Air Ride Wins Forza!!!!!!!!!

[Bill Howell]

Congratulations Bret and the whole AirRide team on the fantastic win on the Forza Challenge. Just an unbeleivable win. I can not wait to hear the silence from the naysayers.....hehe

:1st:

[Larry Callahan]

Congratulations to everyone involved. It looked like a lot of fun.

WAY TO GO!!!!!:6gears:


https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif

[dropit69]

yeah that was awesome...what a mistake to not know who was in first..it also made Lou eat some crow..lol,,,congrats air ride!!!

[LowBuckX]

Sure does change my mind on Air ride. I wont think twice when seeing guys run it on their PT car.

[Ralph LoGrasso]

Congrats to all at Air Ride.

To all the critics, Air Ride should be saying just four words, "Look at me(us) now".

[Damn True]

Well done guys!

[TonyL]

Nice! Where's all the "but what's the spring rate?!!" guys now?

[ProdigyCustoms]

Sure does change my mind on Air ride. I wont think twice when seeing guys run it on their PT car.

Ahhh, and probably not the last to say it. Conratulations to Bret and the entire Air Ride team!

[formula]

:headbang: Sweet ass, this is just what ART needed! Congrats Bret and crew!

[trackrat79]

I gongradulate team air ride but I still would not use air bags on a performance car. Thier suspension system had no baring on thier win. It was the other cars mechanical failures none of wich were suspension related and a bad crew chief call that led to the win.

Does anyone know what the final points standings wher.

[neki67]

Well done guys.

I'm following the discussion for quite some time now and it seems to me that all your efforts of proofing your system on the track (and not just by advertising) has now payed off.

Remember; to finish first, you first have to finish!

[jb@ridetech]

Thanks guys!!! it was a awesome show, and we had a great party last night... it was a blast. it was nice to see the 2 cars that didn't break down were ours.

[jb@ridetech]

I gongradulate team air ride but I still would not use air bags on a performance car. Thier suspension system had no baring on thier win. It was the other cars mechanical failures none of wich were suspension related and a bad crew chief call that led to the win.

Does anyone know what the final points standings wher.




I understand, we can never make everyone happy, and if we didn't have critics, who would come in second..... joking :1st:

[darren@ridetech]

One part that they didn't show was the fact that we had 2" of toe in on the right side after that hit on the 2nd lap. She was just cruising it trying to finish the race without blowing the tire. That it until everyone else broke and we realized we had a shot at winning the race. Then she literally drove the wheels off the car.

Does anyone remember when Angela's uncle Derrick Cope won the Daytona 500 only because Dale Earnhardt blew a tire?
That's racing!!!

[4OfaKind]

I gongradulate team air ride but I still would not use air bags on a performance car. Thier suspension system had no baring on thier win. It was the other cars mechanical failures none of wich were suspension related and a bad crew chief call that led to the win.

Does anyone know what the final points standings wher.

No the suspension system had nothing to do with Team Air Ride winning the first drag race on day one and then going to a road course the same day and winning pole. It had nothing to do with Angela being able to win a road course race with one wheel pointing the wrong direction.


Congrats on a hard fought victory Air Ride.

Mal

[barraza]

I saw the air ride cars in action at pigeon forge last year was convinced they work. The win was great but some of this competition was a joke. The cars were unevenly matched ( a c6 vette and a challenger?), the preparation by some of the teams poor (can a year one car finish an event?), and the rules enforced at a whim. Two teams were given time to fix problems before the last event while no one was allowed time at previous ones, including the air ride car. Was there any sense to the driver selection? A professional drift competitor, a teenager barely old enough to drive, and a track champion from the oval across the street from Road Atlanta?

[Diognes56]

Congrats Air Ride team :) .

David

[Tony@AirRideTech]

Thanks guys!!! it was a awesome show, and we had a great party last night....


You can say that again! But atleast last night we had a clear cut, uncontested winner of the Porcelain Bowl 500 ..... :Alchy: Jeremy!!!

[bret]

Having witnessed the entire train wreck first hand, I am most amazed by our collective ability to keep the winner a secret for the last 6 months! [and my wife says I have a big mouth!]
As with any racing I think we were the beneficiary of equal parts skill, hard work, and luck. Brad Coomer, Britt Marolf and Angela Cope did a great job of working together. They simply did not give up. I can't wait for season 2! GO GIRL!

BTW...the Challenger had our air suspension on it as well. This was the same Challenger that we did an AirBar installation on at the Columbus Goodguys show last July. It had virtually NO track time [and hardly any street time] on it when filming started. Congratulations to Kevin King, Tony Rowe, Clarence Barnes and the Year One gang for breastfeeding that car through the week!

