well a complete mk2 golf GAZ gold setup (height, rebound and damping adjustable) with my own choice of spring rates is just over 600
Probably very true, but werent they direct competitors for Leda? (in terms of high price related to top quality race products?)
ohlins are WAY above leda IMO - 1000 each kind of money. Up there with Riger and the top notch Koni and Sachs stuff. Several alternatives to Leda - Proflex, AST, Koni, Sachs, Nitron, all good units. Gaz are supposed to be pretty good from what i've heard also but these are not in the same legue as those already mentioned. .
Ohlins were used on the Mitsubishi WRC Lancers, so they certainly catered for the very high end of the market. I'm not sure how cheap their most basic fare was - sounds like the guy you've mentioned before, Chris, may possibly have had these sort of dealings? Anyhow, definitely a damper mfr I perceive as way out of all of our leagues (tho you can tell us otherwise!) Well the main thing is this gives plenty of scope for adjustment when it comes to setting up a rather different beast indeed!
ohlins do a set of dampers for the Leon 20VT - inquired about them once before when I had one - 1200 for a car set, no adjustment at all, take original springs - bet they rock ! one of biggest issues with top line suspension is having the knowledge to set them up - lots of combinations especially once you get out of one way adjustables had ohlins on motorcrossers - 400 for a rear shock/spring unit and 1200 for pair front forks - fantastic - although in later years the manufacturer stuff got as good at the level I was riding at - 3 way adjusatable rear shock, needed advice from ProAction expert who used to attend races to set them up
The front running 106 Rallyes in the Stock Hatch Championship ran Ohlins and were paying 1000 a corner. Assuming they were obiding by the regulations, they would only have been single adjustables at that! I'm fortunate that I'm already running on LEDAs. Looks like they'll become a relic now. Just need to sort my spring rates out.
true, its just one of the things that gets me annoyed with 'grassroots' motorsport - people with big budgets competing in lower classes just to get trophies when actually they should be up a division or two
Mk2 Golf series has specified non-external reservoir adjustable dampers - unless a mfr is dictated, practically that's all you can do.
With the Supertox and a few other oval formulae there is a celling on how much you can spend on dampers (eg 70 per corner). Its a good measure to keep on top of costs but there are always people who stretch the rules from time to time.
you say that Chris, but their current prices (and I go back to last year when I wanted suspension for my ibiza), and Leda's prices were well steep compared to what they used to be.. like 50% more from their older prices, discounts for racers etc. the anodised/stainless steel versions from th elikes of KW made Leda look shabby and overpriced. Its not like Germany is a low cost country of manufacture either is it. they took on importership of Galfer brake products last year (not that they worked that well on many customer cars) so I guess this also goes up for grabs or down the tubes. lots going to the wall... [:^(]
KW's on mine - 2-ways PSS9's previous. KW's are the better product I'm sorry to say (was a big fan of Billies)
Personally I dont think mega expensive dampers will make a lot of difference in series like Stock Hatch or the Mk2 series....the spring rates are relatively low so the dampers aren't worked as hard as in championships like VW Cup. Let them waste thier money. The only thing they do help with is riding kerbs...the expensive dampers have a high speed blow off valve....that is why things like BTCC cars can monster the kerbs so well without sending them up on two wheels.
Yep - ultimately it's hand built (Leda) versus mass volume (KW) and the ways in which they were viewed by the motorsport world. On pounds alone, they weren't going to win the argument, even though I'm fairly sure they were the desired shockers to have. There are a lot of cos feeling the pinch at moment - but there's a message there somewhere.
As Keith says, I know of a stock hatch racer Maurice Hayden, who's one of the front runners, he changed to Ohlins dampers in his fixed height front legs and gained over a second a lap at most circuits.
Usually though people change more than one thing when fiting dampers without knowing it....if you look at the Stock Hatch Lap records they aren't that much different to when Rob was doing it in the second season and he was on a set of Koni's that had about 1" of movement before the damping worked at all because the ride height was set too low hans smashed the adjuster in the bottom of the damper.
