Interview with Coen de Korte - AST/Moton CCO

Interview with Coen de Korte - AST/Moton CCO

We're very happy and grateful to both the community and the Coen, the CCO of AST/Moton Suspension for taking the time to make this quick interview happen. Coen sat down to field some questions we collected from readers to give his take and expertise on our favorite subject!

For those that aren't familiar, AST/Moton are some of the most revered name in racing and motorsports for their amazing quality and performance along with the incessant support you get after your purchase, truly one of the ideal brands to work with as an enthusiast.

 

   

SS: Before anything else, what ignited your passion for cars and motorsport in general?

Coen: For me it started when my dad bought me my first car. It was an ex cup racer Renault Clio. I was 17 years old at the time. Almost ready to get my drivers license but I first had to build the Clio into a road legal car. J  This way I started to learn about how a car works, engine and gearbox wise but also suspension-wise. My dad was a racecar driver so he taught me why suspension is so important. My first real Job was at one of the best spring factories in Europe. I was responsible for Aftermarket replacement, tuning and lowering springs and professional motorsport. This is where my passion and knowledge about motorsport and car tuning grew massively so my next step couldn’t be any more obvious, MOTON and AST suspension! 

SS: How did AST/Moton get started? What was the inspiration?

Coen: Here you can read all about it. It was started by Piet Kreeft back in the days! http://www.motonsuspensionusa.com/moton/index.php/about-history/

SS: TL:DR In less than 20 years AST has made a prestigious name for themselves through the dedicated work of truly talented and notable individuals in the world of motorsports, it was no accident, and then they bought Moton Suspension in 2011 and the rest is recent history. But we highly suggest you read the full story!

What qualities make a good shock absorber/coilover? –Jourdan J. -CA

Coen: Its very important to produce within the smallest tolerances. So the tools you use is just as important as the parts you use because we have a constant quality check with a final dyno session to see if the build shocks are working and doing what we promise people! We print the sheets and add them to the kits so people can see what we have done.

Also, if you look at our shock, you’ll notice our welding that is known for its quality and strength but also the parts you don’t see are very important. Like our internals, and our oil. Not a lot of coilover companies anodize their internal parts and therefor their oil and seals will be affected by that. We, AST and MOTON, only use anodized parts internally so during the time of usage the specs of the damper/oil and seals are consistent! 

 

 Anything interesting you’ve got in the shop right now?

We have just finished some classical stuff. Done some development on the BMW 2002 and on a classic Ferrari 412 with 6 shock system. We can really see that people are caring about their classics again because 20% of our orders nowadays is based on classics! We love it!

BMW’s, Porsches, Ferrari’s and even Classic corvette’s are no longer safe with our applications!

 

SS: What sets AST/Moton apart from other brands?

  • AST:
  • -Drivability
  • -Custom build
  • -Upside down system
  • -Upgradable
  • -Service level
  • -Rebuild and servicing is possible on all our products
  • -tune-ability
  • -Lot of stroke
  • -Customer support through our distributors or directly from the Factory in the Netherlands.
  • -Racing springs produced by OEM/OES manufacturer
  • MOTON:
  • -Unique piston design (Porsche, BMW, Ferrari etc. have their own designs)
  • -Build to spec of the customer. (Street or full race, we build the custom with custom settings and custom springs for that customer)
  • -2-way can be upgraded to 3-way suspension
  • -More stroke then most other companies
  • -We offer a real 4-way suspension unlike other competitors.
  • -Only remote reservoirs 2/3/4-ways because internal 2-way have no space/room inside to work properly.
  • -Rebuild and servicing is possible on all our products
  • -76mm shaft guide to create a lot of stability when creating side-load.
  • -Special designed low friction seals
  • -Racing springs produced by OEM/OES manufacturer

SS: What are some of the biggest challenges you face in creating a new product from scratch? Dalton S. -TX

Coen: Finding the car the actual develop the kit on. Being in the Netherlands limits us from developing on the actual car. So our technician needs to travel to where the car is and help and setup the car.

 Not the worst job in the world…

 

What are your thoughts on air suspension and its application in racing? Chris A. -CA

Coen: Air suspension is unstable because of the bag itself, they temperature differences. It takes up a lot of space and is “impossible” to create a progressive “spring”. 

Same is for the plastic springs that were introduced 2-3 years ago. We have tested the springs and 4 same springs had all different rates but the worst thing was that a 40N/mm spring has a steel wire size of 9.75mm and a 40N/mm plastic spring had a wire size of 21.5mm. You can imagine it takes away all the stroke of the spring and stroke is what you want during racing!

SS: Just some things for folks to consider before choosing air or coils for their application!

SS: Anything in the pipeline we should get excited about?

Coen: We have set a deadline this year at SEMA to introduce a couple of new things.

-           Electronical dampers that communicate directly with the cars ECU

-           Delete kit for cars that use Electronical dampers but don’t want it

-           Some new adjustability’s for both of the brands!

-           Brand new website!

-           Attending shows with a stand. Rennsport Reunion, Sema show and PRI

-           Pikes Peak event including supporting Old Smokey F1 J

 

Old Smokey at Pikes Peak

SS: If you could only adjust one suspension setting on a car (camber, toe, ride height, etc) to immediately make a difference on track what would it be? Austin N -NM

Coen: Ride height, lower that center of gravity! You can also play with front or rear rake to setup a car and make it go into corners better. But that’s only if I could only adjust one thing J

SS: Always go for MOAR LOW

 

SS: Anything else you’d like to tell folks to wrap it all up?

 In 2017 we had a growth of +40% over 2016 and we are continuously growing. But we only try to grow with the correct partners, correct companies and on the right way.

Aftersales/service is our number one focus. Racing shocks need service but not everyone can do a job like the factory and therefore we are setting up factory trained service centers all over the world. This guarantees the quality of the rebuild/service and the value of your shocks! Maintain your shocks and you can use them a lifetime!

 Success is the result of perfection, hard work, learning from failure, loyalty, and persistence. 

SS: There you have it folks, from the man himself. We hope you guys enjoyed Coen taking some time to do this quick spotlight on Moton/AST and thanks to everyone who submitted questions also! ­­­

You can find out more about AST/Moton and Coen at the links below!

  • Coen
  • Instagram: @Coendekorte
  • AST Suspension: 
  • http://astsuspension-na.com/
  • FB: https://www.facebook.com/ast.suspension/
  • Instagram: @ASTSuspensionNA
  • Twitter: @AST_suspension
  • Moton Suspension:
  • http://www.motonsuspensionusa.com/moton/
  • FB: https://www.facebook.com/Moton-Suspension-Technology
  • Instagram: @Motonsuspensionusa

 

 

 

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