New STF SCCA Class Thread

[drop360]

+1 to hearing about the tune and your experience with DPTune/Dynotronics.

 

[Racebrewer]

Hi Andy,

Have you installed the Powerflex bushings yet and if so, any thoughts on them?

I'd like to hear more about the DP Tune also.

Thanks,
John

 

[Andy Hollis]

Ok guys, back home after a loooong trip out west. Here's some answers to a variety of questions.

First...Dynotronics/DPtune/JMac/Joe. Here's the deal...Joe is for real. But he's just that...Joe. Plus his partner (Pisani) in Italy. Sure, there's a fancy-sounding phone system and nice web site, but it really comes down to one guy. Which is not unusual in the racing business, but many people seem to have undue expectations as to what that one guy can do.

The second key point is that Joe is old-school. Many people today feel that e-mail is the key communication device, and that not getting an answer to an email is akin to getting dissed. If you want to get ahold of Joe, call him. I usually do both (email and call). And you won't likely get through right away 'cuz Joe is also a racer who travels throughout the mid/south west, so he isn't always available.

Finally, Joe is a bit of a character. I've met plenty like him around Austin...it's what makes this city fun. But some folks can't deal with it.

Yes, it took me quite some time to finally get things worked out and have my ecu done. But it did make a huge difference, especially the rev limiter bump. The 1-2 shift is a 3000 rpm drop, and the OE limit of 6300 drops you to 3300 where there isn't that much power. Shifting instead at 7000 and dropping to 4000 makes the car feel more like a typical 4-cyl hot hatch, instead of a grocery getter. We also picked up power, but cannot yet quantify how much, as the ecu was done just prior to heading out west. And the plan is to redo the tune once I get the header done.

I will say that the entire exhaust is the largest bottleneck in the drivetrain, and there is only so much to be gained from ecu tuning w/o opening up the exhaust. The more, the better. Each bottleneck you remove will allow for a more effective tune. Just replacing the final muffler won't do much. Getting the second OE cat and resonator out of the system helps a bunch, though. Most important (and my next step) is replacing the catted exhaust manifold with a real header and hi-flow cat.

 

[Andy Hollis]

Hi Andy,

Have you installed the Powerflex bushings yet and if so, any thoughts on them?

Not yet. Soon. Probably do the front sway first.

 

[Racebrewer]

Thanks Andy ! ! !

Great info. Your insight is always appreciated.

Please keep us posted as to your updates.

John

P.S. Over the years I made several business trips to Texas. Life is different down there. Not bad, nor good, just different. I was working at a company miles from anywhere. Come lunch time and we'd hop into the owner's 6 cylinder BMW and he'd put it up to 130 for half an hour to get to the closest restaurant. We'd eat and do 60 miles in 30 minutes to get back. Yup, just did what you had to to get things done.

 

[Andres3165]

Ok guys, back home after a loooong trip out west. Here's some answers to a variety of questions.

First...Dynotronics/DPtune/JMac/Joe. Here's the deal...Joe is for real. But he's just that...Joe. Plus his partner (Pisani) in Italy. Sure, there's a fancy-sounding phone system and nice web site, but it really comes down to one guy. Which is not unusual in the racing business, but many people seem to have undue expectations as to what that one guy can do.

The second key point is that Joe is old-school. Many people today feel that e-mail is the key communication device, and that not getting an answer to an email is akin to getting dissed. If you want to get ahold of Joe, call him. I usually do both (email and call). And you won't likely get through right away 'cuz Joe is also a racer who travels throughout the mid/south west, so he isn't always available.

Finally, Joe is a bit of a character. I've met plenty like him around Austin...it's what makes this city fun. But some folks can't deal with it.

Yes, it took me quite some time to finally get things worked out and have my ecu done. But it did make a huge difference, especially the rev limiter bump. The 1-2 shift is a 3000 rpm drop, and the OE limit of 6300 drops you to 3300 where there isn't that much power. Shifting instead at 7000 and dropping to 4000 makes the car feel more like a typical 4-cyl hot hatch, instead of a grocery getter. We also picked up power, but cannot yet quantify how much, as the ecu was done just prior to heading out west. And the plan is to redo the tune once I get the header done.

