Ohlins vs K-Tech

There's so much discussion on who is the best? A lot of the answers revolve around what is used the most because that must be the best. If you go outside the USA, there's only one force at tracks in Europe that has over taken Ohlins:

http://www.superbike.co.uk/news/KTech_suspension_is_as_good_as_Ohlins_There_we_said_it_news_302104.html

Now in fairness the British press will plug a British product, but there's an even playing field for all at the track. K-Tech has burst on the scene with a very meticulous plan with product placement, track side support and quantity for sales. As with Catalyst Reaction, they test everything before they put it out in the market place.

They have made efforts to create a presence in the USA/AMA and have done so via Jordan Motorsports and other top level teams. Their products are top shelf, racing derived and track focused.

I haven't ridden any sets yet, but that will come in time.

Tuning a BMW S1000RR Superbike at Losail, Qatar

Losail Circuit, Qatar January 21st, 2011

QMMF series, Team TSI, 2010 BMW S1000RR

Conditions:

Wet at 6am from over night rain, temps in the low 50’s. 7.30am meet in the foyer and then to Losail. First review of the BMW S100RR for current configuration:

Chassis details:

Ohlins R&T forks with .95kg springs, fork cap +8mm above triple clamp

Preload 5 turns in, Rebound 10 clicks out, Compression 16 clicks out

Ohlins TTX shock, +5mm ride height, shock upper mount spacer in low position

95kg spring, 13mm installed preload, 5 turns of preload in, Compression14 clicks out, rebound 7 clicks out

Stock gearing with 520 chain conversation, rear sprocket worn

Dunlop UK 211 slicks are control tires, choice of medium soft or medium hard with 3 sets of tires for the weekend (Qatari weekend is Friday and Saturday).

During the waiting period for the track to dry, the chain was adjusted with rider on board, front wheel was misaligned so brake calipers stripped and cleaned and front wheel reinstalled correctly. In spinning the wheel there was a high spot (or light bend) on one of the rotors. Axle and spacer reset, caliper pistons reset and wheel reinstalled. High spot still present, calipers cleaned again and reinstalled. High spot due to a sticking piston in the right caliper. Calipers cleaned again and reinstalled. Wheel spun smoothly and the high spot was removed.

20 minute track 'walk' via scooters on the access road to review problem areas of the track. All problems highlighted fit into 2 categories:

1. Off throttle with no brakes applied, the bike was hard to turn in and on the brakes the rear of the bike would move around.

2. On 50% or more throttle the rear tire would slip/grip from the shock pumping up and down causing the bike to run wide.

The rider got into leathers and sat on the bike. Sag in the front was a little on the soft side at 37mm, and rear sag was 10mm rider, 10mm free sag. Shock travel utilized was 30%. The shock was removed and the 95kg spring replaced for a 90kg spring. There was no room to change installed preload, so a different 90kg spring was found that was 3mm shorter to give us 12mm installed preload. The shock was reinstalled with original settings.

Session 1 (20 mins, temps in the 50’s)

Fork settings changed due to very cold weather:

Preload at 5 turns in, rebound at 14 clicks out, compression at 16 clicks out

Shock settings at :

Preload 1 turn in, Rebound at 14 clicks out, Compression at 12 clicks out

A dry track but very green after 3 mornings of rain. Tires at 85 degrees C for one hour in a garage with door closed. Tire pressure set at 1.4bar rear, 2.3 bar front hot after 2 laps. Nassar sent back on track to evaluate drive grip on a green track, to see if there was anything to gain from the session at a pace of 2:06.

Nassar complained of poor turn in when using engine braking and poor transitions during fast speed sections and the bike running wide at corner exit. I reset the front fork rebound to 11 clicks out and sent him back out for review. Bike was much more stable on the brakes going into the corner, better exiting the corner but still running wide.

Total of 6 laps when practice ended. Based on discussion regarding corner exit, the shock settings were changed to :

Preload 1 turn in, rebound 8 clicks out, Compression at 12 clicks out

The rebound change was to assess if the shock was topping out or if the shock was wallowing.

