Yes, both Jeff Gamroth and Greg Fordahl have worked for Alex Job Racing in a leading roll for several years. Jeff retired from the team at the end of 2003. Greg also is basically Randy Pobst right hand man. I haven't talked to Greg much over the past year so I don't know if he is working with Randy on the Audi or not but almost anytime Randy is in Porsche Greg is there too. Greg also ran the first independent Saleen S7 that was very successful in GrandAm a few years back. The list goes on ... I've found myself disagreeing with some of what he does but have to tell you that amost any of the top drivers that have used him have nothing but praise for his work. Again if you're just looking to bolt on more parts most of the guys can do that. If you want to dial for track use then Jeff is in Portland is an outstanding driver and will do a great job for you or Loren in Los Angeles. Loren has tons of club experience and many many wins under his belt He can do the setup himself or has an excellent shock setup driver that he hires in at times to help. With Loren many people just leave their car with him and he transports it with one of his semi's to the track you want and will do setup at he track. He also has his own plane and will fly to you if you prefer. The guys at this level are time and materials. How much does it cost for "average" setup? In that case just go to an alignment guy. Figure it's going to be $80 plus an hour from these guys and at least 4 hours the first time in which could very easily turn into 30 hours depending on how far you go. If you're going to a track ... add all those expences as well.

 

offroadr35, Good Point ... very true

MKW, .... exactly!

 

Hamann, there are several reasons I say that, I wasn’t aiming it directly at you. I’m just saying all the high end shocks are already easily adjustable. For most people to pay anything extra to have them adjustable from cockpit is not good money spent. If someone wants to spend the money just to spend it for gadgets then that’s cool, I’m all for that …. I like toys myself. But consider this, one really critical part of the adjustment is the nitrogen pressure and if you’re not able to adjust that at the same time you’re only half way there.

If your opinion is that Ohlins are superior to the JRZ family that’s fine, we all have our opinions. My question is, how you are defining superior because the JRZ family of shocks are faster on the track more times than not when the shocks are compared back to back. I’ve seen Ohlins that were supported with factory technicians compared on the track directly. The Ohlins had a better dyno graph and the car even looked smooth at the turn exits. However, the driver, Randy Pobst said he couldn’t feel the difference and the car was consistently 5 tenths quicker. Ohlins makes a great shock no doubt but, not as fast as JRZs according to the watch.

 

You could be right, I don't know Randy Pobst. However, this could be one instance where the JRZ's are faster, but there are many race teams using the Ohlins including CART and WRC, so obviously it couldn't be slower than JRZ all tht eime either, or else everyone would be using JRZ/Moton/Protrac.

What I like about the new Ohlins suspension is its active suspension components utilizing a form of telemetry. In addition to the on-the-fly adjustability, they say it will proactively adjust suspension settings through readings from its telemetry sensors. Things like this wouldn't be allowed for most forms of sanctioned racing anyway. You can ask your buddies at Hartmann about this, they are the ones who told me about this.

But for us amateurs, it would be pretty cool to have it, don't you think?

Ideally, if I could get Moton or JRZ shocks to work with the TEIN electronics, that would be ideal for me. From what I have seen the Ohlins stuff is substantially more expensive, even the non-electronic stuff.

 

Don't get me wrong, Ohlins makes an outstanding product and the workmanship is as good as anything out there... I've just found that you pay more and don't always go faster. When you look at open wheel cars not only is that different application but lots and lots of politics which means money and team support. Part of the past problems have been that JRZ is small and ohlins is huge by comparison. Things aren't always as they appear.

As far as the example of Randy, that is only one example of many. And to answer your question about him, he does mostly road racing at the leave of Cort Wagner and Bill Auberlen. Randy was the Amercian factory Porsche driver for the first cup race at Indy a few years back.

As you were saying about the TEIL stuff no doubt very cool... like I said...I love toys. I'll talk to JRZ about making some shocks like that again and get a price.

 

I do believe there is some life in some of these board members regarding suspension set up. I see some of you know who Greg is. When the shootout was originally concieved, the reason I had chosen the November 14 date, before it was cancelled, was the racing season had just ended and I was going to have him set up my car for Thunder Hill. I was told the time for set up and dial in would have been more like three days.

 

Tyson,

I don't know anything about the brand you like. Regarding electronic changing, it sounds like alot of extra weight. I have had my car professionally set up for two different tracks, an autocross and the plain old street. With each change, it wasn't simply a matter of changing the JRZ settings. I just don't know how you are going to change things like camber, castor and toe in electronicly. Then again maybe I'm behind the times. It would seem to me, based on my observations of testing and then changing different individual adjustments on each JRZ, that these electronic dampers would need a control panel or computer key board and alot of time.

 

I use the Moton Clubsports, and they are an awesome unit. Moton was started by one of the original founders of JRZ.

One of the reasons that Ohlins are so expensive is that you are paying for support. Ohlins have people at most of the major races to help folks running Ohlins.

 

....and I'd say that pretty much falls between 4 to 30 hours

 

Moton/ProTrac/JRZ............they all came from JRZ and used the same technology!

 

Btw, where did you get your Clubsport at?

 

Cary, it would be great if you could make an inquiry, as I think this setup would be REALLY, REALLY cool, and highly functional.

Chad, I don't know as much as I'd like to about this new electronic system. However, I am sure there are certain things like camber that still have to be adjusted manually... but think about the time savings for everything else.

Also, the control module for the adjustments is actually very compact. You could flush it right into your center console. Also, it wouldn't add much weight at all. The only thing is, you basically have to strip the interior to wire the car from front to back on each shock tower. I did this with my M5 and it took about 14 hours to install-- but the results were definitely worth it.

 

so i'm looking for a good guy to set up the suspension on the new Cobra for some track events and autocrosses and this thread came to mind. Are the guys talked about here just porsche specific? Can anyone recommend a good shop in So Cal? I think i'm going to need new shocks also...

 

For cars like that the best by far in So Cal. for the money is Ross Murray. He does a lot of scca viper, vette, mustang, camaro type cars. He is also one hell of a fabricator and very good setup guy. He also does a lot of the work on the Trans Am Mustang Boris Said drives. The business is called Exoticraft located in Marina Del Rey and his number is 310-821-7289. If he's not there...leave a message ... tell him what you need and that you are a friend of mine and he'll call you back.... really good guy.

 

I was just talking with Rob (the "R" in JRZ) who is the owner of Protrac and as of a few months ago the "once again" new owner of JRZ. Protrac has made internally electronically adjustable shocks but, found it to be too expensive for the average consumer. They are continuing to work on this and he said they could may do an externally adjustable if the market demands it in the mean time. For what it's worth, now that Protrac and JRZ have joined the Protrac lable will go with the Off road shocks and all the road shocks with be labled JRZ...