DSSV Success • 2004 Champ Car World Series champion, Sebastien Bourdais, Newman Haas Racing. • 2002 Champ Car World Series champion, Cristiano da Matta, Newman Haas Racing. • 2004 British Formula 3 champion, Nelson Piquet Jr. • 2003 Rolex 24 at Daytona, Daytona Prototype class winner • 2003 IRL IndyCar Series race winner, Alex Barron, Mo Nunn Racing • 2002 ALMS, Panoz Motor Sport, winner, Grand Prix of Washington D.C.

MEDIA RELEASE • WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30

Dynamic Suspensions launches
new damper technology

The fiercely competitive worlds of Formula One, CART, IRL IndyCar Series, Formula 3 and international sportscar racing have been the laboratory for the high speed research and development of the new and unique Dynamic Suspensions Spool Valve - DSSV Damping Technology.

After taking victories in each of these categories and winning the 2002 and 2004 Champ Car World Series and 2004 British Formula 3 Championship, Dynamic Suspensions recently unveiled the new DSSV dampers in January at the Autosport International Show in Birmingham, England.

DSSV is more than just a damper - it is a complete program which incorporates hardware, software and engineering services.

The DSSV damper program includes Dynamic Suspensions' acclaimed SpecFinder™ software which enables race teams to analytically develop and precisely match the desired damping characteristic, providing consistency, enhancing performance and simplifying adjustments.

The DSSV damping technology was utilised by Newman-Haas Racing in Champ Cars to win the 2002 title with Cristiano da Matta and the 2004 crown with Sebastien Bourdais. Last year's British Formula 3 champion, Nelson Piquet Jr. also utilised the new DSSV damper to take the championship.

But this new technology is not just confined to open wheel racing. The DSSV Technology has also been used in sportscar racing with Multimatic winning the Daytona Prototype class at the 2003 Rolex 24 at Daytona and Panoz Motor Sport winning the 2002 ALMS Grand Prix of Washington DC.

Previously only available through exclusive arrangements, the DSSV dampers presented at AutoSport International provide significant performance and operational gains over conventional damping technology and eliminates the use of shims traditionally used in motorsports dampers.

DSSV provides pure damping characteristics, eliminates cavitation and significantly minimises temperature sensitivity in a modular design which is suited to an extensive variety of motorsport applications.

It is a pure 4-way damper featuring independent high speed and low speed valves for control of both bump and rebound and includes linear indexed adjusters, matched from damper to damper to optimise the symmetry rating across each axle.

Once a desired specification is selected with the help of Dynamic Suspensions’ SpecFinder™ software, fine-tuning is achieved through on-car adjustment of both the linear indexed high speed and low speed adjusters (adjustment range of 0 – 11 on each adjuster)

The external, cartridge-based nature of the valves means they can be replaced on the damper quickly and without the need to fully strip, re-build and bleed the damper.

• Analytically determinant. The DSSV damper is virtually a pure damper. Through the use of Spec Finder™, the damper will duplicate the behaviour of a theoretical damper model enabling consistent results with ADAMS or other vehicle dynamics simulation software. This feature is the subject of a patent application.

• Wide range of damping curves. The nature of the DSSV valve provides the widest possible range of F-V curve options - from digressive to linear to progressive. Shim and poppet valve dampers are limited to combinations of v2/3 and v2 relationships. With DSSV, the shape of the curve is only limited by the laws of physics.

• Independent control of high and low speed damping. The low speed damping adjustment is via a unique digital bleed valve. This feature is the subject of a patent application. The valve has predetermined discreet adjustment steps for consistent adjustment across the adjustment range, and between dampers. High speed damping control is through the DSSV valve which runs in parallel with its own adjuster mechanism.

• Temperature stable. Oil flow within the DSSV damper is kept highly turbulent which contributes to a very low level of damping “fade” at high temperature. Typical force degradation from 30°C to 120°C is less than 4% over a typical range of velocities as compared to up to 16% for a shim damper, or up to 14% for a poppet valve system (particularly at lower velocities).

• Frequency independent. The DSSV valving design's low inertia and stiction has produced a damper with consistent damping over the complete range of frequencies experienced by race car suspensions.

• Cavitation-proof. While most dampers rely on a minimum reservoir charge pressure to prevent damper oil cavitation below a threshold velocity (or at least a balance between piston and CV valving), DSSV dampers are designed in such a way that cavitation is impossible regardless of velocity or valve specification. This feature is the subject of a patent application.

• Minimal sensitivity to displacement. The very low gas charge values required in DSSV dampers means that ride height changes are minimised as a function of temperature variation.

• Repeatable and consistent. DSSV dampers are consistently repeatable to less than 2% or 15N damping force variation across the velocity range, and throughout the adjustment range. This consistency significantly reduces the amount of time spent working with dampers to get the correct spec and range of adjustment.

• Minimal damping hysteresis. Much work has been done in the development of the DSSV product to minimise damper hysteresis, optimising the trade off between damper size and hysteresis level.