I will say that the entire exhaust is the largest bottleneck in the drivetrain, and there is only so much to be gained from ecu tuning w/o opening up the exhaust. The more, the better. Each bottleneck you remove will allow for a more effective tune. Just replacing the final muffler won't do much. Getting the second OE cat and resonator out of the system helps a bunch, though. Most important (and my next step) is replacing the catted exhaust manifold with a real header and hi-flow cat.

It will be very nice to know what were your numbers before and after the tuning. Agree the exhaust is very restrictive it totally brought my headers to life.

Unfortunately cannot agree with you about Joe, got burned by him and other national level drivers as well. Hope it works for you .

Andres

 

[Andy Hollis]

It will be very nice to know what were your numbers before and after the tuning. Agree the exhaust is very restrictive it totally brought my headers to life.

Yup, that's the plan. Once back from Toledo, we'll do the back-to-back between the OE tune and Joe's stuff.

Unfortunately cannot agree with you about Joe, got burned by him and other national level drivers as well. Hope it works for you .

Andres

Without taking sides, I'll just say that there are two sides to every story. I've now heard both sides of that one.

--Andy

 

[Dynotronics1]

It will be very nice to know what were your numbers before and after the tuning. Agree the exhaust is very restrictive it totally brought my headers to life.

Unfortunately cannot agree with you about Joe, got burned by him and other national level drivers as well. Hope it works for you .

Andres

You know, Andres, I'm getting a bit tired of you telling everyone you got "burned" Fact of the matter is we simply decided you were to much of a pain in the butt to work with, and refused to use your MR2 as the development car for our testing. You sent your unit when we told you we were going to be away racing on vacation, you called every hour on the hour, you complained when we could not instantly return your unit because we were away. In short, not someone I want to work with.

Simple fact is we are the only company in the world who can read/write the denso ecu in the Mazda 2. We did all the development work with Mazda NA, and MazdaSpeed. If you look around, you would find that we have retuned more SCCA Race and AutoX cars than any other company in business. Our tuned cars are winning in pretty much every class in SCCA, and NASA. In fact, based on the number of units we have sold, and the customers we have sold them to, 90% of the Spec Miatas in the US are running our ecu!

In addition, I personaly have 12 divisional National Championships, hold track records at all the SWDIV tracks, own the 2008 SSC National Championship, and the 2008 Triple Crown.

Now none of this is intended to puff out my own chest, or brag, but so you know who we are. I try to always be available to chat with folks on the phone.

We are very proud to be able to work with a class act like Andy, and it has been a pleasure to be able to make his little car faster for him. I am reasonably sure we will be able to trim a few more tens off his time with a bit more tuning after his new header install.

 

[fam]

(peep)

Dont worry Joe I dont think many people will drink the sour koolaid from just one person on the internet, especially when you have Andy giving you props and breaking down how you guys operate.

 

[Dynotronics1]

(peep)

Dont worry Joe I dont think many people will drink the sour koolaid from just one person on the internet, especially when you have Andy giving you props and breaking down how you guys operate.

Thanks!

BTW, I dig the spots!!

 

[Andres3165]

You know, Andres, I'm getting a bit tired of you telling everyone you got "burned" Fact of the matter is we simply decided you were to much of a pain in the butt to work with, and refused to use your MR2 as the development car for our testing. You sent your unit when we told you we were going to be away racing on vacation, you called every hour on the hour, you complained when we could not instantly return your unit because we were away. In short, not someone I want to work with.

Simple fact is we are the only company in the world who can read/write the denso ecu in the Mazda 2. We did all the development work with Mazda NA, and MazdaSpeed. If you look around, you would find that we have retuned more SCCA Race and AutoX cars than any other company in business. Our tuned cars are winning in pretty much every class in SCCA, and NASA. In fact, based on the number of units we have sold, and the customers we have sold them to, 90% of the Spec Miatas in the US are running our ecu!

In addition, I personaly have 12 divisional National Championships, hold track records at all the SWDIV tracks, own the 2008 SSC National Championship, and the 2008 Triple Crown.

Now none of this is intended to puff out my own chest, or brag, but so you know who we are. I try to always be available to chat with folks on the phone.

We are very proud to be able to work with a class act like Andy, and it has been a pleasure to be able to make his little car faster for him. I am reasonably sure we will be able to trim a few more tens off his time with a bit more tuning after his new header install.

