AST USA Blog » Track Notes http://ast-usa.com/blog Your source for premium suspension parts and shock absorbers Tue, 08 May 2012 12:21:42 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 Rally Evo Climbs to the Clouds http://ast-usa.com/blog/2011/10/20/rally-evo-climbs-to-the-clouds/ http://ast-usa.com/blog/2011/10/20/rally-evo-climbs-to-the-clouds/#comments Thu, 20 Oct 2011 16:20:20 +0000 dphillips http://ast-usa.com/blog/?p=461 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

]]> http://ast-usa.com/blog/2011/10/20/rally-evo-climbs-to-the-clouds/feed/ 0 AST Suspension Hosts Track Day at Eagle’s Canyon Raceway http://ast-usa.com/blog/2009/11/13/ast-suspension-hosts-track-day-at-eagles-canyon-raceway/ http://ast-usa.com/blog/2009/11/13/ast-suspension-hosts-track-day-at-eagles-canyon-raceway/#comments Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:59:40 +0000 admin-ast http://ast-usa.com/blog/?p=45 Piet and Ronnie Kreeft from AST Holland will be in town later this month so we decided to host a track day. This gives AST Holland a chance to ride in cars with AST suspension here in the States. While we’re there we’ll be revalving shocks for customer cars if required. If you can’t drive, stop by the track to meet the guys. It should be a great day!

* Monday, November 30th.
* Track opens for lapping at 9:00AM. We’ll be there by 8:00AM to setup.
* Bring tools! If we end up revalving your shocks, you’ll have to remove them with tools required for your vehicle.
* Cost: $175
* Bring your own drinks. ECR will not have any food or beverages. I’ll bring coffee and donuts. Decatur is 20 minutes away if you want food for lunch.
* We’ll run till we drop. Probably 4-5:00 PM.
* There are no run groups! All day is your run group. Think about it, if all the cars were on track together, they’d be 1/8 mile apart.
* You must have on-track experience. There will not be any instructors.
* Bring plenty of brakes. ECR is brake intensive.

This event is open to any with or without AST shocks. Think of it as a chance to drive (your own) and ride in cars with AST shocks. Should be a great time.

Contact AST at sales@ast-usa.com to reserve your spot!

]]> http://ast-usa.com/blog/2009/11/13/ast-suspension-hosts-track-day-at-eagles-canyon-raceway/feed/ 0 AST USA Adds Track Notes Section to Website http://ast-usa.com/blog/2009/10/06/ast-usa-adds-track-notes-section-to-website/ http://ast-usa.com/blog/2009/10/06/ast-usa-adds-track-notes-section-to-website/#comments Tue, 06 Oct 2009 13:46:00 +0000 admin-ast http://ast-usa.com/blog/?p=35 In order to better share our testing, we will be publishing our track notes on the website for dealers and customers to see. This will provide a way to distribute our results as we test new products and setups on our coilover kits.

Check out our first addition here!

]]> http://ast-usa.com/blog/2009/10/06/ast-usa-adds-track-notes-section-to-website/feed/ 0 Vorshlag “Alpha” car gets ready for SCCA Solo 2 Nationals http://ast-usa.com/blog/2008/09/02/vorshlag-alpha-car-gets-ready-for-scca-solo-2-nationals/ http://ast-usa.com/blog/2008/09/02/vorshlag-alpha-car-gets-ready-for-scca-solo-2-nationals/#comments Tue, 02 Sep 2008 02:55:00 +0000 admin-ast http://ast-usa.com/blog/?p=13
Vorshlag completed the final testing for the SCCA Solo2 Nationals this weekend. All systems are “go” including the AST 4300s keeping the suspension stuck to the ground. Good luck Vorshlag!

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