Ohlins No Stranger to NASCAR

BY JARED TURNER

being used this season looks and drives notably different than its Generation 6 predecessor. The manufacturer of at least one key component under the bodywork of the Next Gen model is no stranger to NASCAR’s premier series, however.

That manufacturer is Ӧhlins Racing, which has supplied shock absorbers for more than two decades for the cars that have competed in NASCAR’s premier division. But the shock absorbers – otherwise known as dampers – on the Next Gen car are a refined version of the product drivers have raced with over the past nine seasons on the Gen-6 car.

“It’s dramatically different – very, very different,” said Scott MacDonald, Managing Director of Öhlins USA Inc. in Hendersonville, North Carolina. “The damper that was used previously, while it’s a very high-quality, high-performing piece, it is very limited in its adjustability.

“So what that resulted in in the past is that the teams would have hundreds and hundreds of shock absorbers in their inventory, each one with its own unique characteristic to hit just the right setup on the car. With the new damper, it’s a five-way adjustable damper, and with just the one damper, they pretty much can achieve almost any specification.”

Öhlins’ Next Gen damper may become most beloved for its simplicity and ease of use.

“Just through the turning of the knob – of which there are five, like I said – you can achieve any specification for the damper,” MacDonald explained. “So in terms of the design and the function of how it works internally, it’s apples and oranges to what they raced with last year.”

Although Ӧhlins has been manufacturing shock absorbers for the cars in NASCAR’s top series for a long time, the company had no guarantee of retaining its role once the Next Generation car arrived.

“We are thrilled and very proud to be selected as the supplier,” MacDonald said. “NASCAR was pretty specific in providing a detailed problem, basically, that they had with the Next Gen and looking to a supplier that could provide a solution that would be very, very durable but also highly adjustable and provide some unique technical requirements.

“We saw it as a real challenge and wanted to make sure that we were able to provide the right solution for NASCAR.”

Make no mistake: This solution didn’t come about overnight.

“We had proposed to NASCAR – quite a few years ago – a variant of what we were providing with the Generation 6 car, just to try to help the teams and the series a little bit with some newer technology,” MacDonald said. “The timing wasn’t right at that point, but it was a good exercise for both of us at that time because it allowed us to be pretty well-prepared and positioned for the Next Gen car when it came along.”

But what makes Ӧhlins uniquely qualified for its selection by NASCAR to be part of the Next Generation car?

“There’s probably no other company in the world that has the breadth in a motorsports space that we do,” MacDonald said. “This technology that we are providing to NASCAR is one that is well-proven. This isn’t exclusively used in NASCAR. It’s also currently in practice in GT cars and prototype cars and Formula E and Formula 1. It’s a well-proven technology.

“It’s one that’s been in practice for nearly two decades, so we know exactly what the requirements are and how to make it work incredibly well, but also all the kinks have been worked out with it. It’s very, very high-performing. We were able to provide a piece that the teams don’t have to worry about and NASCAR doesn’t have to worry about.”

1The business first ventured into the NASCAR Cup Series in 1994 as the damper supplier for driver Ricky Rudd. 2 Ӧhlins isn’t exclusively a racing company. It also builds shock absorbers for street cars, motorcycles and even snowmobiles and mountain bikes. 3 Ӧhlins is as much a two-wheel company as a four-wheel company, with its earliest roots being in motocross. Cars with Ӧhlins dampers own some 400 titles across various motorsports genres. 4 Ӧhlins has dealers and service centers on six of the seven continents around the globe. The company’s headquarters are in Sweden.