overseas tuning

[J. Schmidt]

I'm just curious if any teams have tuning issues related to shipping their formula car to foreign events. Do you need to retune the car after the car arives overseas due to the new air pressure, humidity, altitude, etc?

[J. Schmidt]

I'm just curious if any teams have tuning issues related to shipping their formula car to foreign events. Do you need to retune the car after the car arives overseas due to the new air pressure, humidity, altitude, etc?

[Frank]

if you come to Australia don't forget the anti-gravity, and anti-magnetism.

so swap the wires for your crank and cam sensor

and dont forget all ignition timing should be changed to AFTER top dead centre

cheers

[osubeaver]

Also, don't forget to advance your intake cam by 45 degrees.

[Kevin Hayward]

Joel,

It is not so much the air pressure etc. But American petrol is quite different to Australian petrol. The fuel we get to use in the states is a higher octane than what we use in Oz.

This means some retuning when we got there last year. Unfortunately we are not really able to make the most of the fuel without having our proper dyno setup available.

Cheers,

Kev

[Charlie]

Weather conditions do differ but most ECUs have a correcting factor for air temp. I don't expect many if any teams are at such a high tuning level that it affects them. I know we weren't. The fuels are different Kevin, however I am not convinced that the octane matters much in these airflow restricted engines. I compared fuel specs and didn't think the difference matters. We have tuned with 93 octane and 100 octane and there has not been a measurable difference (our measuring tools aren't the greatest, but they aren't crap either).

In any case it's my opinion that all these differences, including fuel, are a wash when it comes to the type of engines and the level of tuning sophistication these teams have.

[Frank]

i agree with charlie,

we sometimes just use standard fuel, when premium is unavailable (strange locations),
and our car still feels great.

i dont think any formula event is at significant altitude either (prove me wrong if i am)

being from Queensland (a bit like Florida), we test in 38 C (100F) often. There's air and coolant temp compensation for the fuel map, and that's that.

UQ
FS-2004 Acceleration winner (4.05 - transponder timing)
FSAE-A-2004 Acceleration winner (4.055 - optical timing)

[osubeaver]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">We have tuned with 93 octane and 100 octane and there has not been a measurable difference (our measuring tools aren't the greatest, but they aren't crap either). </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I would think that if ignition timing was pushed to the max with 100 octane or if you had a turbo, you would notice a difference (possibly f**k your motor up) by going to the 93.

[J. Schmidt]

thanks guys. I was talking about importing racecars (early evos, euro spec elise, etc.) the other day and got curious.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Also, don't forget to advance your intake cam by 45 degrees. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
I don't think the driver should be more retarded than the cam. The toilets flush backwards in the southern hemisphere too, don't they? I think we'll look into running our engine backwards http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_wink.gif

[Charlie]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by osubeaver:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">We have tuned with 93 octane and 100 octane and there has not been a measurable difference (our measuring tools aren't the greatest, but they aren't crap either). </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I would think that if ignition timing was pushed to the max with 100 octane or if you had a turbo, you would notice a difference (possibly f**k your motor up) by going to the 93. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

That's on a knock-limited engine. We tuned to MBT with 100 octane, with 93 maybe we were a bit off the peak but it's a pretty flat peak. Virtually no chance of knock on these engines. Of course a turbo is a different story.