I agree that you are the target market for these shocks.

I think Ohlins makes a great shock.

I'd think the DA non-remote canister would be an attractive option to not take TT points.

Adjusting compression and rebound separately isn't that labor intensive.
Especially when you're talking to people who tow 1000 miles for 6 minutes of driving.

All B-stock and RTR use stock springs.

 

This is a great post, I just want to mention though that I laughed about people being on the fence for pimply shocks. I'd definitely be on the fence about pimply shocks...I'd probably wait until they hit puberty before buying them .


These actually are very appropriate for an ST autocross class. There are a few nationally competitive people (as in, trophied at the national championships) that I know who run these shocks and love them (not on s2000s but other cars). I think they're a good choice for someone who doesn't want to get very deep into tuning damping but wants a very good handling car, especially if the car is dual duty and especially if they want to spend a little less money.

Personally though, I agree with you, I think having at least double adjustable is the way to go, and if it were me I would absolutely save up the little bit of extra cash over these and go with one of the high end DA shocks like a Penske or Moton or even the Ohlins TTX.

 

And hey, the guy who owned my RTA WRX before me trophied with SA Koni OTS. And Jeff Janzen trophied with stock shocks. And G. Warren Hahn won stock class with stock CR shocks. And Pfannenschmidt won BS with DA Konis (that were $1200 new).

We're talking about the package Ohlins DFV kit for S2000s. Are they appropriate for STR? I don't know. Maybe they are. You know the STR class better than I do.

Any STR trophy winners from 2012 run on SA shocks?

 

Right, point taken. It was more the point that these guys (one in particular) prefers the ohlins to all of those options...not just that they were able to drive fast on them. But I think that partially has to do with it being different cars, I'm not sure it works as well on an S2000 which requires things to be pretty stiff.

Not really, but I think they'd be good as a comfy street shock/regionally competitive in STR compromise. They are very good shocks in terms of comfort and sucking up bumps while maintaining good handling. The other cheaper options to get to the same competitiveness level would be less daily drivable. Particularly with the springs that come with the kit it'll be too soft to be nationally competitive though.

No. It's sort of sad that I know what kind of shocks everybody has, but nobody in the trophies in an S2000 has single adjustable shocks. I count in the trophies:
Penske 8300: 3
Ohlins TTX: 1
Moton: 3

 

That kind of supports my point, I think. I'm sure the Ohlins SA is a good shock. I'm sure there are a few people that would prefer them. But if the OP was wondering why there aren't more of these selling.

The answer seems to be: Cost and lack of double adjustability.

I personally like the Penskes and they were not expensive at all compared to the Motons.

 

Honestly, as an engineer, it kind of makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up when you guys refer to the Ohlins DFV's as an "SA Shock" instead of a "Full Coilover Kit that is SA". For the same reason, I don't understand how the price of a DA shock (that isn't a full bolt-on coilover) should be relevant. Furthermore, I don't know why National SCCA trophy winners are really much of a point, since they represent probably less than 0.5% of the people in the country that autocross. I would be surprised if any of the STR trophy winners didn't have nearly top-tier EVERYTING. The Ohlins DFV kit is Ohlins entry level coilover kit for the S2000, and I would never expect anyone seriously planning to trophy at nationals to buy an "entry level" suspension (regardless of how good it was).

What I think would be a more relivant data point would be the average dollar amount that regionally or divisionally competitive STR drivers have invested in their full coilover setups. I would guess that many have more than $3K invested in SA setups.

 

BTW, I thought Moton was really just a brand name now, which was bought by AST. I think the Moton company is gone.

 

Moton(name) was bought out by AST. MCS is a new company run by the old Moton guys.

 

Most of the Motons we're talking about are still from when Moton was Moton. I don't know many people that have bought them recently.

And the National level drivers are often just regular regional guys that drive well. They're school teachers and regular joes. There is a limited budget, even for the trophy winnners.

I'm trying to explain that most people have the parts to make a "kit" so supplying it as a "kit" isn't much of an advantage. And that people change springs to suit a course. So again, a "kit" is too simplistic for what they want. So people are really buying the shock and don't care about the kit unless it's a monoball. And the springs are too soft for most people in STR, so again "kit" isn't much of a selling point. People join STR because they like to build and tweak. If they didn't want to do so, they could have stayed in stock class for a lot cheaper (and easier).

And we're talking about this sub forum, not probability across the nation.

We have probably 15+ trophy winners here and I know of at least 6 national champions that frequent here. You could try and sell us VOLKS which are also a great wheel, but really not very popular with the hard core bunch.

 

I'm also an engineer, I'm not sure what that has to do with talking about the shocks in the kit. Any of the high end Penske/AST/Moton/etc shocks are full coilovers, the only difference between that and your kit is the springs. And springs are cheap. Not to mention those are probably too soft. So the shock is what's important, so that's what we're talking about.

The point is you can get the DA Penskes for $3500, and that's if you buy them new. So you could have the "top tier stuff", for not much more. Even regionally/divisionally competitive drivers want to have the best bang for their buck and would prefer not to have components that aren't on par with the best. Once you're saving $3k saving another few hundred isn't going to make or break you.