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lTWAS0F COURSE
the newGTIwoutdattracta lot of
with
attention
fromtuningcompanies,
2.0-titreFSI
the 200PSturbocharged
engineofferingptentyof potentialfor
performance
improvement,
Indeed,
sister
modified
this
marqueAudihasatready
engineto produce265PSin the new53,
SEAThastunedit to 240PSfor the new
LeonCupraandof courseVolkswagen
itsetfhasjust releaseda 230PSversionfor
GTl,whichwe'tl be
the30thAnniversary
test-drivingfor a featurenextmonth,
Especiatly
sowitha turbocharged
e n g i n er e
, v i s i nt g
h ee n g i n m
e anagement
WWW.AUTOMETRIX.CO.UK
systemfor increasedpoweroutputis very
carefutlycorewarding,
simptyinvotving
o r d i n a t em
d o d iifc a t i o n tso t h e m a p sf o r
, e t l i n ga n d i g n i t i o n
timing.
b o o s tp r e s s u r ef u
Oftenthe on[yreal problemfor the tuning
c o m p a n i eiss h o t d i n gb a c ko n t h e a m o u n t
WhiLe
of extrapowerwhichis possibLe.
customersmay cLamourfor the biggest
n u m b e r st,h e t u n e r sk n o wt h a tt h e u p g r a d e
hasto remainbothtractabteand safefor
t h e e n g i n ea n dd r i v e t r a i inn t h e [ o n gt e r m .
Oneof the f irst to marketwith a software
upgradefor the new GTIwas Superchips.
B a s e di n B u c k i n g h a mt h, e c o m p a n yh a sa
with over27 yearsworkingin
longpedigree;
t h i sa r e ao f e n d e a v o uarn d h a v i n gm o d iife d
over500,000cars,it is one of the [eadersin
the etectronicperformance
tuningindustry.
I n d e e dS, u p e r c h i pi s t h e o f f i c i atIu n i n g
partnerto Volkswagen
Racing,with a[L
the carswhichracein the VW Cupseries
testedon the Superchips
rollingdefinitivety
roaddynamometer.
MostrecentLy,
though,
S u p e r c h i phsa sc o m b i n e d
i t st r a d i t i o n a I
tuningtechnology
with a newsystemfor
the software.
downtoading
performance
Previousty
the Superchips
removingthe engine
upgradeinvoLved
m a n a g e m e nutn i tI E C Ua] n de i t h e rf i t i i n g
hd
ip
a n e wp e r f o r m a n c e - p r o g r a m mc e
NR t v E R2 3
F E B R J A R2V0 0 7v 0 L K S W A G ED
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or usingspeciaIworkshopequipmentto
copyoff the originaIsoftwareand load
the new high-performance
mappingin its
place.Whi[eproducinga wetcome20-30
per centincreasein powerandtorqueon
mostturbo'dpetrolandTDIengines,it was
with the owner
a permanentatteration,
unab[eto switchbackto standarduntess
theyreturnedto the Superchips
deaterfor
anotherworkshoosession.
But nowthat hasa[[ changed.Atthough
primarity
we think of it as associated
with the Votkswagen
Groupmodelrange,
upgradesfor
Superchips
hasdevetoped
almostatl marquesand it was for the Ford
market,severalyearsago,that it first
'btuef
introducedits switchable
in' system
for thosemodetswhichusedthe EEC-V
enginemanagementsystem.
The beautyof bluefinis that the owner
can downloadthe new perlormance
withouthavingto
softwarethemselves,
takethe car to a dealer,and theycan atso
easityrevertbackto the standardsoftware
by ptuggingthe deviceintothe on-board
diagnostic
IOBDIport and fottowinga few
simp[eprocedures.
Theadvantages
of beingab[eto readity
switchthe softwareupgradeon and off are a[[
too obviousbut it's noi just aboutwarrantyor
insurance
issues,becausethereare genuine
considerations.
Forinstance,
operationaI
an enthusiastic
drivermight needto share
who isn'tso
his car with a wife or cotteague
with the extrapoweroutput,
comfortable
or theymightwant to reservethe extra
performance
for track days,or conversely
tone it downfor drivingin stipperywinter
conditions.
