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RideTech Runs for Grand Champion Competition at Holley LS Fest 2015

The Holley LS Fest is one of those events you just can't miss; and now finished with it's 6th successful annual takeover of Bowling Green, the die has been cast.  This event continues to grow exponentially, both in numbers of spectators AND competitors!  This year, the Grand Champion Competition incorporated a TrackCross event at the National Corvette Museum Motorsports Park; while that portion of the event was eventually rained out, it was still a great new experience and we look forward to bigger and better inclusions next year.  For more information about Holley LS Fest, click HERE!

Holley LS Fest 2015 Results
We all had a GREAT time at Holley LS Fest, as we do every year!  Chris Smith and the 48-Hour Corvette brought home a 5th place finish, while pulling out a 4th place victory in the Autocross portion.  Bret Voelkel in the 48-Hour Camaro also brought in the 12th place title; both impressive finishes, considering the nearly 100 competitors vying for the Grand Champion title!  At the end of the weekend, the Grand Champion title was reclaimed by Danny Popp in his Lingenfelter-powered Corvette (Danny won the GC in 2013 as well, with a different car).  Congratulations, Danny!  
Dozens of cars were also competing under the RideTech banner; Jason Brady, Dan Ballard, the Leisinger family, Mike King, and many, many more.  LS Fest is known for bringing the heat, both in the competition and in the weather; fortunately, this weekend had unseasonably cool temps and the crowds really took advantage of that!  For a gallery of more event images, please click here.  We also found this cool video compilation of event footage and images; have a look below!
Next up for Chris and the 48-Hour Corvette will be the upcoming Good-Guys Bowling Green event (see Upcoming Events for info).  Time's getting short, so expect him to be thrashing on it a bit as he gets things lined out before SEMA and OUSCI time!  

These are some of our favorite RideTech-equipped vehicles from this weekend's social media posts.  Post your car or truck to our Facebook wall for a chance to be featured here!
Joseph Sozzi's 1969 Cadillac Eldorado is running a RideTech air suspension system and carries a 700hp BBC.  He also writes that it contains a "Complete Triple Homicide Murder package", which, quite frankly, could be interpreted several ways and makes us a little uncomfortable.
All the way from Australia, Alan Anderson's 1969 Camaro runs on the RideTech HQ Coilover system!
Phillip Brewer's 1957 BelAir is sittin' pretty on a top-shelf ShockWave system with digital controller!
Horacio Lujan's gorgeous GMC is running RideTech RidePro analog gauges; he hopes to upgrade to the E3 system soon.
Building a wicked 2015 Mustang? Are you wanting the ultimate in bolt-in performance and ride quality? The Level 2 System has all of your bases covered. The Level 2 System is specifically engineered to exceed your driving expectations, no matter if it is Road Atlanta with a helmet, or I-70 west out of Denver with a trunk full of luggage.  The Level 2 System includes some of the best products currently on the market for the 2015 Mustang.

Lowers Your Ride Height
Ride height is where your car should be driven at - you can expect to be able to lower your vehicle around 5 inches from the stock ride height when not being driven by deflating the air springs below the new ride height pressure.

Improves Ride Quality
Since the air springs can be adjusted to nearly infinite spring rates, they perfectly accommodate the weight of your car. The car will ride better than ever, and with simple air pressure changes, the car can be easily tuned to optimize your driving task at hand whether autocross, drag racing, or even open road courses.

Improves Handling
With optimized suspension geometry, the adjustability of the air springs, and Handling Quality shocks, don't be surprised when your Mustang can hold the road with high-class sports sedans.

For more information or to find out what comes with this package, visit the product page HERE!
On our website and many others, you often see terms like caster, camber, toe, and more.  We spend all day talking about these in our line of work, but if you're unfamiliar with them, they can be a hard concept to grasp.  This week, let's see if we can help define them a little better.