There is a reason why you got banned from may forums included this, you just keep changing your name so you can post.

Hey Andy ask Derrin Dissimo about his experience with your friend

Andres

 

[Dynotronics1]

There is a reason why you got banned from may forums included this, you just keep changing your name so you can post.

Hey Andy ask Derrin Dissimo about his experience with your friend

Andres

Not to take this too far, but as usual, you cast vague aspersions, but no facts. Dynotronics is the company name, hence the forum name. When I was on this forum before, I made the mistake of offering our service without benefit of vendor status, my bad. I am here, not to sell anything, and will not entertain questions on pricing, or service. But will answer general questions about ecu tuning for the forum members here.

And its a bit funny you saying we have been banned from many forums, when we are infact sponsors of at least 5 as of right now, and senior members of 10 20 more.

Andres, for some reason, you got your feelings hurt when I told you we were not interested in working with you. you have been looking to give me a blackeye all around the internet, and infact you yourself have been asked to leave at least one forum for your behavior regarding this matter.

 

[Racebrewer]

OK Boys, everyone step back to your corners.........

Sounds like its time for Dynotronics Mazda 2 ECU flashing to stand on its own. Results will speak louder than words.

John

 

[Dynotronics1]

OK Boys, everyone step back to your corners.........

Sounds like its time for Dynotronics Mazda 2 ECU flashing to stand on its own. Results will speak louder than words.

John

thanks John, I am more than happy to let this go!

 

[Andy Hollis]

Hey Andy ask Derrin Dissimo about his experience with your friend

Andres

I appreciate your warning, Andres. I really do.

Like I said, I'm not trying to take sides here. No doubt, there are folks out there who have beefs with Joe. Many are friends of mine and I have heard all about it. But there are also a whole bunch of satisfied DPtune customers I know out there in the autocross world, including some in D-Prepared, CSP, and STR.

In motorsports, relationships are everything...and it takes two parties to form a relationship. And not everyone will get along.

For now, I'll let the product and the level of service speak for itself. And I'll do my best to keep everyone fairly apprised of how it's going.

 

[Andy Hollis]

Speaking of service...when I was on the dyno at UpRev the other day to get baselines for the header before/after, we had trouble getting the car to run full-throttle. First the traction control freaked out, so we turned off the switch. Then, the ABS freaked and displayed a light. But there's no ABS fuse to pull (one is labelled, but nothing is there). Could not figure it out. Was as if the brakes were being applied in third gear or the throttle being cut.

A call to Joe (he did not answer but called back 5 minutes later) confirmed the issue as being related to the DSC havng a "second-level" that you cannot turn off with the switch. I've actually experienced this second level on course earlier this year at Blytheville when it kicked in during a four-wheel drift entering a high speed slalom. Anyway, he suggested pulling the DSC fuse, which we did. And the problem was solved.

That was Joe helping us run on someone else's dyno for a test not related to ecu tuning. He didn't have to do that.

 

[genericmoniker]

Perhaps thats what I experienced during the winter then, nice and gentle 4 wheel drift in a parking lot (lots of empty space) and just snapped straight. Well, less snap, and more gradually corrected itself for no reason.

 

[Andres3165]

I appreciate your warning, Andres. I really do.

Like I said, I'm not trying to take sides here. No doubt, there are folks out there who have beefs with Joe. Many are friends of mine and I have heard all about it. But there are also a whole bunch of satisfied DPtune customers I know out there in the autocross world, including some in D-Prepared, CSP, and STR.

In motorsports, relationships are everything...and it takes two parties to form a relationship. And not everyone will get along.

For now, I'll let the product and the level of service speak for itself. And I'll do my best to keep everyone fairly apprised of how it's going.

Appreciate your input, it will be very nice to see the improvements you can get with your tune I mean real numbers like you always do

Thanks Andy

Andres

 

[fam]

Good luck in toledo andy...I may help out sunday with NWOR to fill any voids they have but saturday im hitting up cedar point with the family so I wont be there.(cars not prepped enough to be competitive so why waste money). If you guys are planning on eating anywhere as a group post something up and Ill see if I can join you guys.

 

[fam]

Welp Andy... I think you're right...STF needs a better PAX. Winning STF but indexing 93rd is downright mean. Then again the #1 HS came in 75th overall.