L955NBF - Blog
In the Workshop - A Shocking Tale, Part 1
When the car was built back in 2006 it was upgraded with a simple off the shelf kit, this resulted in a fairly spectacular failure. Since then the RAV4 has been through several suspension iterations, and some have been more successful than others...
In an article back in July 2009, Paul Lund said :
"On the first rally the shocks exploded, losing all their fluid. We kept on running, rolling the poor little thing twice, unitl finally one of the shocks siezed, destroying the top mount. That then poked through the bonnet and the whole suspension leg dropped off, putting us out of the event!".
"After that we went to Aurok, which is the UK importer for Ohlins. They built a bespoke Ohlins two-way adjustable suspension set-up, running adjustable platform race springs. It was the one single item that transformed the car."
From photos in the same article, it looks like up front they were 2.5" coil overs with remote reserviors, which were passed through holes in the turrets and were mounted each side of the radiator behind the front bumper.
The Ohlins were removed from the car after it was crashed in France on the FFSA 37eme Rallye Plaines & Vallees at Saint-André-de-l'Eure, France in November 2010. After this crash Paul decided L955NBF was getting scruffy and built a replacement car based on a Rav mark 2. The Ohlins suspension was removed and fitted to the new Rav4. This can went on to be fairly successful, winning it class at Dunes et Marais in 2011, but was unfortunately crashed and written off on the Rallye Plaines & Vallees, in 2013. It's not clear what happened to the Ohlins after that.
What we do know, is the OG Rav, L955NBF was returned to stock suspension and then sold as a rolling rebuild project in January 2011. During its rebuild the stock rear shocks were replaced with FOX 2.0" remove reservior shocks. These were run 'upside down' with the reservior strapped to the shock body, attached to the suspension arm. They have had the piston converted to a pin to be compatible with the stock RAV4 body mount. These, couple with some lifted springs are still on the car today.
When the recomissioning of the car began in 2023, it was clear that the suspension needed to be near the top of the list. Unfortunately Aurok, who were based near Alton, closed in 2016. This meant there was no way to get the Ohlins setup remade, or recover any technical info in the setup....
