Miguels

http://farnorthracing.com/autocross_secrets6.html

RichieRichZ06

It was way to long to read and the guy seems like he thinks he jesus himself. I know my setup works, but he may disagree.

andy82

Wow! Almost information overload I just try to have fun at auto-x

Miguels

yeah it is...but i liked it because it is a z06...plus I found it on the Audi forum.

Z06Fix

So is that saying that the Bilstein sports are better than the 04 Z shocks...??

Solofast

Denny Grant is a very smart guy. Maybe opinionated, but smart none the less. He has spent a lot of time dyno'ng shocks and knows a lot about them.

burners

Very interesting and informative. Thanks!

acrace

I agree with Solofast - both that he's smart and that he's opinionated. Dennis has checked out my shocks as well. Like everything in motorsports, put his info through your personal filter. But he definitely will make you think.

He's gone on to do other (non-motorsports) stuff.

burners

I'm curious as to what Gary Hoffman has to say about this and Denny's list of shocks. I understand that Gary has a few opinions on good and not so good shocks. Can you weigh in Gary? Perhaps you've tried a few that Denny hasn't.

Mr California Z06

You want to know how to set up talk to Harold Olsen who is SCCA Champion and he wins 9 times out of 10 every event in his class. He is awesome!!

codename Bil Doe

He doesn't sound arrogant. Seems very intelligent and backs up all his arguements with facts and real-world experience with lots of shock building and testing.

Harold Olsen is badass and VERY helpful. Great person to talk to if you ever get a chance and even better to watch drive. THAT'S someone who knows his shocks!

LG Motorsports

Hi guys,

That is a good link.

I like the part of that discussion. I am sure that many of you have heard me say that our Bisltein shock package is near the best and here a non associated guy states much the same that we found in our testing of our Coil Over packages.

Shocks are worth more when they are a well made top of the line shock without ***** compared to shocks with ***** that either don't work or work differently on each shock.

I stand by our bilstein package as being top of the line.

If you are looking for top line performance then you need to get top line products.

Just as a disclosure, our ALMS GT2 Corvette will start out life with JRI shocks, which are an off shoot company from Penske. We have Bilstein making us a specific shock for the ALMS Application.

We will keep you posted.
See you at the races

Just my .02

Lou Gigliotti

0Randy@DRM

Maybe I should let my realitor read that info. She made me take down this in my office I don't understand why, but when selling a house they are the ones with the master plan.

EvilBoffin

Lou & Randy -

I appreciate your confidence with Bilstein's as your shock of choice, yet neither of your websites has any information about SHOCKS for a C6...

I will need shocks soon - NOT Coilovers - if I intend to run my '08 Z51 coupe in SCCA SuperStock class. Plus, I drive the car on the street AND use it on-track for HPDE's.

Obviously, that means I need the best overall Compromise shock available - to improve ride quality, compliance, body control and to alleviate the common rear-end nervousness at high speeds.

Now that you've read all that - Do you feel that Bilstein's can accommodate my needs, or am I just some idiot with my hopes set too high for ANY shock???

Finally, WHICH Bilstein shock 'package' are we talking about here, and how much $$$ ?

LouieM

Wow, that shock guy is some kind of fanatic. Good for him, but this won't help my 67 get by the cones any faster

steve40th

I like the tire warmer idea, in his tires section of the table of contents. Is that really legal? My BFG KDs do get sticky when hot, it would be nice to have a little edge on tires, until I get real tires.

rfn026

I'm glad someone else is as enthusiastic about Bilstein as I am. I sent them 4 old shocks for my '85 and asked them to rebuild them for the track. (I run Sebring and Homestead.) They're wonderful. I especially like what they do under braking. Part of that has to do with the huge rebound numbers.

I've never been a fan of the adjustable shocks. I just don't have the time to run a decent test program. I've usually had a day job.

I can't begin to see how the average hobbyist has enough time to get the 4-way adjustable shocks right. A tire engineer once told me that if I purchased 4-way adjustables I should also budget for therapy.

