Advisor
Tips & Tricks
Engine Optimisation
More Motorsport Under the Hood
0 Comments
Engine Optimisation
Tuning is mostly about more power, more horsepower, and more torque. It’s not simply about buying a new, higher-performance car. It’s also about the irresistible challenge: how much more can I get from my engine?
But the term ‘engine optimisation’ isn’t always used consistently. Sometimes it implies more complex operations, and sometimes, less complex. Even on the tuning scene it’s not always clear what people mean: just chip tuning, or extensive modifications that include the exhaust system, the pistons and rods, the intake, and various other possibilities? In this article, we clear up the confusion.
CONTENT
- 1. What does engine optimisation mean?
- 2. What can you do to optimise an engine?
- 3. What are the advantages of engine optimisation?
- 4. Engine optimisation mistakes
- 5. Here’s how to go about optimising your engine
- 6. Is engine optimisation worth it?
- 7. Conclusion
- 8. Tuning services from the motorsport pros
What does engine optimisation mean?
In most cases, engine optimisation refers to software modifications, which is also called chip tuning or engine characteristics optimisation. But fundamentally, it means retrospectively sprucing up performance or consumption.
While the word ‘tuning’ actually just means ‘fine-tuning’, engine tuning theoretically covers a variety of possibilities, and they definitely don’t stop at chip tuning!:
- Mechanical tuning
- Chip tuning
- Additional components
People don’t necessarily leverage all of these to the max. It might be enough to change a few parts or even just tweak the software. It all depends on what your expectations are. But if you want to see what full-on, no-hold-barred tuning looks like, check out our tuning projects and take a look at our 1,000 hp vehicles.
What can you do to optimise an engine?
Mechanical tuning – upgrades etc.
Mechanical tuning means customizing or working on existing parts, such as the camshaft, intake, fuel injection, pistons, and rods. It’s about making parts sturdier so that they can handle higher performance, by replacing series parts with performance parts. This is usually done in combination with chip tuning so that the software matches the upgrades.
Chip tuning – the electronics of engine optimisation
Chip tuning is usually the first thing we do if we really want to optimise your whole engine. This is because we change the characteristics of your control unit to unleash all the performance that the engine can give. But also, if you modify any components – let’s say you get a bigger turbo – the software then needs modifying. With chip tuning alone, we often obtain an incredible performance boost of up to 40%. Chip tuning is also your friend if you’re looking to reduce fuel consumption. Because adjusting the injection characteristic will make your car a lot less thirsty than it was with the factory calibration. The big advantage of using chip tuning on its own is that you can restore the factory settings any time you like, because you haven’t changed any parts.
Tuning with additional components
As we mentioned earlier, you’ll see from our tuning projects that it’s possible to push the boundaries of horsepower. But only if we install additional components. It might be a complete exhaust system, a turbocharger, a sport clutch, an intercooler, high-pressure pumps, a downpipe, and so on.
What are the advantages of engine optimisation?
Most of the advantages are obvious. But it all comes down to your ideas and requirements. Generally speaking, it’ll get you:
- Higher performance/torque
- Efficiency
- Durability/stability
- Lower consumption
- Lower costs
- Lower harmful emissions
- An emotionally intense drive
- Racing sounds
- Looks
Of course, you may have a very specific wish list in mind, for example if you’re optimising for racing, where you’re also looking for maximum performance combined with minimum weight.
Engine optimisation mistakes
Unless you know exactly what you’re doing, there are a few things you can easily get wrong. And serious mistakes can damage your engine, for instance if the components you choose are incompatible with each other, can’t withstand increased performance, are incorrectly installed, and so on. The lack of stability that this causes will also shorten the life of your engine. And there are scenarios where an apparent optimisation can actually have the opposite effect and diminish your car’s performance. Examples include suboptimal exhaust gas flow or intake air. Personally, we also put illegal modifications in the engine-optimisation self-sabotage category.
Here’s how to go about optimising your engine
Our long-standing experience in motorsport counts: when we optimise an engine, we do it professionally. Specifically, we put the car through its paces on our 1,000 PS test dyno before attempting to boost its performance. We take readings and run diagnostics. What happens after that depends on your vision for the car. For a good overview of the processes we use, see our tuning guides, which you can also use if you want to optimise your engine yourself. We generally work up through different performance levels. But if you want to go straight to maximum power, you can obviously combine the individual steps. If you don’t have the inclination or expertise to do your own optimisation, we can put together a complete racing engine for you.
3 Years Warranty
Is engine optimisation worth it?
Whether or not engine optimisation is worth it always depends on a lot of factors: What are you looking to achieve? What’s your budget? When you’re buying a car, it sometimes makes more sense to buy a model from the same series with a more powerful engine. That way, you at least have a warranty and you know your car is road-legal. But that means you miss out on the fun of tuning it. Because it’s not always just about horsepower. It’s often about the optimisation process itself: with every step, you get closer to showing what the engine is really made of. The performance level you get straight off the production line doesn’t give you that option.
Conclusion
Engine tuning is a very individual thing: individual to the engine and the vehicle, and personal to you as a driver – you need to know what you want. That’s the only way to identify the right tuning options – the ones that will make you love your car, and driving, even more.
Tuning services from the motorsport pros
Faced with all these possibilities and choices, the good news is that you don’t have to go it alone. Take advantage of our many years of motorsport experience and ask our advice! Just send us a chat message and ask your questions. We look forward to hearing from you.
Create comment
Please leave us a comment.
His first car was a Polo Mk1 with a 40 Weber twin carburetor and 129 PS (95 kW). His second was an Audi 50. Today Bartek tunes Lamborghinis to 1000 PS (735 kW). Even as a young boy, Bartek disassembled vehicles and put everything back together better. He wrote his high school diploma with oil on his fingers. The trained automotive mechanic with a focus on engines and gearboxes was determined to go into motorsports. In his 10 years in Formal 1, he supervised 73 races, including as engine mechanic for Ralf Schumacher at Toyota. Since 2010, he has dedicated himself fully to his company BAR-TEK® and helps his customers to bring VW and Audi engines to peak performance.
Expert in
Engine
Gearbox
