My Lotus Elise

Rice Racing Story - As Told Pete B

" I first started my Lotus Elise project in about 2010.  The reality was it quickly became a disaster as I employed two different companies in the UK which is where it all began.

The chassis dynamics engineer was great but the engine/supercharger and ECU software developer proved to be flaky and always over promised, over charged and underperformed.  For example the Toyota 2ZZ motor was 15,000 pounds.  And I had to subsequently replace it here in oz for a better one for 12,000 dollars!

Since I was running a 6speed Hewland EGT Sequential Dog Box with pneumatic paddle shift it was decided that the best option would be Life Racing F88 (full spec) to run both the engine and gear control.

I won’t labor the point but to say after 3 or 4 years, much money and angst I brought the project home to Perth with a view to finishing it off with local engineers.

The car kept overheating when it arrived and didn’t produce anywhere near the promised 500hp.  We were barely getting half the quoted figure and it still overheated.  As it turns out we finally decided to pull the supercharger and replace with a Borg Warner EFR-7064  (T4, .92 a/r, Twinscroll, Int WG).

The local boys did a great job with the conversion but we had a problem!  Everyone here threw their hands in the air from the standpoint of the ECU.  Because nobody had heard of Life Racing they assumed it was no good and requested I swap out for a Motec M1.  All my research however told me that Life was in fact better than Motec and I didn't want to spend another 10K and end up getting something less than I already had.

Enter, (superhero like)……. Dun dun dahhhhh.  PETER G.

I found Peter Giljevic via some chat rooms and online research.  It felt a little odd to start with as he kind of interviewed and vetted me rather than the other way around.  In retrospect I guess it was just him trying to see what I was ultimately after in a build and to see if he could meet both our expectations. 

Quite honestly if I had not have found Pete, the project would have failed or I would have ended up going Motec with some “I know it all and do it better” developer.

Pete and I immediately got on well and he initially got the car going via TeamViewer and ECU logging as I had internal memory in the Life system.  We would run the car up on the dyno here in Perth with Pete on the other end in Victoria time after time and it would just get better and better. 

I quickly determined that Pete’s not just an hp seeker like many other tuners out there.  The control and monitoring strategies he implements are just epically sophisticated and on numerous occasions since these strategies have saved my motor.

Pete saw quickly that there were not enough safeguard sensors in the system which is not only essential from a safety standpoint but which also prevented finer tuning control and increased power and flexibility. 

So without hesitation Pete agreed to fly over to Perth and wire up many extra sensors which required an X10 expander,  Life D5 Dash with unlimited USB logging and Flex Fuel.  Pete just exuded a broad base of knowledge from high tech engine building right the way through to complex mathematical data anlaysis, interpretation, and programming.  He really understands all aspects of a racing project which these days is virtually unheard of.  Most mechanics I see and know of work in their little silos and never venture out.  Pete’s one of the few that has it all.

We ended up with the following spec:

• Life F88 (full with gear control on Geartronics pneumatic system)
• Life X10 I/O expander
• Life GPS
• Life D5 full USB logging Dash
• Toyota 2ZZ GE (Neil Trama Black Race Spec)
• 2 x Knock sensors (Live 'active' tuning on knock events)
• 2 x EGT sensors
• Flex fuel sensor
• Wide Band (rice racing calibrated)
• Turbo Speed
• Turbo temp
• Turbo pressure
• phase and anti-phase boost control strategy using Turbo Smart IWG75 and twin boost valves
• FBW Flat shift auto up and pre select down shift with closed loop gear control
• Anti lag launch control and full adjustable traction running in conjunction with accelerometer IMU systems

Even with all of Pete’s amazing work and tuning I still have legacy wiring problems emanating from shoddy engine work in the UK.  No doubt it will require a full Life Racing PDU and rewire solution at some future date but at every point throughout this build what continues to impress me even more than Pete’s undeniable technical ability is his willingness, eagerness and consistent approach to make himself available to help me. 

If I’m at the track and something fails he’s there logging into my car and fixing me up.  He’s just always there to help and analyse data and he quickly and invariably comes up with a solution and fix.

Pete you’re an absolute star and dare I say it “genius”.  Without your help over the years my project would have failed.  Thank you so very much.  You always fix me up and most importantly even when the chips are down and I just want to throw in the towel you’re humor always ends up putting a smile on my face.

Oh and by the way 500+hp on this little 825kg car of mine with straight line performance figures in the realms of 1183bhp Bugatti Veyron Super Sport territory always makes me happy."

Real World Power !

Real World Performance !

100kph to 200kph in 4.299 seconds !

~304rwkw ~408rwhp

Dyno Power

Pictures Click to View

Syvecs electronics integration (when only the best will do)