Not enough hours in every week

[Robert Taylor]

Yesterday ( Saturday ) was entirely spent building new shock absorbers to order, including a set for site moderator Kickaha ( sorry its taken so long Warwick ) Also in an act of total decadence we completed building a set for our currently being refurbished Ohlins / Race Tech service trailer. We imagine it will take a couple of trips to revalve them to attain the ride height control and bump absorption quality we want.
But also we were delighted to hear that Greg Murphy is back to form in his V8 Holden Supercar. Recently we supplied Ohlins TTX40 dampers for Tasman Motorsport and there have been an enormous amount of e-mails going back and forth as they have been setting them up from over a million possible setting combinations. We had an invite to be with their team this weekend but to do so would have let down our many other customers who have been waiting for their suspension units.
Ohlins TTX40 are a through rod damper with both high and low speed rebound and high and low speed compression adjustment. With them comes a valving reference programme. Broadly speaking you can input your clicker settings and internal combinations and it shows you the damping curves on screen. You can then input your new desired combination and it overlays the new curve on the old, before you even touch the shocks. VERY trick. The new Mark 2 TTX40 and software further refines the capabilities by being able to interface with a Roehrig dyno and also various brands of data logging, given percentage of time in each phases of high / low speed rebound and compression.
Although not made for motorcycles we grafted one a couple of years back onto Craig Shirriffs GSXR600 and with it he emphatically won the Timaru round of the Nationals that year. That very same shock is now sitting in Chris Osbournes 4 minus 1 GSXR600, and he loves it.
This afternoon we wish Murph and Jason the very very best. Endurance racing can turn pear shaped but even to this point we are happy that the car is now competitive.

[Kickaha]

Yesterday ( Saturday ) was entirely spent building new shock absorbers to order, including a set for site moderator Kickaha ( sorry its taken so long Warwick )

No longer a moderator and much happier for the change

No problems with the wait, I had shoulder surgery the day after I sent off the sample and are unable to ride for about another week so that should work out good

[GSVR]

Bit of a shame about the Rat and Chris Pithers accidents.

You could probably save a bit of time by not getting caught up in the ussual crap on here but then everyone needs their entertainment and humour

V8 Supercars must be the car equivilent of Production Superbike. Limited mods and they do similiar laptimes around most tracks.

[Robert Taylor]

Bit of a shame about the Rat and Chris Pithers accidents.

You could probably save a bit of time by not getting caught up in the ussual crap on here but then everyone needs their entertainment and humour

V8 Supercars must be the car equivilent of Production Superbike. Limited mods and they do similiar laptimes around most tracks.

Insomnia takes care of that and it is not lost on me that there are a number who post who do so out of perverse pleasure in stirring away.

[Robert Taylor]

Bit of a shame about the Rat and Chris Pithers accidents.

You could probably save a bit of time by not getting caught up in the ussual crap on here but then everyone needs their entertainment and humour

V8 Supercars must be the car equivilent of Production Superbike. Limited mods and they do similiar laptimes around most tracks.

The Aussie V8s are in fact cornering and braking a little better than in years past. But in the case of at least the Holden the latest bodyshell is wider so it has more drag and loses time on the straights. Swings and roundabouts.

[k14]

Very interesting Robert. Next time you get an invite to a V8 meet drop me an email...

What suspension were Tasman using before switching to Ohlins? What do the other guys all use? Very good to see Murph up the pointy end again, they were consistently up in the top 3 all weekend and could have won if a few things went their way.

[cs363]

Bit of a shame about the Rat and Chris Pithers accidents.

You could probably save a bit of time by not getting caught up in the ussual crap on here but then everyone needs their entertainment and humour

V8 Supercars must be the car equivilent of Production Superbike. Limited mods and they do similiar laptimes around most tracks.

V8 Supercars are more like Superbike - the only similarities between them and the road cars that they look like are some of the exterior panels. Drive train is completely different as are brakes, suspension and anything else you can think of. They run a space frame under the look-a-like panelwork.
NZV8's are probably a better comparison as they are modified road car bodies, but even with them the running gear is different from the Falcon or Commodore you buy from your local dealer.

Chris Pithers 'accident' could have been avoided in mine and quite a few others opinions - Paul Weel's car was stationary for almost 10 seconds (a long time on a race track) and the marshalls were waving yellow flags previous to the situation, one has to ask why Pither was still at travelling at pace..... brain fade I guess - not good. At least everyone involved escaped relatively unscathed. Except of course whoever's pockets were pillaged by TKR for the estimated $80K repairs.....