All the people involved were just top notch. Bud Brutsman and his crew were extremely well organized and helpful. Kevin King at Year One did a huge amount of legwork leading up to the show...he was the reason that we were invited in the first place. We intend to show our respect to Year One by attending in force at the Year One Experience in May. I think many here would like to see how they can do in the autocross compared to the Forza drivers...

[trackrat79]

Did I miss something or was I watching a different show. At the time of the first days events the mustang had the stock coil spring and four link suspension on it. THey did not get to put thier air ride kit on it till the first modification period after the drag race and road race.

I saw that the mustang was prety well damaged after the insident. Not only was it toed out it looked like it was bottoming out quite a bit to. From the out side footage that was shown and gushi's incar it looked like Angela just looped it but then they showed her all pissed off at the both gushi and the new guy. What realy happend.

I agree that it obviously works to a dagree. I just am not convinced yet that you can get that last 10 and 5% out of it that you can with tried and true rated coils. You would do a lot to convince me and probly others that are still hesitant about air systems in performance aplications if you put together a car and raced in the GRand AM cup in the ST class or better yet the next level up( drawing ablank on the name of it right now).

I did have another question. I noticed your mustang started out with aero modifications and no one else did. What was that about?

[bret]

We started with the Mustang that we built for SEMA in 2005. Since we had kept none of the stock ground effects we leftt the aluminum bodywork on the car.
Angela and Ken Gushi got together in the first turn of the first lap. The right front tire was toed in about 2" for the entire race. [I still have the tire...I think I'll have it bronzed!] When the crash occured we didn't know what all was damaged. She knew it was bottoming out but didn't want to change any air pressure because we didn't know if the AirStrut itself had been damaged. We just made laps after that in hopes the others would have problems down the line. That worked out OK.

[trapin]

Who gives a crap "HOW" they won the race. Hell...even if they came in 2nd they could still grab their crotches and yell "Eat This". From a street perspective (with their ease of adjustability in performance and ride height) I believe the Air Ride sytems now stand at the top of the heap. If I could do it all over again, my car would have their bags on it. Great job, guys and congrats to everyone at Air Ride.

[LMDGUY]

Congrats Airride.. good thing I got it recorded, I will watch it tonight

[Bill Howell]

I agree that it obviously works to a dagree. I just am not convinced yet that you can get that last 10 and 5% out of it that you can with tried and true rated coils.

Really? Are you saying that you are capable of getting 95% out of your car? If so, you are in the top 2% of drivers on this board and in the world for that matter. Tell us about your track time.
Your quote may be correct, MAYBE, but after playing this game for some time now, I have found most of us are only capable of about 75% of the car's capablity anyway. What difference does 5% make? This is not a slam against you or anyone else, but I do want to be sure we are on the same page here before comments are taken as facts. I have seen some of the most well built cars here, built by different people and companies compete head to head with the same driver (one of the 2% guys I talked about earlier), and can say that there was not any difference in performance to him. He probably pushed the cars about 90% since they were not his and he had never sat in the seat until that afternoon, but he was impressed by the system.

BTW, the comments about how they won really make me laugh. NASCAR doesn't care how the winner wins, gas mileage, no problems or the first ten cars take themselves out, the winner is the winner anyway.....WHATEVER!!!

I guess when people can no longer argue with FACTS, they will start making excuses???????

Disagree with me??? Then bring your stuff to the Year One Experience and SHOW ME. I am man enough to admit when I am wrong, I just need someone to prove me wrong.

[trackrat79]

I agree that a win is a win, and they diserved every bit of it. I take them any way I can when I race. My point was that because of all the mechanical issues with all the cars I dont think this new praise for thier suspsension setup is worranted. IF you were already a believer thats one thing, but if your were skeptical before and now you've changed your tune because of the results of the show. I dont know, to each his own I guess some people just take less convincing.

Do I think I can get 95% of a cars potential out of it. I'd like to think so but there is realy no way of knowing.

I was not implying that it is not a capable system. I have even talked to the guys at air ride about thier system in my search for stuff to use on my cars. I want as much adjustability as possible in my suspension system, and I am talkning about more than just ride hieght. At the time I talked to them thier system could not do what I wanted but they were working on it. There must be some reason why that technoligy is not more widly used in profesional racing. Hell I know guys that wont use coilover type systems on thier cars. I agree that in street aplications you will probly never push the car hard enough to tell a differance. But my friends and I build are cars for track duty first and road duty second. If we have to stop at every available gas station and go 2mph over a speed bump when driving on the street because the settings for the track make driving on the street difficult we can live with that.

