Question for anyone with OFT Stage 2 UEL tune on the track, did it make a difference
 

Hey guys,

So I've been competing in time attack for the past few years (this is the first year in my FR-S), and although I do improve each round and have never failed to cut my lap times, I seemed to have run into an issue with power and torque as I'm sure many of you have.

I compete in Street Class so at this point I'm still running the stock suspension (yeah I know, getting coilovers eventually but I just wanted to see how well I could do with pretty basic bolt-ons and super grippy tires first because I believe the car handles well enough for being lightly modded). ANYWAY, the suspension or grip isn't letting me down right now in this class, it's the corner exit and straightaway acceleration. I am able to keep up with and beat some cars in almost every corner (especially the very tight sections) that end up getting 3-4 second faster lap times just because of the pull away on any sort of straight. My braking and corner entry speed is solid (again, going into a lot of corners I'm noticeably faster than cars that end up killing me on the lap), and I tend to pick solid lines, but about 3/4th's through some corners the power and torque are just not enough to pull out as quickly as I want to. Even my friend who placed 3rd overall in Street FWD in a fully modified very fast SRT-4 sat shotgun and said I was definitely faster going into the corners and faster in the tight sections but wayyyy slower (obviously) in the mid-longer sections. He beat me by 4.5 seconds which is enormus and I think I finished 11-12th in my class (Street RWD).

I'm currently running the OFT Stage 1 tune with an intake and cat-back exhaust, but I have the Gruppe-S UEL header and overpipe coming in the mail as we speak so that I can install those and upload the Stage 2 UEL tune. My question is for anyone running the stage 2 tune with other basic bolt-ons (intake, exhaust, front pipe, etc) was there a NOTICEABLE difference in performance on the track? Will I get a nice enough kick in power from this where I can pull out of corners faster or am I going to have to spend more $$$?

Really sorry for the wall of text! Appreciate any insight or recommendations! Thank you very much for reading.

Oh and if anyone cares and wants an idea with what I'm working with (keep in mind that I JUST started modding the car, but I still won't miss a time attack event simply for the seat time while I continue to do so):

- Velox/FT86SpeedFactory front splitter
- Invidia N1 Cat-back exhaust
- TRD intake (haven't upgraded this POS yet, don't laugh)
- Megan Racing front and rear strut tower braces, stripped trunk
- OFT with Stage 1 91 Oct tune
- Enkei rims with RE71R's brand new
- EBC Yellowstuff pads

On it's way:

- Hotchkiss front and rear adjustable sway bar kit
- Gruppe-S header and overpipe

Ran a 1:29.012 at Toronto Motorsports Park if anyone is familiar with that course, I want to be in the 1:25.5-1:28 range.

Tires, you forgot to mention the most important upgrade in your car. What tires are you running? Im assuming its going to be a 200tw tire like a RS3 or something of the like.

Im currently in a situation like yours, stock suspension, with semi-slicks (maxxis RC1) and full-exhaust with tune (ecutek) and a 4.88 final drive. Compared to stock my times improved by around by around 3-4 seconds in a 1 min track that is mainly 2 straights with two turns and an S in between (so mainly a power track). I would expect a 1 second improvement with your header and tune over your current time.

Just a heads up, with those mods, you would fall under TA4 or TA5 in our classing system. Last year, the top of those classes were 1:28 and 1:29 so you are right there. I think its your classing system that is flawed and your are severily underpowered compared to others in your class.

Don't know that track but check this out

[ame]http://youtu.be/HlwAIb4Zz9Y[/ame]

If you have access to E85, then that will get you the noticeable boost in grunt that you're looking for. The Stage 2 vs the Stage 1 is pretty minor IMO. Noticeable perhaps, but on track it'll be a negligible difference. The E85 on the other hand (esp. with the header) will get you a nice flat torque curve and a good boost pretty much everywhere on the graph.

Wow that guy literally does the course the EXACT same way I do, like right down to the lines. Thanks for the post! I have to see what mods are done to that FR-S particularly but if it's just basic bolt-on's and coilovers thats incredible.

Good stuff, appreciate the info thanks!

Running Bridgestone Potenza RE71R's, fantastic tires! Thank you very much for the info I appreciate it.

And yes the classing system is completely flawed, it's CSCS they have 3 classes - Unlimited, Super Street and Street. The top cars in Street class are fully modified, 350-450 hp, full coilovers and suspension upgrades, big brake kits, weight reduction etc and just because they are street legal they are still in 'Street' class. So a guy with a relatively stock S2000 with an intake and exhaust and some sticky tires can literally be in direct competition with a 400 hp supercharged S2000 with coilovers and 265 wide tires, makes zero sense.

So using this past event as an example, There were 15 people in Street RWD class, the first place guy ran a 1:19 and only the top 6 in the class based off of the first guys time get to compete at the end of the day in the official time attack (you're timed all day with a transponder). Now my friend ran a 1:23 and qualified as 4th in the same class but he has an LS1-swapped 300+ hp fully modified Mazda FD RX7 with a giant carbon spoiler, coilovers, 265 wide tires, more suspension mods, etc and I'm competing against him in my lightly modded FRS lol good to know I'd do well in your classing system which I'm sure makes way more sense and is actually fair based on the vehicle. What organization is it if you don't mind me asking?

The organization is Track and Time. It is based of a system that starts off with the weight/power ratio (because it is stupid to think a Corvette C7 is just as much street as a Honda Fit). Then depending on the tires you get added points or substracted points. If you have modified your suspension, you go 1 class faster, if you have stripped interieur (other than removing spare tire and 1 seat), you cannot use the published weight of your car and you have to weight the car in at the day of the event, full tank of gas, without driver. The part of the system that is a bit flawed is aero, which is free in all classes, so usually the fastest guys are running heavy aero. It is also flawed in regards to engines, you can swap in an engine from another car, and use its previous power output to class yourself. But since the exhaust isnt going to be stock, you could be making 30-50 hp more and not account it. It is I think the case with a MX-5 using a KA20 engine in our TA-4 class, he is running 3-4 seconds faster than a guy who has more championships won than anyone else, on the same class. Pretty sure his weight/power ratio is way off, he is also supposed to be on stock suspension, but his tires are actually under the fenders ...

Oh well, no system is perfect, but as a "just decent enought" driver, I have been able to stay in the top 3 this year on the TA5. Im usually 4-5 in the events, but the third place is always a different guy so overall I have more points, currently in second but that is because the second place skipped an event (you can skip 2 total), that will change by the end of the year.

We are going to mosport the 28-29 august I think, and calabogie the 12 august, you should come check it out, there are 2 twins in the TA5 (including myself), hot battles :)

Oh yeah I definitely hear you on that one!! I will definitely look into that, would be nice to compete fairly for once and mosport is 20 mins from my house :) thanks very much for all the info!!!