G-TechPro Competition...

[Dave Hord]

Okay,

I guess I should clarify a bit.

I own the GTech Pro Competition.  I bought it for use at work, as we can get an
acurate measurement of how much horsepower our exhaust systems are producing.
I've had it for about 4 days now, and have tried it in quite a few vehicles.

I haven't yet tested it against a true dyno, but this is what I've discovered
so far:

1) it's darn accurate! Using our resident customer support guy's Honda Civic we
were able to determine that the 1/4 mile time was accurate (give or take a few
hundreths of a second).
1b) Took the brand new (less then 5,000km) Audi A4 Avant out earlier today,
where we pulled 158.6hp at the wheels.  Given that the car has 170hp stock from
the factory, and the driveline should account for about 10% loss...we're pretty
much on the money.  Technically we're 2.something% out...but the GTech Pro Comp
is supposed to be accurate within a 3% window.

2) As a consumer product, this has very limited use.  I mean, even with my own
Audi...it was fun for two runs...but hey, now I know what it does.  Whoopie.
Perhaps for someone like Javad, or Jim Green who are doing serious turbo work
with their cars...yeah, then I could see it being interesting.  And, when you
figure the time/$$ you turbo transplant guys are spending, the cost of a GTech
Pro to measure your gains could be quite valuble.

Now, the things I wonder:

1) For anyone who hasn't had the opportunity to use one, the GTech Pro
Competition (herein known as the GTech) displays a number of information
following a 'run' (a run being a 1/4 mile drag):

1/4 mile time & trap speed
1/8 mile time
60' time
330' time
1000' time
and 0-60mph time.

The GTech will also show you two graphs: RPM vs. Time graph and a HP vs Time
graph.

The first graph can be used to analyze your shifting performance, the second
shows HP/Torque and RPM.

When you download the data into your computer, however, you get the all the
numerical information from the GTech including:

Elapsed Seconds, MPH, Distance in feet, Gear, RPM, Accel X, AccelY, AccelZ,
Accel FWD.

The difficulty _I'm_ having is figuring out how to turn that information in to
graphs I can use...

I think, however, I may have just answered my own question.  As I recall
Horsepower = Speed x Acceleration x weight.  I'll have to do some surfing...


-Dave
---------------------------------------------------
89 90q  300km+ Rally Conversion...
Roll cage shots available at:
http://home.the-wire.com/~spokes/rollcage/page1.htm



> actually, I was kinda wondering about it as well... It seems like the
> sort of thing that would be interesting for a few minutes and right
> after mods, but unless I actually start getting serious about this car,
> then I don't know if I want to plop down the price of a Valentine 1 on
> a novelty... so feel free to copy me (or the list, I guess) in your
> replies...
>
> -Ben Kaupp