The last few years I just send the shocks to Bilstein and they send back the correct item. It's just so much easier. I really can't get into a the adjustable thing. Hell, I'm not sure which way to turn the ****. Now i find out that for some shocks the **** doesn't even work. Oh well.

Richard Newton

Autocross Performance Handbook

Wheel and Tire Performance Handbook

0Randy@DRM

Hey,
Give me a call here at the shop anytime! I am not a computer whiz, so it takes about 3 hours for each thing I add to our website. With the flu going around, I am taking on the roll of about 5 people around here. Plus I am sick and have been for too long. I will try and get some more info up on our website!

Randy
763-477-9272

ghoffman

We have a new (last summer) shock dyno and have tested almost every brand of Corvette shock mentioned above. There are indeed huge differences out there and I will keep the specific data private. I can think of no easier way to get into a pissing contest than publish what we found. You would be surprised how bad some of the "name" shocks really are. Some random and general thoughts on our testing so far:
When we were at Penske's facility last year, I asked about QC and incoming inspection. I was told that a 1/2 mil (0.0005 inches) in some piston dimensions can mean 20-30 pounds worth of force. This is on CNC made parts held to the tightest tolerances, produced to aerospace quality standards. This is why each and every Penske is dyno'ed before shipping and if it is not correct, it is torn down and made correct. When you buy Penske's from us, we include the valving data, and dyno data on each shock, including the raw data and software to run it if you wish at no cost. We share all of the information with the customer, and do not play the private game. The sensitivity to tolerances mentioned above kinda makes one wonder what will you get on a assembly line made product. The day were there they were finishing up all of the Talladega NASCAR Sprint Cup shocks that every competitor must use. They were all exactly the same and had anti-tamper seals and special tamper proof N2 fillers.

We have tested many Spec Miata shocks recently, and it is amazing how non-spec they all are. We have not tested 2 Spec Miata shocks that were even close to each other yet. There seems to be a cottage industry for revalved SM shocks and since SCCA has no dyno curve that the competitors have to match, the valving is semi-open at this time. Rumor has it that the only way to tell (without a dyno) is the labels have smudged letters because of the solvent used to clean the body after re-valveing. Some have claimed that there might be SM shocks with Penske type pistons inside, but that is only a rumor!

Another really interesting thing is how much the gas pressure varies with some brands. In some cases you have the same internal pressure but the separator piston seals leak and the N2 has made its way into the oil. This is immediately noticeable because it sounds like a kid sucking at the bottom of a soda. Another thing we have seen, especially with some of the OE shocks we ran as baseline, is the amazing effect of a slight ding in the body of the shock. I saw that with my own personal C6Z left rear stock shock. They did look pretty good though considering 7000 miles and a bunch of NHIS days. I could go on for hours, but I'd hate to be a cure for the sleepless!

In any case in answer to the question above, we can supply the Penskes for your car to meet any rule set for any club. One of the outstanding features of the Penskes we sell, is that the bodies and shafts are available in 1/4 inch increments. We optimise the body length for max bump travel while maintaining adequate fender clearance for any tire combination that you are running, while running as long a shaft as we want (within limits of course) to optimize droop travel. Some classes need stock length bodies and shafts, we can do that too. The point is we are not stuck to one or 2 off the shelf configurations like with mass produced products. And of course, they are available in non adjustable, 2 way adjustable (the new 8300 is awesome!!), 3 way 8760 (what I will be running this year) in your choice of Heim joint mounts or the OE style pin and rubber mount. Our new upper mount is CNC aluminum, has a stainless steel shoulder bolt for no threads in shear and has a zero tolerance fit for no noise.


The prototype shown will have the shaft threaded and will be common to C4, C6, C6, and C6Z and will be anodized black and red.

The new rear clevis has the rebound adjuster integrated into it so a ball driver is all that is needed. It has 8 "clicks" per turn, 5 turns from full hard to full soft.


What do you want to do?
Cheers,
Gary

LouieM

This is eye-opening stuff! Esp. your comment about mass-produced shocks.