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.

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

AST Suspension – USA closes the book on their first season as a damper supplier for the GRAND AM Continental Tire Challenge Series.  The first season was a huge success, here are the season results, by the numbers.

By the Numbers

27 – of 30 Podium spots won by teams using AST Suspension in the Grand Sport (GS) class

9 – out of 10 races were won by cars on AST Suspension in the Grand Sport class

15 – the number of drivers finishing in the top 20 in the final championship results for the Grand Sport class.

10 – the number of teams running AST Suspension  in the top 15  in the final championship results for the Grand Sport class

96 – the car number of the championship winning Turner Motorsport BMW M3

2 - the final championship finishing position of the Compass360 team  in the Street Tuner class

Overall, the first season of support to the GRAND AM teams has been a great success.  The data and testing alone from working with 16 professional race teams has been extremely valuable.  This real world race knowledge helps AST Suspension continue to lead with innovation for street, track and race applications.

To learn more about AST Suspension’s involvement in the 2011 GRAND AM Continental Tire Challenge Series, watch our video produced by GRAND AM.

Once a year, the best autocrossers in North America descend upon the Midwest to compete for the honor to be called a National Champion.  AST Suspension – USA has been supporting many of these champions and this year was another successful year.

In most cases, AST dampers won’t fit with stock location springs.  Instead, AST dampers must be paired with either 2.5″, 2.25″ or 60mm  race style springs (ie-Swift, Eibach ERS, Hyperco, etc.).  This means that you won’t find AST Suspension on many stock class cars.  Off the shelf Koni and Bilstein shocks are mainly run in these classes.  This leaves the street prepared, prepared, modified, street touring and street modified classes for competitors to run AST dampers.

So, who finished at or around the top? (if we missed you, email Brian and we’ll get you listed)

Christy Carlson – 1st in STUL

Mark Madarash – 1st in ESP

Ron Bauer – 2nd in DP

Matthew Braun – 1st in SS

Wayne Atkins – 5th in ST, 0.7s back out of first on AST 4100s

Max Hayter – 5th in STR (highest placing MX-5, 0.16s out of first!)

Todd Farris – 1st in CP

Jeff Stroh – 2nd in CP

Mike Simanyi – 2nd in SM (0.093s out of 1st!)

Chris Robbins – 4th in CSP

For those of you that have been to the Solo Nationals, it is a huge accomplishment to place  in ANY class.

Moton Motorsports Success Story

Matthew Braun had an up and down year until Nationals, losing 4 out of 5 national tour events in Super Stock (SS).  He sent us his shocks in August looking for more rebound.  He overnighted his shocks to us on a Monday, needing them by Thursday.  Due to weather, his shipment didn’t arrive in Plano, TX until noon on Wednesday!  We dynoed the shocks, tried 2-3 valving combinations and got them back out the door by Wednesday afternoon and overnighted the shocks back so he could install them on Thursday and test them on a Friday.  The results speak for themselves.  He took SS by 1.4 seconds

AST 5200 Success Story

Last year, Todd Farris went to Nationals on brand new ASTs with zero minutes of testing.  The car wasn’t great out of the box.  We did several revalves that didn’t seem to help.  So, since we were closeby, we drove down to College Station to test with him in May and decided he needed some adjustments to the installation.  AST Suspension – USA president, Brian Hanchey drove the car as well and nothing really felt right.  The shocks weren’t doing their job and didn’t seem to respond in the way they should.   Finally, we came to the conclusion that the front shocks were bottoming out mid corner.  He fixed the mounting points and the car dropped major time.  Todd and his co-driver Jeff Stroh drove to a 1-2 finish in C Prepared.

Congratulations to all the AST and Moton drivers at the 2011 SCCA Solo Nationals.

AST Suspension continues its dominance by sweeping the podium for the third straight GRAND AM Continential Tire Challenge race at the Road America 200. The Stevenson Motorsports No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro RS.R driven by John Edward, rocketed to the point position and eventually slid past Billy Johnson is his No. 61 Roush Performance Mustang Boss 302R before a full course caution and a heavily damaged a retaining wall caused the race to end under yellow flag conditions. Johnson and Edwards traded the lead 4 times in the final 20 laps. Many times throughout the race, the two were running side-by-side and Edwards’ winning pass was made with a daring power slide through Turn 1. The final podium position was taken by the Rum Bum Racing team in their No. 13 BMW M3.

In addition to sweeping the top 3 finishing positions, 9 teams running AST Suspension finished in the top 12. AST Suspension currently holds 8 of the top 9 positions in the 2011 season team standings for the Grand Sport class. Brian Hanchey, General Manager of AST Suspension – USA said, “We’ve worked really hard to create a quality damper package that is attractive to more and more of the teams. It is clear that many of the most successful teams on track have at least one thing in common, AST dampers.”

Check out the GRAND-AM Highlight Video

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, Finlay Motorsports, A.M. Performance, i-MOTO, Trade Manage Racing, BGB Motorsports, Doran Racing and Compass 360 Racing.

Round 8 of the Continental Tire Challenge will take place at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Salinas, CA on July 9th.

We recently had a conversation with Aaron over at the Winning Formula.  He mentioned Nathan’s Evo and the on track success it has had in 2011.

Nathan owns a Mitsubishi Evolution IX (Evo) that has been competing in the National Auto Sport Association’s (NASA) Time Trial A class (TTA) and other Time Attack events throughout the Midwest.  Nathan begin tracking his Evo shortly after he purchased it in 2006.  After a couple of years of non-timed open track events and driving schools, the urge to buy a transponder and the thrill of competition took over.

