Every morning we thank the heavens for our love European cars, and that we’re blessed with so many expert tuners. To celebrate our good fortune, we try to gather the very best tuning shops and finest European machinery for three days of power and speed.
If you’re a regular reader, you’ll know the format well. Although it looks like a grudge match, and while the teams do compete against one another, we differentiate them in front-, rear- and all-wheel drive classes. However, we need to stress this isn’t strictly a competition since the cars aren’t built to a specific formula. As a result, they’re not really comparable to another, but this is your chance to see how the various modifications perform in real-world tests. So if you’re thinking about tuning your GTI or M3, for example, you might like to consider some of the engine or chassis mods featured here.
etGP11
The Tuner GP isn’t as much a competition as a battle for pride. It’s the perfect opportunity to examine specific tuning packages and discover whether they meet the tuner’s claims. And while the team with the best numbers has something to brag about, that’s not the whole story. For example, the car that wins each of the three disciplines is likely a highly focused track car that might not translate well to the street. But by measuring power, acceleration and track times, you can see which package delivers the most overall, or in the specific area you want. In other words, eurotuner GP (etgp) allows you to browse tuning conversions under the harshest conditions and decide what modifications or even base vehicle would work for you.
In previous years, we’ve seen a majority of vw tuners, but with the Audi S4 often taking top honors thanks to its twin-turbo V6 and AWD traction. However, 2011 (etGP11) was the first time we’d had BMW tuners in the majority, which surprised us because in past years we’ve often had none! With high-revving supercharged engines, rear-wheel drive traction and good chassis, we were expecting some upsets this year.
The Format
etGP is a test of speed, power and balance. We scrutinize the cars on the dyno for outright power, the dragstrip to reinforce those numbers, and the road course to see how the total package performs under sustained pressure.
As before, the competitors we divided into front-, rear- and all-wheel drive classes so we could recognize the top cars in each class.
Like every etGP, the rule is there are no rules – except no nitrous in the engine. We do this to allow the tuners to display their craft, but as conversions become more ambitious, it looks as if we may have to introduce certain restriction next year. Currently, you can do any tuning any time. This has led to some teams loading different software files and even swapping turbos to best suit the demands of the day. While this indeed shows their skills and understanding of the event, we will probably go to a more rigid structure in 2012.
And because some teams had an advantage with tire choice in previous years, we now supply all teams with Continental ExtremeContact DW tires. This is one of our favorite high-performance tires, able to stand up to the abuse incredibly well, which is why we’ve used them for the last two years (see sidebar).
On the Wicked Motorsports dyno day, teams were allowed three pulls and could tune in between. We always expect high numbers and despite a few problems with the dyno itself, we weren’t disappointed.
For the drag racing, we returned to California Speedway where there’s no restriction on the number of runs a competitor can take in the three-hour session.
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Which team took home the most silverware? Read on…
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