But the newenginemanagementsystem
usedfor the 2.0T-FSIenginesofferedmuch
when it cameto making
more of a chattenge
the softwareupgradeswitchabte.
Aftera lot
of deveLopment
work,though,Superchips
has nowextendedthe bluefinconcept
for manycurrent
to inctudeapplications
Votkswagen
Groupmodets,first of at[ the
16-vatve
TDIand most recentty
2.0-Litre
for the 2.0T-FSlengine.An
a conversion
upgrade
f o r t h e 1 4 0P S 1 . 4 - t i t rT
e S Ie n g i n e
is atsoimminent,atthoughthe much more
sophisticated
softwaresystemusedfor the
170 PSversionsof the TSIis provingeven
moreof a chaLtenoe...
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The btuefinupgradeinvolvesusinga
hand-hetdmodute,a stylishhandsetabout
the sizeand shapeof a slipper,finishedin
the corporateSuperchips
cotoursof btack,
sitverand dark blue.This is suppLied
by
post,neattypackagedin a tai[oredboxand
comingcompletewith a comprehensive
instructionmanuaLand softwareCD.
ptuggingthe
The procedureinvotves
btuefinunit intothe car's0BD port,the
fixturewhichis usedbyVotkswagen
workshopstafffor on-boarddiagnostics,
interrogating
the ECUfor fauttcodesduring
servicingand troubleshooting.
lt is located
in the driver'ssidefootwetljust belowand
to the right of the steeringco[umn.
Thisfirst connection
makesa copy
of the standardsoftware,whichis then
sentto Superchips
by internet,using
the PCsoftwaresupptied.
With so many
permutations
of ECUand originaIsoftware
now in use,it is no [ongersensiblefor any
tuningcompanyto supptysoftwareon spec.
AftercarefuIchecks,the retevanthighperformance
softwareis subsequentty
returned,by internetconnection,
usua[[y
withinan hour or so. In the veryrareevent
'off
ihat the exactmap isn'tavailable the
',
she[f Superchips
staffwiL[work on a
suitabteupgrade,guaranteeing
a resutt
.THT
$T[NII[R[
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beforethe end of the nextfut[ workingday.
Eitherway,the originalsoftwareremains
intactandthe car is usabtein the meantime.
The newsoftwareis then loadedfrom the
customer'sPCintothe bluefin handsetand
transferredto the car'sECU,againusing
the devicepl.ugged
intothe 0BD port.
The downtoaditsetftakesabout20
minutesfor the GTI[thesimptersoftware
f o r t h e 2 . 0T D Ii s m u c hq u i c k e r )f ,o [ l o w i n g
givenon the disptaypanel
the instructions
on the moduteand respondingby pressingthe
keyson the handsetas andwhenrequired.
Theownercan nowswitcheasitybetween
programs
standardand high-performance
usinothe bluefinmodute.)
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@ 5894
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54 Nm increase
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Superchipped
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increasedsignificantLy
above2000rpm,
with the Superchipped
softwaredeveLoping
a n e x t r a4 5 b h pa b o v e6 , 10 0 r p m a n d
p r o d u c i nag h u g ei n c r e a s ien t o r q u ea I Lt h e
wayfrom 2500to over6000rpm. Likeatl
the bestperformanceimprovements,
the
g r a p h sm a i n t a i nm u c ht h e s a m es h a p e
and profiLe
as the standardengine,but with
m u c hh i g h e rf i g u r e sa t a n yg i v e np o i n ti n
therange.
C o L dw, e t a n ds t i p p e r ryo a dc o n d i t i o n s
on the dayof our test driveprevented
us
from recordingany meaningfuIcomparative
performance
figures,simpLybecausethe
extrapowerprovidedbythe conversion
was so readyto breaktraction.That'snot to
the revised
saythat it was unmanageab[e,
softwareatsoprovidesa verysmoothand
progressive
powerdetiveryfor drivingon
p a r tt h r o t t L eB.u tt h e r e ' sn o d o u b t h a t ,
on dry roads,the Superchipped
GTIwoutd
be much moresatisfying,
not ontymore
.
