Racecomp Engineering Tarmac 3 Clubsport Coilovers (3 way damping adjustable)
 

Racecomp Engineering is excited to announce the newest addition to their Tarmac family of coilovers. The Tarmac 3 Clubsport coilovers bring advanced 3 way adjustable damper technology to club racers and track day enthusiasts at a competitive price. RCE Tarmac coilovers are built by KW Suspension in Germany to RCE’s specifications.

RCE Tarmac 3 Clubsport coilovers are a 3 way damping adjustable coilover, allowing adjustment of compression damping in both the low and high speed range as well as rebound damping adjustment. Damping can be adjusted at 6 levels for low speed compression, 14 for high speed compression, and 20 for rebound with precise clicks for each change. This level of flexibility and tuning is not generally available at this price range and enables an extraordinary level of control over the damping characteristics of the suspension.

Innovative hybrid monotube and twintube construction features a piggyback canister containing a divider piston for compression valving. Rather than relying on spring preloaded needle valve and deflection disks on the compression side, non-preloaded valves with distinct metered orifices allow for more consistent fluid flow through the valve, which means a consistent difference is felt for each click of adjustment. This is a big improvement over how most shocks control compression damping. Oil and gas are kept separate in the canister and 100 psi of nitrogen pressure provides a small amount of lifting force and platform for the chassis.

Featuring the same INOX stainless steel coating, dustboots, and durable seals that KW Suspension is known for, users can drive year round without worrying about rust or premature weathering. These are a true Clubsport coilover that can be both raced and daily driven.

Since 2007, Racecomp Engineering’s Tarmac line of coilovers have been winning national autocross championships, class and overall time attack wins, and helping Subaru enthusiasts go faster at the track. The new Tarmac 3 Clubsports continue and enhance this tradition by providing another level of performance beyond the now classic RCE Tarmac 2 coilovers. Extensive development, including testing on the track, street, and KW’s 7 post shake rig make the Tarmac 3 Clubsport an excellent choice for track enthusiasts looking to take the next step for their vehicle’s suspension.

RCE Tarmac 3 Clubsport specifications:
* Hybrid monotube/twintube damper construction
* 3 way damping adjustability (low speed compression, high speed compression, and rebound)
* Stainless steel INOX coating for excellent durability
* Available for 2008 to 2014 Subaru WRX and STI, 2015+ Subaru WRX and STI, and 2013+ Subaru BRZ and Scion FR-S( 2005-2007 STI available if enough interest).
* Custom spring rates available
* 1 year limited warranty

Intro price - $CALL or PM or just check our facebook. :)

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^GD STI protoytpe

I don't think I'm allowed to post pricing here and I'd prefer to keep this thread technical, but I will say there aren't any 3 ways that I know of within a couple grand of these. So, yeah. :)

All fancy press release talk aside, we're pretty excited about these shocks. They've been a long time coming and have undergone a TON of R&D and testing, both here and in Germany. We had an early prototype from KW for GD STI a couple years ago and were just blown away. That started the process and we thought about what we liked and wanted on our own sets. Myles had a trip to the factory in Germany this year to finalize things and we're damn happy to release them now. It's a complex damper and it's probably been our lengthiest development process to date for STi and BRZ.

The way compression valving is done is a BIG change from standard KW and most other shocks short of the good stuff. It's a pretty big step forward and the logical next coilover up from RCE T2 and others in that range. Plus at the price we have them, it's realistic for those that want to take that step.

- Andy

any videos of the 4 post rig?

Mmmm now this I like.

Here are the random thoughts that come to mind.
1/ This is freakin' awesome
2/ Sometimes I wish I lived in the US.
3/ Given that I am closer to Antartica than RCE would make these a problem to get serviced.
4/ This is freakin' awesome
5/ I have already ordered some dampers
6/ I am not quite sober
7/ Seriously, to have these as an option for the triplets supported by RCE is close to heaven even though I am not in a position to take advantage of these.
8/ I will be curious to se the pricing purely for interest's sake.
9/ I have to congratulate Andy and RCE for bringing these to market.
10/ This is freakin' awesome

Edit. I have just seen the price on their facecrook page and the price is just crazy. Seriously, from a marketing perspective sometimes a product can be priced too low. If I was living there I would have placed an order for these by now. F**k, I am a little envious.

Delicious.

Are the default spring rates the same as the T2 (400/400)?

Any particular reason for the 1 year warranty vs. the typical lifetime KW?

Can you elaborate a little about tuning high speed compression vs low speed compression? I understand the low speed=handling high speed=bumps correlation, but from a practical tuning symptom/resolution standpoint.

And what would one expect coming from a set of V3's?

I think Myles has some, I'll check.

- andy

:lol: Thanks.

Price will go up after the intro phase...but even still, we think they're a great value.

- Andy

Standard rates 9k/9k (500/500), but we expect a lot of these to be custom.

KW does not do warranties on Clubsport or Competition systems, so the warranty is our thing (through KW) in this case.

Correct. A good way to think about it is in terms of piston speed. Low speed means low piston speed (0 to 2 or 3 inches per second). These velocities are seen during body roll...basically when you're making the chassis move via your inputs. High speed damping is hitting bumps, when the piston moves quickly.

So why not crank the low speed adjuster all the way up and the high speed all the way down? Well you do need some high speed compression to help keep the car from using up all the travel. And too much low speed compression can mean a very high rate of weight transfer, decreasing grip.

KW V3s (and our Tarmac 2s) mostly adjust low speed and a little midspeed damping all together. So you're able to make noticeable changes to the handling of the car, but sometimes that means making compromises elsewhere. High speed is still done well by the base valving but having that extra control is pretty big. The way the adjustment is done on our T3s with the metered orifices is also very consistent across the range.

- Andy

Oof. CSG spec SRC or these... Though I am unsure if I'd actually be able to tune a 3 way well in the near term...

Choices are an awesome thing to have.

These look amazing. They are way out of my price range, driving ability and I probably would never get them setup optimally. But god damnit I want them. I hope one day you find someone to distribute your products here in Australia again.

A few things.

We started working with KW back in 2010 on the prototypes of these using the GD chassis STI. Check our FB photos and go WAYYYYY back and you will see a random post of the compression knob showing low speed and high speed.

The comment about being priced too low,...well we wanted to give the T2 owners a set up they could graduate to that was obtainable. 6k is NOT for most. Camber plates can be sourced for not much and so this price point came about. Simply put as a company we dont make much on these but we DO facilitate this super niche market with a competent 3 way that tunes close to how the T2 tunes but with MUCH better damping.

For 8 years STI owners have used and tuned the T2's successfully and now they can take that knowledge to the T3. BTW its NOT hard to tune at all.

And while most everything in this segment has ZERO warranty we can offer a 1 year warranty. Keep in mind we see most T2's and T zero's lasting 4-5 years before rebuilds are needed.

I spent some time in Germany this past October ( pictures on our FB page ) and yes I have pics but Kw wont allow me to show video of certain cars on the shake rig. Not our choice, but I can tell you its AMAZING to witness and the data that comes from a typical session and the sims of the Ring are the purest form of motorsport data porn you will EVAR experience.



Myles Williams
RCE CRG

I'm glad you mentioned this. I am spending a lot of time as always setting up a GR chassis STI, GD chassis and new 2015 VA chassis WRX. We will also be doing this with the BRZ as well. We will have some solid base line settings to offer end users as a starting point. IF you follow our IWSTI settings thread for T2's its comprehensive and no ones seems to be "lost" on set up. Most are going faster and faster at the track.

Back to Andrew now.

Mw