CASTER:  Caster refers to the tilt of the front steering axis.  Whoa, what?  Look at your driver's side tire from the side, and imagine a line runnng through the steering system's upper and lower pivot points (usually the upper and lower ball joints on an A-arm suspension, or the lower ball goint and strut tower point of a McPherson strut design).  If the line is further forward at the bottom than the top, that's POSITIVE caster (/).  If the line leans further to the left at the top than the bottom (\), that's NEGATIVE caster.   Caster might not seem like a big deal, but it affects camber (see below), so it's actually more important than you'd think.  Caster causes camber to change when the front wheels are turned (ah-ha moment!).  For example, if the wheels are turned left, the wheel on the right may gain more negative camber (top of tire leans in), while the wheel on the left loses negative camber (top of the tire starts to lean out).  Also, the larger the caster angle is, the harder it is to turn the steering wheel for that reason.  Caster angle settings affect steering effort and straight line tracking, as well as high-speed stability and effective cornering.

CAMBER: Mostly applies to the front wheels, but can apply to the rear wheels if the car has independent rear suspension.  Negative camber means that the top of the wheel's axis is turned in.  Have you seen the pictures of the strange imports with the wheels extremely tilted in at the top?  That's an extreme case of NEGATIVE CAMBER.  Camber is a big deal; it affects everything from tire wear to cornering to wheel hop when you hit a pothole (because if you hit a bump that only causes one tire to lose some grip, the other tire's negative camber will push the vehicle in the direction of the tire that lost grip, and that can be disastrous!).  Camber settings will have to take into account the vehicle and driver's aggressiveness as well as balancing treadwear with cornering performance.  The goal is to use enough negative camber to provide good cornering, without sacrificing tire wear in straight-line driving.

TOE:  Imagine laying on the pavement in front of your car and looking at the front tires.  Do the fronts of the tires turn in, like the kid that got picked on in grade school for being "pigeon-toed"?  That's toe-in (positive).  Do the fronts turn out, like they're each trying to drive in different directions?  That's toe-out (negative).  If you want the car to turn easily, the toe should be on the positive side (toe-in).  For stability, you want negative (toe-out). If the toe-out is too large, the front wheels will toe-out even more when braking, making the car unstable and likely to swing from side to side.  Finding a good balance between toe-in (turning easily) and toe-out (stability and braking) can be a difficult - but necessary - task.

One of the most common complaints we hear is about uneven tire wear after suspension installation.  Usually, the customer says they had the vehicle aligned after installation as instructed...however, upon further research, we usually find that the alignment shop used the caster/camber/toe specs from the OEM suspension.  A lowered vehicle has had some radical suspension geometry changes, and it needs to be aligned appropriately!

If you have any questions about what specs your vehicle needs after installation, please give our tech staff a call or grab a copy of our catalog; we handily list vehicle-specific alignment recommendations on the vehicle-specific pages.  


 

CORVETTE FUN FEST, EFFINGHAM IL, SEPT 17-20

GOODGUYS NOSTALGIA NATIONALS, BOWLING GREEN KY, SEPT 18-20

Schwartz Performance Cruise-In and Open House, Saturday September 19, 11AM-3PM

Our friends at Schwartz Performance are celebrating 10 years of bolt-on G-Machine Chassis handling performance, power, and award-winning builds this coming weekend at their facility in Illinois!  Drop by their shop for a relaxed afternoon fo shop tours, tech talk, munchies, bench racing, and general car-guy hanging out fun.  Check out their expanded body and prep area, G-Machine chassis production, the engine room and build areas, and more.  You'll get to see their latest builds and have plenty of chances to win door prizes and more.  For more information and directions to their location, please visit www.schwartzperformance.com!
There's only ONE "The 7 Secrets of Suspension Set-up & Tuning" workshop left!  Sign up HERE to learn more about:

1.    Proven Methods to Set Up Any Car for Balanced, Neutral Handling
2.    Learn the Keys to Amazing Cornering GRIP!
3.    Simple Ways to Understand Suspension & Steering Geometry
4.    Secret Sauce Shock Valving – Why, How & What it Does!
5.    Evaluating the Suspension Strategies for YOUR Goals & Use
6.    Learn the Secrets to Awesome Brakes on Track…That Work Well on Street Too
7.    Aerodynamics Made Easy – Learn What Works for Your Car

After watching Ron in action at the RideTech Dealer's Suspension Seminar in December, we have no question that a seminar of this nature is easily worth $1000-$1500. When Ron said with Ridetech's help he could do the seminars for only $299 a person, we signed right up. Click Here to secure your spot at the next workshop!
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