DivineE
New member
Well my car is back from Andy Fearns (formally Fearnsport which he's now sold). He's fitted a set of gt2 ontercoolers, 997 gt3 gear linkage and done a custom remap with fearnsport using their old maps.
He says he's kept the mapping on the cautious side just for the moment because my new clutch is suspected as maybe damaged after some heavy usage on my recent track session. (will wind up the boost a bit more later when we know if its ok or has been replaced)
I've only driven the car for maybe an hour and a half so far so these are only my first impressions, I will probably have a much clearer view after another track session.
The greatest plus point about the map is first gear. If you roll the standard car off the line and then floor it once the clutch is up it takes an age to hit 10-11mph. Then by the time the boost kicks in you have to have reactions quicker than the average house fly to make the change into 2nd without hitting the limiter or dropping off boost because you've backed so far off the throttle to avoid hitting the limiter. Fast first gear starts have always been a really painful experience, most of the time you just don't get any benefit from boost in first.
Now the car is mapped the onset of boost is so much earlier that by the time the clutch is up the car is already boosting. This means you can get a good burst of turbo thrust in first and still have time to plan a smooth shift into 2nd without losing momentum. I honestly don't know why it wasn't mapped this way in first from the factory, it makes the car so much better to drive off the line. I'm certain 'my' 0-60 times are at least a second faster for this ability to get a consistent launch (maybe down from 5 secs to 4 with the same gentile launch)
Once moving the throttle pedal feels slightly firmer and more responsive at low speeds. The car feels substantially stronger than standard from 3500-4500rpm meaning I tend to sit one or more gears higher than I did pre map and the car is still much more responsive to throttle input. In the high gears such as fifth the effects of the extra torque are almost frightening. Full throttle in fifth at these revs actually makes the front end go light over bumps in the same way (if not more) than the standard car would achieve in third.
The downside of this extra mid-range grunt is that the car feels somewhat disappointing now at the top end where the power feels like it drops back much closer to the standard level. As a consequence most of the benefit of the remap affects the car when driving at low to medium speeds rather than flat out. At first impression I could feel very little/ if any difference in performance when driving hard through the gears and keeping the revs high. The only noticeable benefit to full throttle driving was the earlier onset of boost meaning (with the addition of the new 997 gear linkage) I could make seamless progression from one gear to the next without feeling any drop in acceleration. That is a big improvement on standard.
A high speed run confirmed the feeling that the car was similar to standard at high rpms when I did a quick test through from 2nd to 6th and failed to improve on the top speed achieved in the standard car (I actually achieved 7mph less) over a set distance.
However by the end of the testing the car felt like it was struggling slightly at higher rpms in 6th. As I had done a few high speed runs leading up to this I'm not sure if the car was retarding ignition due to intake temperatures/slipping clutch?
In terms of boost pressure the car sits very firmly at 0.9 through the mid range but never touches 1.0 and at high rpms it flicks between 0.8 and 0.9 (mainly 0.9).
All testing was done with a fresh tank of v-power and at night with air temperatures of approx. 10*C.
I must reiterate that these are only m first impressions on the car and once I've put a few more tanks of fuel thorough the car and adjusted my driving style to suit the new character I will probably have a much better idea of what the gains are.
Would I go back to standard now? Definitely not. The car is a much better all-round package with a map. A bit closer to a racer in feel than the slightly relaxed feeling of the standard turbo, which is both good and bad depending on mood. But with the boost only sitting 0.1 bar over standard at high rpms I cannot imagine the strain on the car can be greatly increased. It's not a night and day change on my car but a re-map makes an excellent value for money modification. I think that everyone should have it.
He says he's kept the mapping on the cautious side just for the moment because my new clutch is suspected as maybe damaged after some heavy usage on my recent track session. (will wind up the boost a bit more later when we know if its ok or has been replaced)
I've only driven the car for maybe an hour and a half so far so these are only my first impressions, I will probably have a much clearer view after another track session.
The greatest plus point about the map is first gear. If you roll the standard car off the line and then floor it once the clutch is up it takes an age to hit 10-11mph. Then by the time the boost kicks in you have to have reactions quicker than the average house fly to make the change into 2nd without hitting the limiter or dropping off boost because you've backed so far off the throttle to avoid hitting the limiter. Fast first gear starts have always been a really painful experience, most of the time you just don't get any benefit from boost in first.
Now the car is mapped the onset of boost is so much earlier that by the time the clutch is up the car is already boosting. This means you can get a good burst of turbo thrust in first and still have time to plan a smooth shift into 2nd without losing momentum. I honestly don't know why it wasn't mapped this way in first from the factory, it makes the car so much better to drive off the line. I'm certain 'my' 0-60 times are at least a second faster for this ability to get a consistent launch (maybe down from 5 secs to 4 with the same gentile launch)
Once moving the throttle pedal feels slightly firmer and more responsive at low speeds. The car feels substantially stronger than standard from 3500-4500rpm meaning I tend to sit one or more gears higher than I did pre map and the car is still much more responsive to throttle input. In the high gears such as fifth the effects of the extra torque are almost frightening. Full throttle in fifth at these revs actually makes the front end go light over bumps in the same way (if not more) than the standard car would achieve in third.
The downside of this extra mid-range grunt is that the car feels somewhat disappointing now at the top end where the power feels like it drops back much closer to the standard level. As a consequence most of the benefit of the remap affects the car when driving at low to medium speeds rather than flat out. At first impression I could feel very little/ if any difference in performance when driving hard through the gears and keeping the revs high. The only noticeable benefit to full throttle driving was the earlier onset of boost meaning (with the addition of the new 997 gear linkage) I could make seamless progression from one gear to the next without feeling any drop in acceleration. That is a big improvement on standard.
A high speed run confirmed the feeling that the car was similar to standard at high rpms when I did a quick test through from 2nd to 6th and failed to improve on the top speed achieved in the standard car (I actually achieved 7mph less) over a set distance.
However by the end of the testing the car felt like it was struggling slightly at higher rpms in 6th. As I had done a few high speed runs leading up to this I'm not sure if the car was retarding ignition due to intake temperatures/slipping clutch?
In terms of boost pressure the car sits very firmly at 0.9 through the mid range but never touches 1.0 and at high rpms it flicks between 0.8 and 0.9 (mainly 0.9).
All testing was done with a fresh tank of v-power and at night with air temperatures of approx. 10*C.
I must reiterate that these are only m first impressions on the car and once I've put a few more tanks of fuel thorough the car and adjusted my driving style to suit the new character I will probably have a much better idea of what the gains are.
Would I go back to standard now? Definitely not. The car is a much better all-round package with a map. A bit closer to a racer in feel than the slightly relaxed feeling of the standard turbo, which is both good and bad depending on mood. But with the boost only sitting 0.1 bar over standard at high rpms I cannot imagine the strain on the car can be greatly increased. It's not a night and day change on my car but a re-map makes an excellent value for money modification. I think that everyone should have it.
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