Setting the car up - A job for a professional & a rolling road

We all decided that we should get the car set-up properly, plus if set-up on a rolling road then we would finally find out what we had under the bonnet. Finding places that have rolling roads is quite easy, however finding places that have rolling roads and can set a car up that has a carburettor is a little harder to find. After an afternoon of internet searching and numerous phonecalls, one member of Team TrackBitch found Ric Wood Motorsport in Stockport, we asked if he could set it up on the following Saturday, but were told it was not possible as he was at Oulton Park assisting the touring car teams for BTCC. Nothing but the best for the TrackBitch.

The car was booked in for the following week and we all placed bets on what bhp we would achieve. I was hoping for around 175bhp, other team members whilst hoping for that sort of figure thought around 160bhp maybe closer to the mark. Setup wasn't cheap either at £150 per hour but it is worth doing a proper job. The car was the last one to be worked on that day, so we had an impatient day waiting to find out. After a couple of hours the car was done, interestingly the car was running lean, when we thought it was running rich, so probably a good job it was set-up by a professional.

So, onto the important bit, the figures....

Starting figures
Maximum Power - Wheels - 105.0 bhp @ 5,510 rpm
Maximum Power - Engine - 125.2 bhp @ 5,500 rpm
Maximum Torque - 128 lbft @ 4,206 rpm

Out of the factory they were 118bhp so we started in a favourable position.

Finishing figures
Maximum Power - Wheels - 143 bhp @ 5,133 rpm
Maximum Power - Engine - 157.6 bhp @ 6,204 rpm
Maximum Torque - 166.4 lbft @ 4,803 rpm

So we'd not quite made the 175 bhp we were after, Ric did say that our Turbo seemed a little weak, which was a bit worrying but that is probably what you get when you have a little gamble on eBay.

Picture below shows print out from the day.

So we didn't quite make what we were hoping for, however the car now feels so much different, the turbo when it kicks in is quite savage (easy to wheel spin in second in the dry) and if you keep the power above 3,500 rpm you can get from A to B pretty quickly. Clearly it is not a car for 0-60 times but on track driven correctly we are hoping to trouble some more serious hardware.

Looking at bhp per ton figures and using the performance calculator on Letstorquebhp this gives us:-

158bhp
831kg
Power to weight of 193bhp


To compare this, listed below are a few bhp per ton figures for some hot hatches.

Standard Renault 5 GTT - 146 bhp/ton
Honda Civic Type R - 158 bhp/ton
Mini Cooper S Works - 170 bhp/ton
Renault Clio 182 Cup - 168 bhp/ton
Renault Megane R26R - 189 bhp/ton
VW Golf R - 178 bhp/ton
Ford Focus RS - 208 bhp/ton

So, new turbo fitted, new rear axle, new rear suspension and a rolling road set-up. Let the fun commence.

There has been a further update since this was written. Please read - Setting the car up - an update