall, beating the faster E1, E0 and ESR cars.We also took pole position in E2. Thanks to Brian Hanchey and all the crew at AST USA for helping us develop the Xida shocks based on the 5100 platform for our NA and NB Miatas. The systems we ran were standard of the shelf Xidas and performed flawlessly.”

8th overall in an E2 car?  Way to go guys!

This year’s SEMA show was as  electrifying as ever.  AST Suspension – USA had its hands in some of the awesomeness.

Ford Racing ST-R Focus GRAND AM race car

Ford Racing debuted the Focus ST-R, their latest turn key race car.  The looks like the road going (forthcoming) Ford Focus ST, but is all race car underneath with a roll cage, beefier brakes, a powerful 2.0L EcoBoost engine and a “tuned” suspension.  The “tuned” suspension are 2 way adjustable AST 5200 series dampers, one of the spec shocks for the GRAND AM Continental Tire Challenge series.  You can read the rest of Ford’s press release or “Road & Track” magazine’s coverage for the full details.

Capaldi Racing Ford Focus Street Tuner

Capaldi Racing is known around the road racing community as a top notch race shop the builds and campaigns race cars in several different US race series such as NASA, GRAND-AM and the SCCA.  At SEMA this year, Capaldi decided to do something a little different by building a Ford Focus street tuner.  AST 4100 series single adjustable dampers can be found on the car.  The specs of the car can be found on Capaldiracing.com.

LS3 Powered E30 M3

Lurking in the Heatshield Products booth was a 480 hp, fire-breathing Chevy LS3 powered V8 built by Kevin Byrd.   Kevin’s “E30 M(LS)3″ utilizes AST 3 way adjustable 5300 series dampers to make it stick on the street or track.  Check out Autoguide.com‘s coverage of the car.

Kia Rio 5-Door B-Spec race car

The B-Spec series is a low budget racing class featuring compact hatchbacks with little to no engine modifications.  The B-Spec series is currently supported by Kia, Mazda, Fiat and Honda.  This Kia Rio 5-door is set up with AST 3000 series dampers (non-adjustable).  Check out autoguide.com‘s coverage.

AST and Moton Suspension are proud to announce our Fall Rebuild Sale. From now through the end of the year get 30% off your rebuild! That’s a savings up to $300 on some models.

Details:

1. Review our rebuild procedure here: http://tinyurl.com/clc83zm
2. Email sales@ast-usa.com or sales@moton-usa.com for an RMA number.
3. Follow the instructions in #1 for shipping.
4. All shocks must be received by December 31, 2011 to be included in the sale.
5. GRAND-AM shocks can be rebuilt as part of the sale, but must follow standard pricing policy (vs. “at race” pricing).
6. 30% discount applies for direct rebuilds or through participating dealers.

Hill Climb events have been around for some time, but the Mount Washington Climb to the Clouds hill climb does it on dirt. Similar to the famed Pikes Peak Hill Climb, the Mount Washington hill climb starts at the base of a mountain and climbs until visibility is nil. An AST customer, HAR RACING took their 2008 Mitsubishi Evo into the clouds at this year’s event in June.

Rob and Zsanett are a husband and wife rally duo. Rob drives and Zsanett keeps him from stopping for directions from the passenger seat. Their team name is HAR RACING. HAR is an acronym for Hill Climb and Rally racing. They compete in their 2008 Mitsubishi Evolution X in the All wheel drive (AWD) Open class. This is THE big class with the fastest cars.

Rob and Zsanett rolled up to Mt. Washington in New Hampshire with a grand total of 1 autocross on the car. They would have liked to had more time to shake down the car at a track day or rallycross to test the new engine, pedalbox, brake pads, AST dampers and spring setup, but at least they were at the event with a complete, mechanically sound car.

Day 1 – Friday Practice
On Friday, each of the 75 invitation only teams were able to test their cars on the lower portion of the mountain. HAR RACING finished in 30th place for the day. Rob was happy because the car seemed to run well and handled as expected. It was a confidence building day. In racing, confidence is a MUST before you can start pushing a car on a track…or the side of a winding mountain dirt road.

Day 2 – Saturday Practice
Saturday is usually the day competitors are allowed to practice on the top half of the mountain, but torrential rain kept the course closed. Each time had to count on their 15 mph reconnaissance drive on the course earlier in the week. The teams were allowed to run the lower part of the mountain for a second day. Even in the rain, the added seat time was of great value to Rob and Zsanett. They were able to better their time and move up in the practice results to 2nd in class and 3rd overall!

Day 3 – Sunday Race Day
Sitting at the start line, waiting to start, Rob said he felt really good about how the car was set up and the new confidence and speed they found on Saturday.  The crew also helped by tweaking the suspension setup slightly in preparation for the dry conditions.  REV, REV, REV BOOM!  The EVO launches and tears up the mountain.  Check the video below, you’ll see some nice right 6s, left 5s, right 4s into tight 3s (rally speak for how fast and/or tight the next turn is – also note the 7.21 mark – FOG!). Things were going great on the bottom of the mountain, but as the Evo climbed in elevation, they reached the clouds.  At one point, the fog was so thick, the course notes were rendered useless and they had to drop down to 2nd and 3rd gear speeds and drive by sight.  They finished their first run in 1st place in the AWD Rally-1 class!

Their second run lengthened their lead when they cut approximately 25 seconds off their time to clinch the AWD Rally-1 class WIN!

AST Suspension Setup
The HAR RACING team sported some AST 5300 rally spec dampers.  These coilovers are similar to the road race offering, but offer a more robust construction to handle the abuse of rally.

More information on HAR RACING