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Do any of the lessons learned with the Viper have relevance to the Porsche DSC products, in particular for the GT3? I have the DSC module in my '07 GT3 and it's definitely a significant improvement on the OEM PASM. The chassis is much more composed and settled over bumps, even in the stiffest mode. I'm wondering if it can be made even better in any way.
First, thank you for using DSC and for your feedback. We have had the DSC hardware and software sorted and track approved by pro drivers before we began any development work for the Viper. The one thing we learned from the Viper development program was how narrow the dynamic range is on the stock Vipers shocks compared to the stock Porsche shocks.
The DSC module is getting the most performance possible out of the stock PASM shocks to aid vehicle stability and compliance in many different road/track conditions. So as far as the shocks go, the only way to better the existing performance is to replace the PASM shocks to shocks with even greater dynamic range, faster reaction time, more available stroke before riding on bump rubber, and shocks that react to command during mid-stroke - The Tractive DDA.
As far as the rest of the car goes, there are other mechanical elements(i.e. sway bar stiffness, alignment, rake, suspension geometry, aero, diff, etc.) besides the shock damping that affects the car's balance and platform. When we developed the DSC mapping for the 997-series cars, we used development cars that are mechanically sorted by TPC Racing before we introduced fully active shock damping to the equation. To give an extreme example, if a car has alignment specs, or sway bar settings, or tire sizes that are completely out of whack, DSC will make an improvement in the shock damping and might "band-aid" some issues but won't fix other mechanical elements at the root. I am not implying your car has any issues, just point out other mechanical elements that can produce quicker laptimes. Using DSC and stock PASM shocks, you could put a more aggressive track alignment on the car same as you would if you had installed a set of club sport level coilover since DSC greatly increases the damper stiffness over stock at the moments the car to maintain composure. We are happy to provide tech support on the mechanical setup to any DSC user on a one-on-one basis via email or telephone based on each user's unique criteria.
I think Bens story is a great story and the amount of involvement you guys had in tailoring it to his needs is awesome. However, for us average consumers Im assuming we won't get that kind of support, so the question is is how good is the out of the box setup that will be sold to us gt3 owners and how much individual tailoring would be available.
Thank you for reading our post and for your kind words. In the case of the Viper development program, we are working in collaboration with Ben and his team, and Tractive Suspension to develop a package from ground up on a chassis that we(DSC Sport) haven't raced prior. With the acquired knowledge and the collective resources from the collaborating parties we were able to streamline the Viper development program from what would normally takes years to achieve down to months. This was made possible largely due to the core dynamic damping knowledge gained from our very familiar and successful Porsche 997-series development program through TPC Racing over the years. To answer your question regarding how good DSC module is right out of the box, we are confident that its optimized for the Porsche 997-series chassis as long as the mechanical setup of the car is sorted. I will reiterate relevant material from a previous post-
As far as the rest of the car goes, there are other mechanical elements(i.e. sway bar stiffness, alignment, rake, suspension geometry, aero, diff, etc.) besides the shock damping that affects the car's balance and platform. When we developed the DSC mapping for the 997-series cars, we used development cars that are mechanically sorted by TPC Racing before we introduced fully active shock damping to the equation. To give an extreme example, if a car has alignment specs, or sway bar settings, or tire sizes that are completely out of whack, DSC will make an improvement in the shock damping and might "band-aid" some issues but won't fix other mechanical elements at the root. I am not implying your car has any issues, just point out other mechanical elements that can produce quicker laptimes. Using DSC and stock PASM shocks, you could put a more aggressive track alignment on the car same as you would if you had installed a set of club sport level coilover since DSC greatly increases the damper stiffness over stock at the moments the car to maintain composure. As always, we are happy to provide tech support on the mechanical setup to any DSC user on a one-on-one basis via email or telephone based on each user's unique criteria.
For your other question, we will offer a user version of the software that will be free to DSC users to allow for custom mapping by the user should custom mapping is desired. We estimate the software to be available before the end of 2015.