m u s c u l aar n de a g e ri n i t s a c c e L e r a t i bo un t
yearsnow
ltl a subltedistinction,
butlor several
atso
smoothand seamtessin detivery.
quoted
power
Volkswagen
hasolliciatly
figures
lor
in P$rather
thanbhp.0erman
manufacturers T h ec o n d i t i o nast s os h o w e dt h e
output
(kW),
advantage
of btuefin'sswitchabitity,
with
poYver
primarily
express
0utputin kitowatts
a straightforward
reversionto standard
butbefore
lilowatts
wereadopled
a measure
ol power
'honepowe/
p o w e ro u t p u tb e n eifc i a L f owr e t a n dw i n t r y
lle PS(pferdestiirke
i.e.
in
outputcatled
German)
wasused.
P$though,
ismeasured
according c o n d i t i o n W
s . ec a no n t yh o p et h a t ,o n ed a y ,
Industrie
l'lorm)standards,
while
lo Dlt{(Deutsche
Votkswagen
witt giveus a four-wheel-drive
lo lS0(lnternationat
bhpis measured
according
G T l ,b e c a u s teh e S u p e r c h i p p eAdu d i5 3 w e
power
When
0utput drovethe sameday,for a featurein sister
Standards
0rganisation)
criteria.
lS0
measurements
aretalenona dynamomeler,
title Audi Driver,with btuefin increasing
(bhp)readings
arec0rrected
l0
brakehorsepower
its poweroutputto 306bhp,was simply
of 990mbar.
a temperature
ol 25"Canda pressure
sensationa
L.
to
whileDll,lmeasurements
of PSareconected
B u t ,w i t ha b l u e f i nm o d u l et u c k e da w a yi n
20'Cand1015
mbar.
Because
ofthisthereisa
the GTI'sglovebox,
it ontytakes20 minutes
stighldiflerence
belween
bhpandPS.1bhp=
d u r i n gt h e [ u n c h b r e atko t u r n t h ew i c k
PS(1PS= 0.9865
bhp).ln thecaseof the
1.10159
backup for an enjoyabte
drivehomef rom
standard
2.0-tilre
T-fSlGTIengine
147kW=
w
o
r
k
a
s
s
o
o
n
a
s
t
h
e
s
u
n
s
h i n e sa g a i na n d
197bhp= 200PS.
t h e r o a d sd r vo u t .A s s u c h ,t h e b L u e f i n
We recenttyspenta daywith Superchips,
for
tryingout the new bluefinappLications
the Mk 5 GTIand the newAudi53.With
bothcars initia[Ly
drivenin totallystandard
form,we were leftto carryout the procedure
for ourselvesand it reaLLy
is quitestraightforward.The handsethasa[Lthe design
simplicityof a chitd'stoy - it ptugsin easity,
andthe instructions
are easyto fotlow
Withthe downloadcomotetedandthe
h i g h - p e r i o r m a n sc oe f t w a r e n a b L e tdh, e
performance
of the GTIwas transformed.
B e a r i n gi n m i n dt h a tt h e S u p e r c h i prso L t i n g roaddynamometer
measuresin bhp,rather
systemtusedby
than the PS IPferdestarke)
the factory,the standardcar was right on
t h e b u t t o nw i t ha m a x i m u mf i g u r eo f 1 9 6
b h oi n s t a n d a r fdo r m .
As the power-plotgraphsshow,the
improvement
in engineperformanceis
dramatic.Bothpowerand torqueare
V O L K S W A G EDNR I V E R
F E B R U A R2Y0 O 7
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upgradeoffersa veryappeatingconversion,
efforttessty
endowingthe car wrtha
s u b s t a n t i ai nt c r e a s ien p o w e ra n dt o r q u e ,
j u s t b y p r e s s i n tgh e r i g h tb u t t o n s . . I.
Whileconcentrating
mainlyon the current
VotkswagenGroupmodetrange,Superchips
is also working on retro-engineeringthe
bLuefinprincipleto apptyto the oldermodels,
with plansto incorporatediagnosticfunctions
and a degreeof adjustabiLity
into the device
in the near future. For further informationon
Superchips
bluefin,telephone0128081678l
or log on at www.mybluefin.co.uk
WWW.AUTOMETRIX.CO.UK