It's SO FRUSTRATING listening to this almost pointless discussion!
get this through your thick heads: a)most stock ECUs will not provide enough fuel for engine health (ie life) with the improved airflow caused by legal IT mods. (just ask the guy who melted down his Jetta II Digifant motor at LRP twice!)
virtually all (maybe all) ECUs can have the fueling and ignition tables re-written to tailor them to their new application by a savvy chip tuner and for all practical puposes purposes there is no way to say if either anything was done/or that the "file" is not stock as there are endless stock file permutations for different applications which most manufacturers don't know or won't share.
c) changing the fueling and ignition timing/advance curve is what tuners have always done. And yes, I haven't forgotten the latest curve in engine management, adjustable cam timing-later.
From my perspective, the current rule looks pretty sensible. I'd expect that all computer controlled apps are tuneable, it's just a question of how or by who. I spent most of last winter with a test bench, an E-Prom emulator, and some funky data acq on the street until I was able to understand how to write file to my ECU and get my fueling straightened out. My "high tech" solution to my computer controlled timing was to just bypass the ECU and run it locked up, with no advance function.
For those who can't find a way to "chip-tune", they can always try cramming an aftermarket unit into the stock ECU, or, if they just want to survive, they can raise the fuel pressure. AHA! you say-so you can run with a stock ECU and survive!! Great! I say-prove it's not stock. Like I said-I think our rules are pretty sensible. They only allow you to tune your engine in the same way tuners/racers have been doing it forever-don't be confused by the black box! As everyone must know by now, an engine is an airpump-fuel is never the limiting factor-airflow is. I don't understand how anybody can say that allowing fuel injected cars tuneability is an unfair advantage. To my thinking its a basic liberty!
Regarding variable cam timing: variable cam timing gives the ability to have a very tractable/low speed torque setting, while having agressive timing (and sometimes lift) at high speeds. In the area that is of interest to racers, those paramaters are probably maximas anyway. As long as we are unable to change them beyond the pre-exiting manufacted mechanical limits, I don,t see them having any competetive advantage other than driving in the paddock or maybe if you towed something with your racecar, which might be a good idea. phil