[LowBuckX]

What broke on the camaro? if it was the drive shaft Iwant to know who made the shafts for year one so I can avoid them.. :secret:

[Bill Howell]

Trackrat, I am not picking on you, there are some reading this though that need to prove me wrong. For years we have had to endure all the rocket science experts that said the system would not work and now, after several events, including this one, Air Ride has shown that their system does work. I like seeing things work on the track, not so much on a sheet of paper and now that track events are proving bags work, there is a real silence here from the suspension gurus.
I know some can out argue me with are the techo garbage, but I would fall into that trap anyway, come SHOW me something, quit depending on the sliderule so much.

Take this as a challenge guys, step up.:drive:

[MarkM66]

What broke on the camaro? if it was the drive shaft Iwant to know who made the shafts for year one so I can avoid them.. :secret:

I'd like to know what broke too.

I'd also like to see the final points. Seems as if all was riding on the last race. Would the Challenger had won the event if it would of won the last race?

[NVRENUF]

Awesome show! Congrats ART! Being a newb, I know this has been mentioned probably overkill, but how does one apply for another season.
Not really. Couldnt get away from work anyways!:smashcomp

[Tony@AirRideTech]

Track.....Ive got an idea... bring your C-10 with its full "Nascar" suspension and its 406 out to one of the autocross events and I will bring our 72 shrt bed shop truck complete with inline 6cyl motor and we can run em :)

[Bill Howell]

Track.....Ive got an idea... bring your C-10 with its full "Nascar" suspension and its 406 out to one of the autocross events and I will bring our 72 shrt bed shop truck complete with inline 6cyl motor and we can run em :)

Not a six cylinder???? You're kidding me right?
(is it an old green truck?)

[Tony@AirRideTech]

yup :)

[Bill Howell]

That truck still has the old original Six banger in it. You mean that could possibly be a good autocross ride?:hmm:


Track, don't do it, getting beat by a inline six would be bad.....:naughty:

[jsconiers]

Do I hear an episode of "pinks" brewing......!!!!!


Track.....Ive got an idea... bring your C-10 with its full "Nascar" suspension and its 406 out to one of the autocross events and I will bring our 72 shrt bed shop truck complete with inline 6cyl motor and we can run em :)

[LowBuckX]

Pinks the auto-X edition. be fun to watch

[Tony@AirRideTech]

Bill........ I dont know if the six would be any good but I know it will handle :) It would be entertaining none the less....... :)

[Chad-1stGen]

ha ha. I'd like to see that showdown!

[jeff s]

I just want Angela to be my girl friend.

[chicane67]

Pinks the auto-X edition. be fun to watch

Fun to watch... hell, they would probably get twice the viewership on the first epp !! "Pinks" auto-X... now that would be something to see.

[ullose2]

One of my friends ran his 66 Chevy Pick-up at the last auto-x (inline 6 and 3 on the tree!!) at 411 a few weeks ago. He did it just for fun, but now hes hooked and looking into suspension mods. Would someone at air-ride mind posting some picks of the shop truck and the system you have on it. I would be more than happy to point him in your direction.

Also, I witnessed what the air-ride cars could do first hand at the PF event last year and they were pretty incredible. People who watch the videos sometimes still cant believe the cars have bags.

[jeff s]

Do I hear an episode of "pinks" brewing......!!!!!
Actually several new shows by the same producers, I committed to participate yesterday.

[MrAngry]

Congrats on the win guys!

[trackrat79]

IF the truck ever gets done I am up for it. BUt only if we do a full blown track day also somewere , so I can stretch its legs. I should be to a point soon that I could take it out as it is and to some auto-x events to give me something to compare it to when the truck is fully done.

The real funny thing is that I may end up useing an air ride part of yours on my truck while keeping my coil spring suspension. Can you guess what it mite be.

PINK's auto-x. I like it but since most of the atraction to the show is the arguing what would we nagotiate over in an auto-x setup, "seconds"tenths of a second"

I got it instead of both drivers running on the same course and just going by times. Have two courses that are mirror images of each other with the start line side by side and the finishline ending together side by side. THen you nagotiate for a head start on the other guy or just run heads up. O another thing. Instead of useing cones that can easily be nocked out of the way and bringing time penalties into the mix that could really confuse people. Set the courses up useing "Armco" barriers, I think thats what they are called. THe concrete barriers that are used for highway dividers, or water barrels or something that is heavy that you would not want to run into to keep guys from cutting the course.

[barraza]

I got it instead of both drivers running on the same course and just going by times. Have two courses that are mirror images of each other with the start line side by side and the finishline ending together side by side.
Great idea, SCCA ProSolo has been doing it for close to 20 years!!

