Report from Olympia (kinda long)

[Greg Johnson <gregsj@mail.imm.com>]

Business took me to Olympia WA the Friday of Memorial Day weekend. I
setup my schedule, so I could take Hr. Boostmeister to lunch and spend a
few hours discussing Audis and related subjects.

The visit began with Ned finishing up an ECU for a friend of mine's ‘87
5000 TQW. It was fun to watch Ned work and see how he does what he does.
When he finished, Ned said, "I'm hungry; let's eat", and, as he tossed
me his keys, you drive." The first thing one notices about The Beast is
it's very utilitarian. There are lots of antennas; breathing/cooling
holes in the front bumper; and an exhaust outlet below the rear bumper
that looks like a small cannon. It's also loaded for bear. There's a
scanner in the dash where the coin holder goes; a radar cloaking device
hanging off the passenger visor; a Valentine; and a WA State Patrol
baseball cap sitting on the back shelf.

Ned says his Quattro can make about 450HP, but at around 430HP things
started breaking, so he dialed it back to where things stopped breaking.
He figures it's running about 420HP. I had a few blocks to get the feel
of the car and as we pulled onto I-5 there was a gap in the traffic so I
nailed it (third gear). I've only driven or ridden in a couple of cars
that have 400+ HP. You tend to forget what it's like. The few gaps that
exist, tend to disappear very quickly. Anyway, I had a couple of chances
to nail it in third or fourth. There's a bit of turbo lag, but when it
comes, if you intend to keep your foot it, you should be going straight
or damn close to it and you better have lots of room in front of you.
It's a real kick.

We had a long lunch and discussed many Audi/car items. Ned had a great
time in Ingolstadt this winter. Audi gave him a S6 Plus Avant to use
while he was visiting (340HP V8 & a 6spd). He says "it doesn't have the
punch my car does, but there's no turbo lag either. It just pulls
whenever."  All in all, it was a very enjoyable lunch.

After lunch, Ned drove. He's very comfortable with his car (as he should
be) and he had us moving very quickly on several occasions. It's a good
thing his car has all wheel drive. Ned said he needed to pick something
up and wanted to show me something so we headed out to a place he merely
calls "the chicken coop." There is indeed what was once a chicken coop,
but it's probably better named IA's Skunk Works. Essentially it's a long
three-bay garage and there's all kinds of Audi stuff in there. The most
interesting is Ned's latest project — which can best be described as an
RS2 Coupe. The front end is all RS2 (he got the parts from Germany) and
from the windshield back its 90Q Coupe. The color is the new Audi Yellow
that even Stevie Wonder can see. Ned says HP will be variable — in the
400 to 500 HP range. He says a few car magazine have already been by to
take pictures and plan to come back for testing when it's completely
done. It should be wicked!  Ned also showed me a few manifolds, turbos,
and drilled rotors. With the manifolds, you can see a clear progression
from stock, to a competitors, to Ned's (clearly directed [to the turbo
vane] smooth tunnels is the best way I can describe Ned's).

As most of you know, I opted for a Hoppen ECU upgrade a few months ago
and I've been very pleased with it. Ned wanted me to compare my Hoppen
upgrade against his upgrade so when we got back to the office, Ned took
the ECU out of his car and put it in mine. In sum, my car (‘91
200-TQW-20V) felt stronger with Ned's ECU upgrade. Please note, Hoppen's
upgrade is well worth the $395 they charge for it. Arguably, Hoppen
offers more value (push per dollar) and I'd recommend it to anyone.
Likewise, Ned's upgrade is worth what he charges for it as well because
it feels a bit stronger. If you want to save a few $$, go Hoppen. If you
can afford it, and you want a bit more, go with Ned. Ned simply erased
and then reprogrammed the existing 256K Hoppen chips. After Ned
reinstalled my ECU, we went for a test drive that included a series of
accelerations in various gears. He insisted that I drive so he could
watch the boost gauge while he felt what was going on. The brew Ned gave
me takes the 13.8 stock pressure 20 to 21 lbs of  pressure (reads 2.0 on
the gauge). Moreover, the new brew is such that if I upgrade the
manifold and turbo (a bit less than $3K; maybe next spring), I'll have
about 380hp. Could be serious fun! If you ever go to Olympia, make a
reservation in advance. You can learn a heck of a lot in the course of a
lunch.