Remote Control Cailbration! A success!

Calibration, Tuning, Optimization, Mapping. Those words have an even deeper meaning to us now. We've learned as well that even in a general success there's room for annoyances. But we also know that mind-bogging issues can be resolved during a Saturday night dinner.

What?

Here's what. Back in late spring 2017, there was a race date at El Mirage, a shipping date for the Amazon and flight tickets booked for us and as a consequence, a sweating team. So, we made a base calibration on the laptop, a drivability check at Ringön and finally, a full load calibration in a chassi dyno in Gothenburg.

When the race car sailed away it was running ok at low humid Gothenburg temperatures and tap fuel. It was running good, not great.

Fast forward to Bonneville Speed Week 2018. Same desktop calibration, but 35-40degC (95-104 F) ambient temperature, a super dry dessert and a new race fuel. During early mornings it was running ok but not good. We still managed to run 150-175mph (240-280km/h) several times and really feel the great potential...

...but we were getting more and more engaged in try and error calibration after analyzing individual cylinder temperatures. In short terms; We suffered misfire.

So we changed spark plugs, and spark wires and various other parameters. Didn't help.

So we went to the Salt Flats Café to think about it. Didn't help either but it was relieving.

The solution. We called Westech Performance in Mira Loma, (greater Los Angles) and booked a time for a mapping session. To get a good speed-load calibration from low part load to full load with correct race fuel. Finally we got a time slot. Last Saturday. The Salt Slush team were in Sweden, but Erik Hansson went up early morning and towed our 449 Amazon racer to Westech Performance.

The team have faith both in Westech Performance and Erik Hansson, but still...the Salt Slush team were nervous. Was there a hardware issue? Would the engine blow up?

It all turned in to a success! The engine is now running really smooth, the exhaust gas is reported to be below 950degC and the peak power at 750hp.  Yes, we decided to stay at this performance level with a conservative ignition timing, because we want the car to go fast and be durable!

What a warm feeling! We raised our glassed called each other and cheered!

The only drawback. The Salt Fever is getting worse...