Performance on air

[jb@ridetech]

I saw it with my own eyes At the RTH2 Auto-X from hell, the faster cars were running sub-70 second laps. Anything in the 60-second range was considered good for street tires. A 63 is killer. A 64 is excellent. 50's were only possible on stickies. Air Ride showed up with two A-bodies and one F-body. All of the cars were fast and the Air Ride guys, Britt and Brad, really know how to drive. Beyond the air springs, you must also consider the Air Ride hard parts such as their a-arms and tri-four links.
So it's official: The only thing that was full of hot air we're their springs. For what we are trying to accomplish here at Pro-Touring.com--which is to build capable street cars--AirRide parts are just as fast as metal springs and other suspension parts. Sound like an ad? Nope. I'm just a believer trying to share some first hand news. We caught it all on video, too, so you can see for yourself. Worst case scenario, the numbers indicate that their A-body stuff works better than their F-body stuff. Times are listed below.

66 Chevelle Britt Marolf-Britt was smooth. As the times show, he was fast on his first run and kept tweaking his laps. Note that all but one of his runs are clean (no cone penalties or DNF's)
TIMES: 69.176, 66.202+1, 64.577, 66.338+1 (68.338), 65.181, 64.318

71 Camaro: Brad Coomer-Brad has a, umm, propensity for throttle oversteer, so it looked like the car lacked bite. Brad was fun to watch and the car was fast anyway. His bets time was a 69 and change. DNF means that Brad lost his way a few times. But when we put Tony Bolton (the local gun) in the car for the Camaro Challenge, the car hooked and went with a lot less tire smoke. The "T" in the numbers below are with Tony Bolton driving.
TIMES: DNF, DNF, 63.797+3 (69.797), 64.186T, 63.936+1 (65.936T)

71 Buick GSX:At the last minute, Tony Bolton hopped in the big Buick and ripped off a 63. This car had more power, but also more heft. Air Ride owner, Brett Voelkel, showed that he is not afraid to put his driving skills or his high dollar rig to the test. He had a lot of trouble navigating the Auto-X from Hell, so we only have one official run--but--man--it was fast. Faster than any of the Camaro Challenge results. Brett would have really benefitted from riding with a navigator in the passenger seat. Then we would have more data. Regardless, we have one fast run. And fast is fast.
TIMES: DNF, DNF, DNF, 70.790DNF, DNF, 63.817T

I was just as skeptical as many you regarding the actual function of Air Ride suspension. No more. The right Air Ride parts, combined with the right wheels and tires (not 20" street rod wheels), an air Ride car can handle. Sorry if that bursts anyone's bubble (pun intended).
__________________
Steve Chryssos
Because four fat tires are better than two. That's why!
Twist Machine,LLC
MuscleRides



I found this on www.protouring.com , did anyone go? i would have loved to be there i hear it was cool ....

[fatlife]

so does this mean I can't call all the guys at the car shows with air bags posers anymore?

[nitrorocket]

The only issue I see is damping adjustments and "spring" rate adjustment. How does that work??

[J2SpeedandCustom]

After seeing the RideTech Mustang at the KC GG's auto-x I'm a believer!

[Bill Howell]

I was there, and I am more than impressed. It seems all the hype and myths that I have read on the internet for two years turns out to be just that, myths.
Put total different packages side by side on a challenging course and the air bags stand up pretty good. All this goes to prove what I have always said, quit talking the game and show me. I would not trade this past weekend for all the tech writting by internet armchair suspension gurus in the world. Theory is nice, but show me some real cars, in the real world putting down real numbers. DSE's 69 test car ran the best times of all the camaros there, however, the same driver, that had never driven, or even seen any of the cars until this weekend made a faster lap with the GSX. I keep telling ya'll that A-bodys rule.

[jb@ridetech]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...90595776&hl=en

Check it out the blue chevelle & black and white camaro are both on air......

[fatlife]

Originally Posted by Bill Howell

I was there, and I am more than impressed. It seems all the hype and myths that I have read on the internet for two years turns out to be just that, myths.
Put total different packages side by side on a challenging course and the air bags stand up pretty good. All this goes to prove what I have always said, quit talking the game and show me. I would not trade this past weekend for all the tech writting by internet armchair suspension gurus in the world. Theory is nice, but show me some real cars, in the real world putting down real numbers.

I agree great post. I remember when people were picking apart the airride because of some super minute detail about the dampning or something like that. It was pretty obvious that people were just trying to find anything to pick apart. And no one here is even really skilled enough to drive something with some space age suspension that has been designed on a computer to the 10th degree. However after saying all this, I still would not personally run an airbag system on my car, and when i see one, I won't be able to help but prejudge with the poser status

[Steve1968LS2]

Originally Posted by fatlife

so does this mean I can't call all the guys at the car shows with air bags posers anymore?

No.. you still can since most air-bag systems are not performance oriented. However, if you want a performance air system then contact ART

Wow.. did that sound like a commercial???? lol