Öhlins electronic suspension comes to WSBK Yamahas

[Cajun]

Yes, and the rulemakers in WSBK are somewhat shortsiightedly trying to ban it, thereby halting the march of progress. Ohlins engineers are currently in protracted discussions with them and are somewhat gobsmacked by the mentality of it all.

Interesting not come across that bit of information in my reading.

[slowpoke]

Yes, and the rulemakers in WSBK are somewhat shortsiightedly trying to ban it, thereby halting the march of progress. Ohlins engineers are currently in protracted discussions with them and are somewhat gobsmacked by the mentality of it all.

Hmmmm, I dunno Robert. I'm all for progress but it has to be sustainable progress and once the inevitable gains via this technology are realised then you are going to be bringing up the tail of the field unless you have it, and the big bucks to pay for it. I'd hate to have WSBK turn into MotoGP with only a dozen or so bikes on the grid.

At the moment you or I could basically build/test a competitive bike to put Shirriffs, Stroud, 'Poos on to contest the Hampton Downs WSBK race in 2011, but this sort of technology blows that theory out the window.

It's great technology but maybe MotoGP is a better playground for this until costs and the expertise to run it have become more real world?

[Cajun]

maybe they kicking up a stink, mostly due to fact that the yamahs are starting to come on strong, and believe its this new wizz bang dark art, magical electronic springy thingy me jiggys

aka haga winning 3 of the last 4 races, and corser 3rd out of 4 races.

[denill]

Yes, and the rulemakers in WSBK are somewhat shortsiightedly trying to ban it, thereby halting the march of progress. Ohlins engineers are currently in protracted discussions with them and are somewhat gobsmacked by the mentality of it all.

Hey Robert. Can you give any sort of a ball park figure for the cost of the Yamaha/Ohlins setup??

[Cajun]

Hey Robert. Can you give any sort of a ball park figure for the cost of the Yamaha/Ohlins setup??

somewhere in range of first born child i would think,

[GSVR]

Yes, and the rulemakers in WSBK are somewhat shortsiightedly trying to ban it, thereby halting the march of progress. Ohlins engineers are currently in protracted discussions with them and are somewhat gobsmacked by the mentality of it all.

Or possibly the Ohlins engineers are so full of their own self interests they can't see the big picture.

And what decade was active suspension banned in F1?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/mot...rmula-One.html

[svr]

Or possibly the Ohlins engineers are so full of their own self interests they can't see the big picture.

And what decade was active suspension banned in F1?

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Was that to reduce costs or lower corner speeds (like banning ground effects, slicks, etc.)?

[Robert Taylor]

Interesting not come across that bit of information in my reading.

No you wont, it was a conversation that I had with an engineer at the Ohlins factory in Sweden.

[Robert Taylor]

Or possibly the Ohlins engineers are so full of their own self interests they can't see the big picture.

And what decade was active suspension banned in F1?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/mot...rmula-One.html

What a contemptible narrow minded post ( frankly ) When Ive had some r and r Ill come back with some realities contrary to your politics of envy.

[cs363]

Or possibly the Ohlins engineers are so full of their own self interests they can't see the big picture.

And what decade was active suspension banned in F1?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/mot...rmula-One.html

Surprised you haven't traded your bike on a horse with an attitude like that!

Active suspension was banned in F1 on safety grounds and not just because corner speeds were rising due to its use. The systems were hydraulic based and several cars experienced problems with leaking hydraulics ultimately causing high speed crashes, the highly publicised crash of Alessandro Zanardi at Spa being the straw that broke the camels back.
The other major issue with these early systems was the excessive weight they added due to all the rams & pumps etc. Not to mention the dangers of highly pressurised, hot oil in a very complicated system which didn't make the mechanics lives very easy.
The other factor was most likely that the systems were originally introduced by Lotus and ultimately refined by Williams. Had it been a Ferrari innovation no doubt the Ferrari International Assistance group (or FIA for short...) probably would have turned a blind eye, such are the politics of F1...

As an aside, active suspension itself wasn't actually banned - it was the hydraulic rams themselves which were banned at the 1994 Canadian GP as the FIA steward Charlie Whiting issued a stewards bulletin stating that they were illegal as they were movable aerodynamic devices which had been banned some time previously.

I don't believe the Ohlins system would present any of the issues that the early F1 system did, apart from raising corner speeds somewhat, though I doubt that it would be to the extent of causing the bikes to become dangerous (er).

