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| This is the Motorsports shock department. This is not set up to be mass production because Motorsports shocks are usually hand made to custom specs according to the order. Despite not having the ISO/QS production controls which are better suited toward larger production volumes, the Motorsports shop is extremely neat, clean and organized. |
KW Motorsports racing dampers are not built to the same ISO/QS standards, only because the racing shocks are hand built to order and usually to custom specifications by the racing shock department. The racing shock department is in a separate wing of KW. Here the racing shocks are fabricated, assembled and calibrated by hand by skilled technicians. KW Motorsports dampers have many state of the art features that we seem to rave about.
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| Klaus Frank, KW’s mastermind explains the attributes of the Motorsports shocks to the journalists. |
First, KW Motorsport dampers have a wide range of adjustment, pretty critical in a race car. This means that they can be adjusted to work well with a wide range of spring rates and very different conditions without revalving. In the hectic world of racing, anything that can save labor and more importantly time at the track is important. Next, KW dampers have valving that is not only very effective at low shaft velocities, but is also frequency dependent. Low shaft speeds are what a driver can feel easily, for instance body roll and pitch occurs at low shaft speeds.
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| Each Motorsports damper is hand assembled and tested by a skilled technician. |
With KW’s valving you can dial in a lot of low speed control to reduce body motion but the valving still responds to small high frequency bumps, the type that can negatively affect traction. Most shocks get harsh and can cause tire shock when the low speed damping is turned up but KW’s still work pretty well even when the low speed is turned up all the way. The secret is KW’s combination of sprung valves and deflecting disks.
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| The Motorsports shock dyno department. KW has more shock dynos than any suspension placed we have ever been to. |
Most high end shocks have simpler valving that is a stack of thin washers called a Christmas tree. These washers cover orifices in the shock piston and for fluid to flow through the piston; the Christmas tree must deflect to allow the fluid to pass. The amount of damping depends on the diameter, thickness and the way the washers are stacked to form the Christmas tree. Although this can work very well, KW’s valve system works better under bumpy conditions.
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| Motorsport shock components are generally made of aluminum alloy and billet aluminum for lighter weight. |
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| The shock dyno measures damping force over velocity and produces the damping curves shown here. You can see the effects of adjustment and if the shock was built correctly. |
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| The Motorsports shop has its own tig welding area as well. |
