Hey, IROCCers. This is long, so read only if you are interested in finding out why my car was fast yesterday.
I had at least half a dozen inquiries about why my touring car was so fast yesterday as well as requests to hook people up with the latest software. Here's how it goes:
In my TC I run the RS, not the RS Pro. The principal difference between the TEKIN v198 software and v199 is the addition of the turbo feature. The turbo feature is designed to be used on super large tracks with very long straights. v199 had issues with radio calibration so out came v200. v200 attempted to resolve that problem but the issue with signal wandering persists so they are still working on rectifying the situation with another version.
The turbo feature has a timing delay that you set with Hotwire and you have to set a time range from 0-2 seconds before the speedo switches timing (v199 had 0.5 -0.2 sec). This is a tricky issue since although the turbo ramps up as opposed to coming on completely at the set delay, having it come on too early or frequently will cause nothing but excessive heat. The general rule of thumb is to have your motor timing and boost timing equal 30 degrees. Turbo adds another 20 degrees, so you can imagine the problem with running 50 degrees advanced timing over an extended period. This was my issue at Speed Weekend where I just couldn't get it right. Each run my motor was temping out 180+ degrees and I cooked one of my motors. add to this that I couldn't get the delay right which caused my car to be upset mid corner if I didn't back off. It was a nightmare.
Each month or so I set myself a racing goal and I work on it. When I figured out how the speedo worked, I wanted to work on getting my car to turn in and hold a line as hard as possible while on-throttle. That meant that my work was on my suspension, not the speedo. With that in mind I thought that I could then get on the throttle earlier and carry more speed. Knowing this, I set my turbo delay much longer than I did at Speed Weekend which was at 0.5 sec and yesterday I was at 1.1 seconds. I simply didn't want the turbo kicking in early since that also would have meant that it would have turned on when hitting the short infield straight as well which would result in excessive heat and just chucking the car into the hard left hand chicane coming toward the driver stand.
So, in sum, the ONLY place the turbo was kicking in was in the sweeper. That is the only place I had an advantage over v198 and that was ONLY if I did not back off the throttle at the end of the straight. I would estimate that 70% of the time I WAS backing off the throttle and that means that the turbo delay is reset. If I didn't get corner entry right, the turbo would push my car wide unexpectedly and I'd hit pit lane wall or move onto that strip of asphalt bumps. The bottom line is that it wasn't the turbo that made my car fast because I had all but dialed that out of the speedo and could have easily turned it off.
The thing that made my car fast was that I cranked the boost to 25 degrees and set my motor to zero, dialed my car in, ran zero drag brake with my spool, which allowed me to get on the throttle and hold the line earlier than I normally would. Boost kicks in several feet out of the corner which is where my car just ripped. Going into the corner fast allowed the timing boost to work easier rather than harder due to the momentum being carried. As a result, my temps were ridiculously low (112-129 degrees all day from the first to the lat run) so I geared up two teeth by the third round and kept it there.
TEKIN warns drivers that turbo is not suited for every track and that heat will create havoc and result in motor fade prematurely. If you find that you are consistently off line or getting marshaled frequently, turbo will push you off line further and accelerate your next accident and cook your motor - period.
A few people asked about 1/12th scale and how this would apply. My honest answer is I have no clue where to set it at this point and besides which, I am not good enough in that class to take advantage of it anyway. If I spend 15 seconds on a lap and only .5 of that is with turbo, it's probably just going to send me out of the park. So, until we figure the lipo thing out, v198 (or v199/v200 w/o turbo) will be the best bet.
A final word. It's time for some folks to invest in the hotwire setup. You can download v198 free. I could install v199 or v200, but without the hotwire, you couldn't change your speedo without my laptop and that would mean that rather than working on my own stuff, I'd constantly be adjusting other people's speedos. While I am happy to do that on occasion, it's not sustainable in the long run. If we have three or four laptops operating at the track, then everyone could buddy up and use the interface. I will have mine there at the beginning of the season so if we allow a bit of grace in between heats the first night (not when I have my car in pieces) I can update your esc but you'll be on your own to make changes after that. Sound reasonable?
Phil