DOA wrote: ↑06 Jul 2023, 21:57
Not aware of anyone using Koni.
I remember back in 2007 McLaren signed a contract with Koni to use their dampers. They used Koni for a few seasons, not sure if they still do.
Koni is currently the damper all cars are mandated to use in Formula 2 and Formula 3.
DOA wrote: ↑06 Jul 2023, 21:57
Similar story for ZF/Sachs who backed out of the market quite a long time ago, some time around the whole rotary damper farce. The rotary units were nice from certain engineering standpoints and to look at but physics dictated they were truly bad in any way that counted.
I'm not sure if ZF Sachs are still used anymore in F1, but they still are in IMSA GT endurance racing used by the Acura team.
ZF Sachs was used by Ferrari F1 from around 1996 to 2010 or so. They helped Ferrari win the titles with Michael Schumacher from 2000 to 2004 and with Kimi Räikkönen in 2007.
ZF Sachs helped Brawn GP dominate in 2009 with Jenson Button and Rubens Barichello. The ZF Sachs if I remember correctly helped with aero on straights and fast corners, it's downside was curbs, it didn't perform well when it hit curbs or bumps. Ross Brawn liked the ZF Sachs.
Previously, when the team was owned by Honda F1 they were using Showa. Before that, they were using Koni. David Richards liked Koni, he also used them on his Prodrive Aston Martin GT cars.
BAR Honda 2001 - 2004 = Koni (David Richards, team principal)
Honda F1 2005 to 2008 = Showa
Brawn GP = ZF Sachs.
ZF Sachs was used by BMW Sauber.
ZF Sachs was used on the Toyota F1 race car in the early and mid 2000's.
ZF Sachs was used on the Porsche RS Spyder race car.
DOA wrote: ↑06 Jul 2023, 21:57
Penske typically only supply shim valve sets which are very low tech but cheap, light and, ultimately, somewhat effective when their limitations are understood in a market that is so heavily aero dependent (and weight sensitive) they could care less about suspension performance.
Penske was once one of the best and dominant dampers of F1 from the 1990's to mid 2000's. They dominated with Williams and McLaren in the mid and late 1990's winning many titles. McLaren used Penske from the 1990's till around 2006.
Benetton Renault were using Penske dampers in 2005-06 with Fernando Alonso when they won two titles.
Penske and Öhlins have dominated Indycar and CART/Champcar in the U.S. since the 1990's.
Penske is used by almost all Nascar teams.
DOA wrote: ↑06 Jul 2023, 21:57
Ohlins I have yet to hear anything good about (in any series, not just F1 but they have the brand so they must be good right...).
Öhlins is the dominant supplier of dampers/shocks in MotoGP, World Superbike, British Superbike, Australian Superbike, Moto America USA and pretty much all motorcycle racing series globally.
Öhlins and Penske dominate in Indycar racing as the two top suppliers of dampers. Almost all the Indy 500 winners have either used Öhlins or Penske since the 1990's.
Öhlins is the official supplier of dampers to Ferrari F1.
Öhlins is used by teams in the Japanese Super Formula series.
Öhlins was used by Joe Gibs Racing with Tony Stewart in Nascar who won the title with Öhlins shocks.
Öhlins is used by Koenigsegg for their dampers on their supercars.
DOA wrote: ↑06 Jul 2023, 21:57
Multimatic typically make the full damper unit and are definately the top of the pile in terms of the valve technology, but the price for that is weight (see previous comments).
Multimatic is a very good damper. They've been used by Red Bull F1 for many years. At least one team in Indycar uses them. They're very popular in the endurance prototype racing too (24 Hours of Le Mans) as used on the Porsche 919 Hybrid.