[GSVR]

What a contemptible narrow minded post ( frankly ) When Ive had some r and r Ill come back with some realities contrary to your politics of envy.

Please don't save your energy for something more important. I'm not worthy.

Someone told me once that technology on bikes was about 20 years behind cars. I reacon thats bull. Its only around 15.

[cowpoos]

'Poos on to contest the Hampton Downs WSBK race in 2011

I'd need more than some Sparky suspension...I'd need the 1995 rugby world cup caterers from south africa on my side!!!

[Robert Taylor]

Or possibly the Ohlins engineers are so full of their own self interests they can't see the big picture.

And what decade was active suspension banned in F1?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/mot...rmula-One.html

Thanks to CS363 for enlightening GSVRs over simplistic and emotive lack of understanding, and ( as a Formula 1 fan myself ) saving a lot of typing.

To flippantly state that ''possibly Ohlins engineers are so full of their own self interests they cant see the big picture'' is a HUGE injustice to their integrity. Do you personally know the chief engineers at the Ohlins factory? Knowing the answer to that question let me enlighten you to a few facts, in random order;

1) The chief race engineer of Ohlins racing department is Mats Larsson, a very tall and brilliant engineer who is very overworked and has no time for bs. I like him a lot for his engineering talents and the help he provides. He also has a very open disrespect for sales and marketing people and their ''self interests''.

2) Their chief test rider is Anders Andersson, certainly a guy that was ''self interested'' enough to compete at Manfield in the early years of WSBK. Very short in stature, totally lacks pretence but also very helpful and a very hard worker.

3) About 5 years back the Ohlins guys drove me to a track they test at frequently in the South of Sweden. Karlskoga raceway is track with bumps akin to Manfield but the pit facilities etc are far less developed than Manfield. It satisfies Ohlins self interest to test there in refining suspension that not only has decent bump compliance but also provides the maximum possible mechanical grip. It certainly also satisfied my own self interest going there and being involved in some of their test programme.

4) Mid November we have an Ohlins engineer visting to train selected Ohlins service agents and in doing so satisying their own self interests.

5) Closer to the end of the year a couple of road race set up seminars will be run by a visiting Ohlins WSBK engineer who has put aside his own self interest at a time that he will be over travelling and will just want r & r with his family before the madness recommences. These seminars will be by invite only for our most loyal and committed Ohlins road race customers, satisfying their own self interest. Those who have derided this company will certainly not recieve an invite.

6) The prototype Ohlins electronically assisted suspension is a good thing in the self interest of progress, and since when was progress a dirty word???????? CS363 highlighted the complexity of the F1 active system, heck its nowhere near that. Corrections are made in damping bleed according to bank angle, torque induced squat, brake dive control, profile of bump and therefore suspension shaft velocity etc. All in the self interest of improved grip, brake dive and overall pitch control. Plenty of people self interested in that and talk of other companies looking at developing their own systems. My god, what a pack of nasty self interested money grubbing capitalist bastards.....

Heck, the race programme could turn pear shaped with bad results at the next meetings, who knows....

You obviously make assumption that this technology will be expensive. Frankly no-one yet knows that and it could well be only incrementally more expensive if it makes it to full scale consumer market production, depending on economy of scale.
Ohlins may well have self interest at heart. It may surprise many ( including GSVR ) that Ohlins very often collaborate with WP in bulk purchase of raw material, such as in the past a certain fork tube size. So as to get a better price, thereby minimising the impact on the end price to serve the self interests of their customers.

I would reasonably suggest GSVR that Ohlins in fact have a much much clearer conception of the bigger picture than you do as their engineers travel all over the world to many different countries, and indeed are very willing to travel to the last bus stop in the world.

Here at a local level we travel with our customer support trailer, that serves our own self interest in generating ongoing sales, but it hasnt escaped everyones attention that we help many people ( out of sheer goodwill ) that ask for help.

GSVR, you are riding at a level and cost that you can afford and are comfortable with, and I dont in any way knock that. But what I object to are ill informed and stupidly emotive comments that condemn those engaged in engineering better solutions.

[johan]

*edit*
never mind, Robert already answered my question just as I wrote it...

[Robert Taylor]

Please don't save your energy for something more important. I'm not worthy.

Someone told me once that technology on bikes was about 20 years behind cars. I reacon thats bull. Its only around 15.

Bollocks, if you came and saw me at a meeting asking for help youd be worthy of same. I jus dont agree with an ''us and them'' mentality that so many of our countrymen subscribe to.