I think that the best thing this program showed is that just bolting on parts doesnt make a car track ready. To win you have to finish, and to finish you have to get the crew, driver, and vehicle all working. The AirRide team obviously did it the best, even though they probably didn't have the fastest car or the most experienced driver, congrats to them.
Also reinforced the old adage about not winning the race in the first corner. :hand:

[trackrat79]

I saw the last episode again last night and it sounded like Team Lg took the radiator out of the corvette completely because they thaught it would be cold enough to run without it. Did they realy do that or was it just a bad case of show editing that has me confused. I know lots of racers dont run a fan since the cars are moving and forcing air into the rad to keep it cool but I have never heard of not having a rad at all except in drag racing.

On the SCCA Pro solo, I had no idea that something like that already existed. I am not up on Solo or auto-x classes.

[SicMonte]

this sucks!! i dont have Speed channel..so i could not watch the shows!! how many were there?

and for the guys at ART....way to go!!! What do you all have for a 88 monte carlo...hmmmm.....

[MonzaRacer]

OK so to cousin Bret, WAY TO GO MAN THE CAR LOOKED AWESOME!
Yes Bret is a cousin of mine and I ll brag on ART as I built a bolt on setup for my 78 C10 before they developed thiers(and I may look at the new panhard bar mount to do some tewaking on mine.
As for Angela Cope Great job girl ,and what away to make 'ol Holywood eat his words on the fact he wasracing a WOMAN.
HAHAHAHA, As for making a C10 run hard in the corners WITHOUT big wheels and sticky tires my 78 has made some awesome progress and after having drove it since Labor day '04 everyday and still driving it.
Air ride suspensions work and dont ever doubt it, the proof is in the catalog and hundreds of thousands of people will agree.
My favorite quote from and article was when (I believe it was Hot Rod) John Hotchkis basicly stated that Air Ride was for fair grounds crusiers and would never make a showing on a track.
Well after they set up cars profesional drivers like Said, McLaughlin and others and many magazine folks have changed thier stance on it and it continues to prove its viability and adjustablity.
After be out of work for a month and starting a new job, I am getting started working on my 77 Monza and hopefully it can be done for the Power Tour Autocross in Evansville.
I may not have big cash nor a fancy garage but I intend to be there for some fun and hopefully to show off my ride, most likely in primer as funds are going to be short and I still have an engine to build and well over $1000 worth of suspension to develop too as this car has no starting foundation except I MAY be able to use a ShockWave for Mustang 2.
This will be my 3rd ART equipt car and hopefully not my last and I most definately will be the fella with the least to spend and most to prove , if not to anyone else but to myself.
I have never had big dollars and I probably never will but God gave me skill and talent and I have always made due and ART will have a very large sign in my back window if I make it there.
CONGRADUALTIONS TO BRET AND SHARON AND ANGELA AND ALL THE TEAM.
WELL DONE!
Who would have thought a fledgling little buisness from the Hoosier state, started by a Hoosier could come in and hold there own let alone beat other teams.
Hats off guys and gals, you deserved the win.
I doesnt matter what happens before the checkered flag. Its who keeps going and makes it to the winners circle.
Oh and to the other competitiors a job well done a nd a big hats off to them too.
Sign me an Air Ride Technologies owner for life,
Lee Abel
AFTERMARKET PERFORMANCE
"Another Hoosier Performance buisness"

[OTE Design & Fabrication]

Congratulations to team AirRide!

[Dan Sherwood]

If anyone knows the answer to this-I was curious why the tang did'nt do any better the second time around in the drag race? I was curious if they did'nt hook as well as they did the first time due to power adders? I did'nt catch the mph diff or that would tell me how much hp they added. Just curious if anyone knew?

[MarkM66]

If anyone knows the answer to this-I was curious why the tang did'nt do any better the second time around in the drag race? I was curious if they did'nt hook as well as they did the first time due to power adders? I did'nt catch the mph diff or that would tell me how much hp they added. Just curious if anyone knew?

I remember one of the mph runs was only 104. Maybe there were tuning issues with the car. Seems very slow of a supercharged car.

[bret]

The second drag race was much warmer and the clutch was getting REALLY soft. This is the same car that I ran on Drag Week in 2005 [12.44@ 113 at Milan] AND our Street Challenge track day in 2005 AND 2006, [with Boris Said molesting the car all day both years] AND the Year One Experience in 2006, AND the Power Tour in 2006, AND done dozens of burnouts, AND have drove to work for 12,000 miles. Best we can count we have had 22 sets of tires on this car. I'm gonna have it bronzed next week.

[SicMonte]

did anyone tape it?? I dont have the Speed Channel.

[Serpa69]

All this show did is make me appreciate super chargers more!