I love the DSC in my 7.2 GT3, best suspension mod for the $'s, period.
Wondering if you guys have anything in the works for the 991 GTS? - the Sport PASM mode on this car is terrible (unusable), worse than it was in the 7.1 GT3, DSC would transform this...
I love the DSC in my 7.2 GT3, best suspension mod for the $'s, period.
Thank you very much. We are very glad you love it!
Originally Posted by Larry Cable
Wondering if you guys have anything in the works for the 991 GTS? - the Sport PASM mode on this car is terrible (unusable), worse than it was in the 7.1 GT3, DSC would transform this...
We have the hardware completed for the 991-series cars including GTS and GT3. We are still working on the software for street and track. Our goal is to have the 991-series and 981-series available later this year.
any updates on DSC/DDA for cup or other dedicated track cars?
This past weekend we were at Watkins Glen International Raceway with our #36 IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge spec .2 car. This was a PCA event so under PCA racing rules our IMSA spec car "as is" runs in GTA class(this is class comprised mostly of RSR's and Cup cars with upgraded engines). Our car was definitely handicapped by the PMNA sealed engine. We were focused on lap times, balance, and how easy the car is battling than a position in that class. Our lap times were low-1:57's in traffic with predictive times of mid-56's but didn't get there due to traffic. The low-57's time would put our car battling for the lead in GTC5 class(stock cup engine class). We had a very good car at The Glen. Our next IMSA race event is June 25-27. We feel that the current DSC/DDA setup will definitely put us in the dogfight for the top podium spot. But of course no race team is ever satisfy with the setup no matter how good the car is so we'll continue to make software tweaks in the relentless pursuit for an even quicker car. Wish us luck!
As for the availability of the Tractive DDA shocks, we have 50 sets of GT3 and Cayman shocks inbound from The Netherlands. Should be arriving this week or next pending US Customs. We have fully developed DSC mappings for Tractive DDA shocks. If those looking to tweak the software like we do in highly competitive racing series for that one or two tenths of a second for the conditions for that day we will have a tuning software for DSC later this year.
Thank you very much. We are very glad you love it!
We have the hardware completed for the 991-series cars including GTS and GT3. We are still working on the software for street and track. Our goal is to have the 991-series and 981-series available later this year.
I just learned something very interesting about our DSC/DDA setup after a talk with Michael Levitas about the past weekend. Michael reported that no new tires were used at Watkins Glen. The tires were from Sebring race back in February. Our DSC/DDA equipped Cup car was nearly as quick on old tires as on qualifying stickers! So Michael made the choice of no tire change for the weekend. The fully dynamic damping of DSC/DDA has proven to be easier on tires in race condition AND able to wring more grip from old tires than the sorted manual adjustable shocks on this car last year! Even the same springs were transferred. We are in uncharted territory here and we can't wait to see DSC/DDA in action in longer distance races where these traits will become great advantages.
We're a little late on this announcement, but if you happen to spot a copy of the March edition of GT Porsche they ran a review of the DSC module.
We can't provide you with the full article but here's one statement the article made about DSC:
"Everything feels very controlled and even on the softest setting it feels like all body roll has been removed."
Word from the editor is that they are planning on running a full length feature article on DSC Sport within the next few issues, so be on the lookout for that as well. Just one more teaser for what's to come:
Will it just be for the dsc sport with stock dampners, or dsc sport with tractiv dampners.
I'd be interested in seeing more on that full setup vs the oem + dsc as it seems like their are a lot of user reviews for it already.
Originally Posted by DSC Sport
We're a little late on this announcement, but if you happen to spot a copy of the March edition of GT Porsche they ran a review of the DSC module.
We can't provide you with the full article but here's one statement the article made about DSC:
"Everything feels very controlled and even on the softest setting it feels like all body roll has been removed."
Word from the editor is that they are planning on running a full length feature article on DSC Sport within the next few issues, so be on the lookout for that as well. Just one more teaser for what's to come:
06-01-2015, 12:54 PM