A lot of people don't realise, but Rat's accident has most likely ended his career as he badly broke his good right ankle and also dislocated his previously shattered left ankle (from the previous Bathurst TKR crash), he commented to me last year that if he had broken his right ankle in the TKR crash he would have stopped driving then - lets hope this is not the case, though the outlook is grim.

Imagine for a moment that he would not have known the throttle was stuck until he hit the brakes, as these cars flat shift.....scary!!!!

Here's an update for those who are interested, hot off the press:

For immediate release: 14th October 2008

Radisich making recovery

The HPM Racing team; current leaders of the 2008/09 BNT V8s championship have good news with driver Paul Radisich passing on his regards to well-wishers following Saturday’s injury accident at Bathurst.

The 220km/h accident started when the throttle of his Toll HSV car jammed during practice at the Bathurst 1000. Radisich suffered a badly fractured right ankle, dislocated left ankle and three broken ribs.

Recovering in Orange hospital following surgery to insert pins in to his ankle, Radisich is expectedly somber about the bad-luck incident that has dashed his leading status in New Zealand’s premier V8s race series.

Following his first round win in the New Zealand series at Taupo the weekend prior to Bathurst, equally his annual appearance at the great race was looking strong for a top placing following early testing form. However, emphasizing the nature of which fortunes change, Radisich’s early progress has been met with the reality he will be unable to return to his New Zealand championship for the remainder of the season.

HPM Racing team owners Simon Cressey and Greg Bellingham have fielded numerous calls from potential replacements and are currently consulting with Paul as to the way forward.

Ends.

[cs363]

Yesterday ( Saturday ) was entirely spent building new shock absorbers for the pixie hut.

Edited for reasons of trust as the above is more of an honest appraisal of the time actually spent....
Remember Robert, this election is all about trust - that woman who's daughter is running for PM said that on TV last night. Well, it must be her daughter, if she's trying to tell us she's honest:

[Robert Taylor]

Edited for reasons of trust as the above is more of an honest appraisal of the time actually spent....
Remember Robert, this election is all about trust - that woman who's daughter is running for PM said that on TV last night. Well, it must be her daughter, if she's trying to tell us she's honest:

Misrepresentataion, misleading advertising.........What you see is not what you get. I prefer Sarah Palin.........

[cs363]

Misrepresentataion, misleading advertising.........What you see is not what you get. I prefer Sarah Palin.........

Or as she'll be known in history 'the woman that blew it for McCain'.
Now, moving on what about a sweepstake on the possibility of a presidential assasination by some radical redneck hitman next year?

[Robert Taylor]

V8 Supercars are more like Superbike - the only similarities between them and the road cars that they look like are some of the exterior panels. Drive train is completely different as are brakes, suspension and anything else you can think of. They run a space frame under the look-a-like panelwork.
NZV8's are probably a better comparison as they are modified road car bodies, but even with them the running gear is different from the Falcon or Commodore you buy from your local dealer.

Chris Pithers 'accident' could have been avoided in mine and quite a few others opinions - Paul Weel's car was stationary for almost 10 seconds (a long time on a race track) and the marshalls were waving yellow flags previous to the situation, one has to ask why Pither was still at travelling at pace..... brain fade I guess - not good. At least everyone involved escaped relatively unscathed. Except of course whoever's pockets were pillaged by TKR for the estimated $80K repairs.....

A lot of people don't realise, but Rat's accident has most likely ended his career as he badly broke his good right ankle and also dislocated his previously shattered left ankle (from the previous Bathurst TKR crash), he commented to me last year that if he had broken his right ankle in the TKR crash he would have stopped driving then - lets hope this is not the case, though the outlook is grim.

Imagine for a moment that he would not have known the throttle was stuck until he hit the brakes, as these cars flat shift.....scary!!!!

Here's an update for those who are interested, hot off the press:

For immediate release: 14th October 2008

Radisich making recovery

The HPM Racing team; current leaders of the 2008/09 BNT V8s championship have good news with driver Paul Radisich passing on his regards to well-wishers following Saturday’s injury accident at Bathurst.

The 220km/h accident started when the throttle of his Toll HSV car jammed during practice at the Bathurst 1000. Radisich suffered a badly fractured right ankle, dislocated left ankle and three broken ribs.

