Originally posted by planet6racing:
Dammit, I've had it. Everyone keeps on complaining about this rule, but no one will answer the question:

HAS THIS CHANGED IT?

Has the balance been upset? If not, what's the big friggin' deal? Are you upset that your neighbor is out spending you on his car? Big deal. There will always be someone out spending you (just look at GT1). Get over it.

Until someone can show how this is "ruining competition in IT" I don't think anyone, especially the ITAC and CRB should even bother to look at it. It is not value added.
Has it changed for me? Yes. I know what the air fuel ratios are for my car. I have mapped them. I have had the car to the dyno several times. Under the old rule I could only tune with the pressure regulator. Now I have the option to throw a lot of money at the car and yes there are gains to be made. For example a datalog I'm looking at right now that was run with a stock ECU shows A/F ratios at 16:1 @ 4000 rpm, 14:1 @ 5700, and 11.5:1 @ the power peak of 7500. The graph is a more or less straight line from the way too lean 4000rpm to the way too rich 7500. Tell me there is not legitimate power to be had from a flat graph in the 14-15:1 range? Adjusting the pressure regulator effects power at all RPM but playing with the computer will show gains top to bottom. End result is a faster car. Period.

Now here I am thinking that I have the experience and knowledge to spend around $1000 including used EMS and dyno time to extract that power if the ECU was free. But under the current rule I'll likely have to spend another $1000 to have someone install my ECU of choice into the factory box. For what purpose should I spend the extra $1000 to modify the aftermarket ECU to "look" stock? Speedsource is selling bolt-in Motec systems for a reported $3500. The basic Motec system ca be had on Ebay right now for $2400AUD (~$1870US). Why should I have to pay Speedsource or anyone $1600 more for the system than I really should have too? If the ECU is truely going to be free (I'll admit that wasn't the concept but it is the reality) why should it be made more difficult and expensive to make the modification? So some can say that we tried to keep it close to stock but we can't stop people from spending alot of money? Bah!

I was actually against the rule to open up the ECU in the first place and would be in favor of going back to that. Even if it can't be policed. There will always be people who cheat. Let them have their trophy.



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Chris Ludwig
08 ITS RX7 CenDiv