Session 2 (30 minute qualifying)

Protocol:

1 lap to scrub the rear tire, lap 2 push to see if the changes were positive. If so stay out for lap 3 and push harder to evaluate problems and then exit the track.

Problems:

- still not turning in well using engine braking, so fork preload reduced to 3.75 turns in to let the fork ride a little lower in the stroke.

- still running wide on corner exit, so shock preload was changed to 5 turns in and shock compression changed to 12 clicks out.

- shock pump still present on the gas causing grip problems, rebound changed to 10 clicks out

- rear tire shredding and extremely hot to the touch. Did the conversion math and decided to start the session at 1.5bar tomorrow depending on ambient temps.

NOTES:

Watched as Alex Cudlin went out with a soft tire at 1.3 bar for 4 laps and the rear tire was ruined when he returned to the pits with a significant hot tear. Clearly conditions too cold to use this tire but it is part of the allotment to be used.

For tomorrows warm up, we will play with rear tire pressure and more shock preload and compression as this improved the tire wear significantly in the last lap taken of the qualifying which may help with tire longevity in the second half of the race.

A friend is allowing us to use his wheels so we have a second set as there will be no time to change tires between races tomorrow (only one Dunlop person changing the tires for everyone).

Nassar likes to lead from the front and be as aggressive as possible. By 1/3rd race distance his tires are going off and continue to degrade leaving him a distant 3rd place at the checkered flag. For race 1, he will sit in 3rd place and follow the pace to learn where he is strong and other riders are stronger and to conserve tires as best as possible to give him a better chance at competing for the top spot. This will also allow for much more technical comparative analysis on the bikes good and weak points compared to his competitors. This will be very valuable information for race 2.

In morning warm up we need to evaluate the importance of tire pressure and tire longevity. We succeeded today in making the tire last 11 laps before it degraded substantially as opposed to 5, so that was a significant gain. Total race distance is 15 laps so tire management is critical.

Day 2

No overnight rain but cold morning wind off the Gulf with some clouds gave a cold start to the morning. By the time we reached the track, the clouds had moved on giving us blue skies and sunshine but the wind kept the track surface cold.

Session 1 (20 mins):

Given the increase in ambient temperature, I changed the tire pressure to 1.5bar in the rear and 2.2bar in the front as the focus was tire pressure to improve tire wear and longevity.

Nasar took 2 laps and came in for the hot pressure setting check and then proceeded out for 2 fast laps to evaluate suspension changes from last night and grip levels with new tire pressure setting. Unfortunately we only got 1 lap as the toe piece for the shift lever fell off. The rest of the practice was lost.

Race 1:

I decided to keep the same settings in the forks and shock and raise the rear tire pressure to 1.55bar, and set the front tire at 2.2bar as there was little change in the track and ambient temps and the wind was still the same.

I changed Nasar’s strategy from trying to lead all the time to learning about his competitors, being smooth and having the best tire of the group to fight hardest to win in the last 3 laps. He applied the strategy very well, leading and not leading and on the last lap made the pass for his first win.

In post race analysis, tire wear was dramatically improved for longevity but compression was too soft at 50% throttle, so 1 click of compression was added for race 2.

Race 2:

The wind had dropped significantly and the track had warmed 15 degrees, so tire pressure was changed to 1.6bar for the rear and 2.3bar for the front.

The same strategy was to be followed but 2/3rds of the way through the race, Nasar found two false neutrals which gave him too much of a gap to cover to fight for 1st, so he settled for 3rd place and a second podium for the day.

The rear tire was perfect at the end of the race, but Nasar did not push very hard for the last 5 laps in consolidating 3rd place. Therefore I do not know if the tire hot pressure settings would be correct for 15 laps with the ambient temps as they were.

A very successful weekend for team TSI and Nasar’s first podium 1st place finish in this series. The team wants me to stay for more testing this week to improve the chassis and suspension, as well as train the rider for feedback and strategy.

I have met so many good people here in the motorcycle community. I have never felt this welcome into a strange place, nor had so much help in getting up to speed and in being allowed to do my job. This trip has been amazing on so many fronts, other than the fact that I went to the track in the dark, and came back in the dark to dinner and to sleep.

This is a wonderful part of the world!