Greetings from the AST cell phone!

AST Suspension to race in 24 Hours of Dubai

The race season kicks off this year on January 10th in Dubai with the third annual 24 Hours of Dubai. Over eighty race teams from around the world converge at the Dubai Autodrome circuit. AST Suspension not only is a sponsor of the event, but will be represented by the Creventic BV team running the first ever endurance prepped Audi R8, called the CR-8. The complete story can be found here.

AST developed a suspension setup based off the highly successful Competition model found in its current line up. Creventic BV will be building turn-key endurance race cars using AST's triple adjustable race suspension. This same suspension is available for popular Japanese, European, and American sports cars. Best of luck to the Creventic team in their debut race!

Back from Performance Racing Tradeshow!

Well we made it back in one piece. Let's hope the shocks do too! We had a great time meeting old friends, new friends and having a great time outside the show too. We'll do a more detailed update later, but it was a great launch for AST in the States. Special thanks to AST BV for coming over from Holland and helping with the show.

We had some very influential industry specialists coming by to see the products and sending still others by to see the products as well. They were very complimentary of the product quality and the innovation that our new double adjustables have with the TPDA valving for compression adjustment. Some special topics we'll follow up with on the news section:

1. TUV testing: What does it mean to you when you purchase a race quality shock?
2. New applications: We'll update a list of cars we're looking for to test new products on.
   

AST 4200 Video

Straight from AST...

The following video is the raw footage of video we'll be showing at our booth for Performance Racing Industry tradeshow (in Orlando December 6-8). We'll clean it up a bit.

This is the AST 4200 double adjustable damper on the shock dyno. The 4200 is based on AST's Twin Piston Dual Adjust (TPDA) technology. Simply put, TPDA moves the external reservoir into the base of the shock. The lower piston you see acts as the bleeder valve that a normal external res shock would have at the top of the reservoir. This controls the pressure put on the floating piston. With the valve open, the floating piston does its job and moves up and down as the shock runs through its stroke. The compression piston is stationary with relation to the body of the shock. As you change the adjustment for compression, the pressure increases in the main body of the shock and creates more compression damping.

This particular shock is using the red synthetic oil designed for viscosity stability in endurance racing. Plus it shows off really well for the video. We can build or rebuild shocks with this fluid for special applications. This technology is proven and has been used over the years.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vDiDUpQHfY

We have the AST 4200s in stock for BMW E36. Applications for E46 and other models can be specially ordered at this time; We will begin to stock as many models as possible. Of course "eye to eye" style shocks are easily done (see pictures below). E30 front 4200 doubles always present a challenge since we need the uprights to build them. Anything is possible, though.

Brian

Back from SCCA Nationals and BMW O'Fest!

Well, we made it back in one piece from our trips. Back to business as usual. Amy Fair brought home a National Championship with the AST sponsored E36 M3. This car runs our new 4200 design. Way to go Amy! Our guys didn't fare too well this year. We had hoped for better results, but late August testing gave us some things to worry about. Unfortunately we took some gambles that didn't pay off. That's racing as the say!

BMW Oktober Fest was a blast. We ran the new LS1 powered E36 at the Day 1 and 2 autocrosses. This car has 4100 shocks on it at this time. It brought how top time of day by 6 seconds on Monday and TToD by 4 seconds on Tuesday. Good job!

We're running full speed ahead for the PRI show. We'll be in booth #1407. AST (Holland) will be coming as well to help with the booth. Stop by to meet some of the brightest minds in the damper business. We'll be showing off our latest designs. More to come.

Brian

AST USA Update!

Greetings,
Just a few things going on. September 25th through October 2nd we'll be out of the office attending SCCA Solo Nationals then running back to Texas for BMW O'fest. If you're at either of these events, come find us. We should be around! We're bringing a Subaru WRX STI, Evo IX, and a BMW E36 M3 to the SCCA Solo Nationals. We've got AST 4100, 4200 and 4300 dampers represented on these cars.

We'll have the LS1 powered E36 318is out at O'fest running AST 4100s. Hopefully they won't kick us out for our non-BMW motor swap. :) This is the soon to be "track day" monster. Most folks that ride in it say they had "a religious experience" when they get out. 750 pound springs and the ASTs soak it up like nothing!


Several product projects are going on as well. We're working with some top customers on an enduro version of the 4200s, 4300 coilover rear E30 M3 shocks and various STI and Mini Cooper updates. E30 non M coilovers are being tested soon.

Reviews from new customers continue to come in. Customers are going faster at the track than they were before they installed their ASTs. That's the way we like it.


Thanks,
Brian

Testing on the 4200 series

Testing on the new 4200 series shock is complete! We have completed testing of the new 4200 series shock using our TPDA technology. This double adjustable monotube with no external reservoir will be rolled out throughout our product line throughout the year. Subaru and BMW applications are ready now.