For those of you not familiar with NASA’s time trial system, TTA is the second to fastest class with TTU (the “U” is for Unlimited and we do me UNlimited).  Now that you know this, you also need to know that Nathan’s Evo is hardly “stock”.  In fact, he’s made lots of upgrades to the engine, engine management, drivetrain, wheels/tires, brakes and suspension – he has our AST 4100 damper package.  If you’d like to see a full list of upgrades, check out the 2011 setup Nathan’s blog.

Let’s Talk Suspension

Over the winter, Aaron at the Winning Formula and Nathan had several conversations.   Nathan said he’s had 4 other suspension setups and each one left him feeling like there was more speed in his Evo with the right setup.  Nathan said, “I have constantly been on the lookout for new affordable options for my car to really take it to another level.”  Aaron and Nathan talked extensively about his options and finally settled on an AST 4100 series damper package.  The reason for this choice was because the NASA TT rules don’t favor remote reservoirs or more than 2 way adjustable shocks and Nathan did not want to get bumped into the unlimited class.  Nathan said, “I thought the price was very reasonable for a quality inverted single-adjustable shock.”  Aaron helped Nathan pick out the right spring rates and the Winning Formula installed and set up a baseline for testing the new setup once the midwest’s snow melted.  The Winning Formula performed the installation, alignment, corner balanced and set the ride height just before the first track day.

On Track Action

Nathan’s first track day with his new AST setup was brrrr COLD – 36 degrees!  He ran street tires in favor of his grippy, but heat loving Hoosier R6s.  He had several new items on the car in addition to the new AST dampers, so he took it easy, hoping the temperatures would rise.  Even with the cold temperatures, street tires and low boost, he was immediately comfortable with how the car handled and was able to push the car to within 2.5 seconds of his personal best!  He said, “The new setup was very compliant and predictable from day #1.”

Nathan started off the year with 4 wins in his first 4 events and 2 track records!  Since then, he’s gone on to break more track records throughout the Midwest.  If you’d like to follow his journey, check out his blog.

If you like videos (who doesn’t), check this out:

Nathan’s immediate goal is to continue development of the car and make a run at the NASA TTA National Championship at Mid Ohio Sports Car Course in September. He would also like to compete in the Grassroots Motorsports Ultimate Track Car Challenge in July. To vote for him, create or login to your Cardomain account and give him a 5 star vote. His profile can be found here

Good luck Nathan!

For more information on AST Suspension, visit www.ast-usa.com

For more information on the Winning Formula, an AST Suspension – USA authorized dealer, call 502.499.7459.

The No. 61 Roush Performance Mustang Boss 302R and the No. 75 Compass360 Honda Civic Si took the GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Grand Sport (GS) and Street Tuner (ST) class victories respectively at the Bosch Engineering 200 on May 14 at Virginia International Raceway.

The GS class was hotly contested with three unofficial lead changes in the final five minutes.  Billy Johnson, driving the Roush Performance No. 61 Mustang Boss 302R, held off by the Turner Motorsport BMW M3 driven by Bill Auberlen on the last lap to capture the victory.  AST Suspension – USA had a fantastic showing sweeping the top five spots for the race.

AST – USA’s general manager, Brian Hanchey said: “We’ve put a great package together and work closely with the teams and drivers to fine tune their setups.  We’re really excited to see the results race after race.”

Ryan Eversley and Karl Thomson brought the No. 75 Compass360 Honda Civic Si to victory lane in the ST class by surviving a wild race.  The final lap proved exciting, with Eversley beating Nico Rondet to the line by just .681 seconds.  This was the first victory for the Compass360 team this season.

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, Finlay Motorsports, A.M. Performance, i-MOTO, Trade Manage Racing, BGB Motorsports, Doran Racing and Compass 360 Racing.

The next race in the series is the Memorial Day Weekend Classic on May 28 at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Conn.

AST Suspension – USA is the exclusive importer of AST Suspension products in North America.  AST Suspension sells high performance adjustable dampers for street cars, autocross cars and road racing cars in North America.

The Trade Manage Porsche Boxster #109 managed to shatter the Lime Rock track record for the PCA G class, with a 58.747 second lap.  Here’s how their weekend went:

Qualifying – On the pole..check

Race Result Saturday – Win…check

Race Result Sunday – Win…check

G class lap record – Broken…check

Not a bad weekend guys, sounds like the custom valved AST 5220s are what Charlie Sheen describes as “Winning!”

When points matter most, AST delivers. As does Ian Stewart! Ian built his National Champion Mini Cooper with the best of the best. Ian needed the best suspension money could buy BUT he needed it to fulfill the rules of NASA’s Time Trial classes which have point values on adjustments and dollar amounts. Accrue too many points and you’re in the next fastest class. Naturally we suggested AST 5100s which use the same competition parts as our 5200 two way remotes and 5300 triple adjustable shocks at a lower price point. Ian proved that good driving and single adjustable shocks can (and do) win at the national level. You don’t have to “break the bank” to win. Thanks again Ian!

RobiSpec was in full force at the Redline Time Attack event Round 7. Robert “Robi” Fuller piloted his new ’08 STI complete with AST 5200 Suspension. Robi, known for his suspension tuning with another shock company, took the STI out on its maiden voyage with AST dampers and took home the win in class and Overall Stock class as well. Robi said, “The shocks were great right out of the box. The car had so much grip, I didn’t have to adjust them all day.” We can’t wait until he dials the car in for the Finale at California Speedway.

Thanks to the RobiSpec team for brining home the win. Good luck at Fontana!