Recovering in Orange hospital following surgery to insert pins in to his ankle, Radisich is expectedly somber about the bad-luck incident that has dashed his leading status in New Zealand’s premier V8s race series.

Following his first round win in the New Zealand series at Taupo the weekend prior to Bathurst, equally his annual appearance at the great race was looking strong for a top placing following early testing form. However, emphasizing the nature of which fortunes change, Radisich’s early progress has been met with the reality he will be unable to return to his New Zealand championship for the remainder of the season.

HPM Racing team owners Simon Cressey and Greg Bellingham have fielded numerous calls from potential replacements and are currently consulting with Paul as to the way forward.

Ends.

To elaborate a little further the NZV8s are a broken shadow of the Aussie V8s. The suspension ruling is even more perverse than the misinformed musings of our current incumbent MNZ CEO and a few other dark forces behind the scenes pushing personal agendas.
The NZ V8s have to run a control shock, and it is not for me to suggest brand preference etc as this is a wider issue than trying to seek commercial advantage. These cars have to run single tube and single acting dampers ( Konis ) that have absolutely no compression bump damping. That then requires that to attain a vestige of crude chassis stability control they have to run much much firmer springs than ideal. That means that their abrupt bump absorption and kerb strike abilities ( without causing unwanted chassis disturbance ) is severely compromised. And because the springs are so firm the rebound calibration has to be very stiff.
To watch these cars ride the bumps at tracks like Pukekohe is a joke because they have the chassis stability of a jellyfish that has smoked too much pot. And because the damping is so aggressive on rebound the shocks overheat very quickly. losing more control.
There are teams who have several spare sets of shocks and refrigerate them prior to race start to stall the onset of heat induced fade for as long as possible. Not to omit to mention that these shocks are known to break and fail regularly, independent of crash damage. So it all rather makes a mockery of keeping the costs down................

[Robert Taylor]

Very interesting Robert. Next time you get an invite to a V8 meet drop me an email...

What suspension were Tasman using before switching to Ohlins? What do the other guys all use? Very good to see Murph up the pointy end again, they were consistently up in the top 3 all weekend and could have won if a few things went their way.

Ironically Murph debuted Ohlins TTX40 at Bathurst ( and indeed in the Southern hemisphere ) 4 years back ( I think ) , winning that race. When he moved to Tasman motorsport they were still until very recently running earlier technology Ohlins TT44, dating back to 1994, first used by Nigel Mansell to win his Indy Car title.These are still a very capable shock absorber but the pace of suspension development has been such that if you dont keep pace with development you get bumped from the sharp to the blunt end of the grid.
Suspension manufacturers represented in Aussie V8 are Ohlins at about 60-70%, Sachs, Penske and I believe some high level KYB. These manufacturers all beat to their own drum and at that level all of the equipment is very very good. Its as much about the teams and the suspension engineers getting as much as possible from the toys at their disposal and no one suspension supplier has a stranglehold on results.
With Murphs team they sent a lot of data to us and we had questions about the rear suspension motion ratios ( broadly similiar to motorcycle link ratio ) as we were concerned that they were moving the shock shafts at less than an ideal speed requiring too low speed little damping in compensation. Also we had concerns about the shape of the rebound damping curves. The motion ratio can be changed within certain allowable parameters and once that was juggled the car started working well, at least at Bathurst I guess!
Whilst we could not be there we are now dissappointed we werent there to share in their celebrations!

[Shaun]

#11 Yesterday, 22:31
Robert Taylor
Forum whore
♂
Bike: None
Location: New Plymouth
Posts: 1,157






The suspension ruling is even more perverse than the misinformed musings of our current incumbent MNZ CEO and a few other dark forces behind the scenes pushing personal agendas.



Wow, that almost sounds you are yelling on the internet Rob, best take a tea break mate

[Robert Taylor]

#11 Yesterday, 22:31
Robert Taylor
Forum whore
♂
Bike: None
Location: New Plymouth
Posts: 1,157






The suspension ruling is even more perverse than the misinformed musings of our current incumbent MNZ CEO and a few other dark forces behind the scenes pushing personal agendas.



Wow, that almost sounds you are yelling on the internet Rob, best take a tea break mate

Flippancy and patronising statements are not something that you articualte that well. But I do give you credit for being up front, as opposed to those ridiculous and ridiculing tag lines that a number of anonymous and gutless individuals hide behind.