Bilstein Damptronic pics.

[CSG Mike]

Originally Posted by DougW

As you can see from the graphs they have the range from OE to JRZ, now to work on electronic springs and more power. I used to race IMSA in Porsches and Nissans in the late 80s/90s, now I'm an old fart with a bad back and neck so I needed a soft street ride but good track car for R&D the FR-S is perfect for this.
DougW

I'm more interested in seeing if this can be used to create a virtual regressive damping curve.

[Racecomp Engineering]

Originally Posted by CSG Mike

This.

There's a very small range in which a damper is critically damped. Going too stiff or too soft results in a poor ride.

IMO, this seems somewhat similar to Tein's Active EDFC, which is targeted at low end, low spring rate setups, where the damping adds to effective spring rate.

I'd love to see substantiated results and/or offer to do some testing and publish our findings.

I think this is much more advanced and has a lot more potential than the Tein stuff. IIRC the Tein set-up does not adjust each corner individually but front/rear only and only uses it's own g-sensor, not CAN data (which has a lot more variables).

This is something I've been interested in for years but never had the time to get too into. I've been following others work.

We generally don't touch our damper settings too much once we dial them in BUT this is still very interesting to me. Even in that small window around "critically damped" there is some potential to work with when it comes to street and track settings (i.e. soft and not bouncy vs. firm and controlled but also not exactly Baltimore city friendly).

And it's a Bilstein, so it's a good shock. I think it's cool. I'd love to do some testing but our car has been occupied with testing our own stuff for a while and will be getting another round of track mods soon so not sure when we'd get a chance.

- Andy

[DougW]

To get true regressive damping using the Damptronic shocks would require more sensors to know shock velocity/time and that may come but for now I'm trying to offer the average driver a way to have a soft ride on the street and good control in the turns. This is not MR fluid so you still have a normal valve stack with a solenoid controlled orifice everything is reactive to sensor inputs probably could add some high pressure internal valving to deal with high velocity venting. I don't think many street customers run 1200lb springs to need regressive control, where do you run your car to need this much control?
DougW

[CSG Mike]

Originally Posted by Racecomp Engineering

I think this is much more advanced and has a lot more potential than the Tein stuff. IIRC the Tein set-up does not adjust each corner individually but front/rear only and only uses it's own g-sensor, not CAN data (which has a lot more variables).

This is something I've been interested in for years but never had the time to get too into. I've been following others work.

We generally don't touch our damper settings too much once we dial them in BUT this is still very interesting to me. Even in that small window around "critically damped" there is some potential to work with when it comes to street and track settings (i.e. soft and not bouncy vs. firm and controlled but also not exactly Baltimore city friendly).

And it's a Bilstein, so it's a good shock. I think it's cool. I'd love to do some testing but our car has been occupied with testing our own stuff for a while and will be getting another round of track mods soon so not sure when we'd get a chance.

- Andy

Oh I totally agree that this is a far more advanced system.

I'm waiting for details

[DougW]

I'm waiting for details What else you need to know?
DougW

[CSG Mike]

Originally Posted by DougW

I'm waiting for details What else you need to know?
DougW

Is this system calibrated to one specific valving of the Bilstein damper? What kind of setup time is there to re-calibrate the system to a different valving/driver? When will it be available? What is the expected MSRP?

[DougW]

The system uses a Windows interface that lets you recalibrate the response to sensor inputs so in effect the shock hard valving sets the profile range but not actual curve. Think of it as an adjustable manual shock with real time changes to the knob clicks per corner based on sensors and maps, see the graphs above. Setups are usb edits including data logging with simple downloads. Working to have some more kits in the next couple of months, they take only a few days to remachine but I want to get VIR testing before I build more. Depending on Bilstein I plan on $3200 as the retail if Bilstein helps with cost then it can come down. This includes the 4 shocks, wiring harness, controller and software plus the base curves we come up with. I hope that over time people can swap tuning data just like ecus, this should be the last set of shocks you would need to buy.
Hope that helps
DougW

[Captain Snooze]

Impolite question coming up (apologies to DougW):
@CSG Mike. What do you think of the potential of this? I appreciate it is early days yet but do you think this might offer less of a compromise than a traditional damper/spring set up?

@DougW Would there still be an option (would there need to be this option) of offering a package with stiffer springs for those who are wanting a more track orientated setup?

[DougW]

Because of the higher cost and ride I stayed with the stock springs these shocks on a GTR control 1200 lb springs without issues. The problem with sanctioned racing they are not legal as an "active suspension" in most classes. Impolite question coming up (apologies to DougW): nothing wrong here. ask away.
DougW

[CSG Mike]

Originally Posted by Captain Snooze

Impolite question coming up (apologies to DougW):
@CSG Mike. What do you think of the potential of this? I appreciate it is early days yet but do you think this might offer less of a compromise than a traditional damper/spring set up?

This can effectively make ANY damper curve you want, within a fairly wide range.

It all depends on how well the system is calibrated, which is where my questions stem from.

Theoretically, this would be "perfect". The actual execution is what I await.

[uspspro]

Ha! You could have a different suspension "tune" for each track!!

[CSG Mike]

Originally Posted by uspspro

Ha! You could have a different suspension "tune" for each track!!

The spring rates aren't changing... just the damping.

[Captain Snooze]

@DougW
What spring rates are you using?

[DougW]

Stock so I believe they are 275lb I didn't measure them, You can have a different damping rate per corner of the car per corner of the track. If GPS was faster and reliable the software hooks are in place to track map at some point.
DougW