Gernby

I have to admit that I'm a bit nervous about the beat-down I'm going to receive in this thread, but I'm prepared to take it. I know that many of you guys are devout Heel-Toe enthusiasts, but I think you should consider this thread carefully. Flame suit on ...

I posted a thread about 2.5 years ago about installing some sort of throttle blip button on my steering wheel, since I have never been able to Heel-Toe at all. I never pursued it, but thankfully, someone else came up with something way better! A company called Tractive Technology developed a small "piggy-back" throttle controller called AUTO-BLiP, and it's awesome!

It's a pretty simple device, since all it does is monitor the throttle pedal, brake pedal, and clutch pedal to determine if / when it should deliver a precisely controlled "Blip" on the DBW system. If I remember correctly, there are just 6-8 wires that tap into the OEM wires under the dash, and setup just takes a few minutes. There are only 2 controls aside from the power button, and those are used to "tune" the blip to your driving. Once you get the blip dialed in, it's friggin' amazing how easy it is to nail every downshift while dedicating your right foot to precision braking!

Here's a picture I'm borrowing from a DIY thread in the Modifications forum.



As you can see, there are 2 knobs and a button. One of the knobs is used to set the amount of time that the AUTO-BLiP will wait after the clutch is pressed before it will start the throttle blip. The other knob determines how long the throttle blip will last. Since I have a stock flywheel (uber-heavy), the engine revs up pretty slowly, so I have to set the delay to the very minimum. For the same reason, I also have to increase the duration of the blip. The combination of those 2 adjustments wind up being perfect for my shift speed. If someone else drives my car, and downshifts slower, they would need to increase the delay. If I swapped out my flywheel for a light weight unit, I would need to increase the delay and decrease the duration.

Here are some FlashPro datalogs that show what I'm talking about.







Here's a clip video from an autocross last weekend that shows a bunch of AUTO-BLiP downshifts. Prior to the AUTO-BLiP, I would have just stayed in 2nd gear for the whole course, and bounced the rev limitter a lot. Note that this video is not intended to show anything about my driving skill, and my fastest run of the day didn't even make it into this video (had an issue with Harry's Lap Timer). I wound up with FTD at that event, and believe the AUTO-BLiP helped.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPQYBxnZ-II[/media]

Since nothing is perfect, I do have some criticisms. The most significant criticism is that this device doesn't interface with the OBDII port. I believe an important feature would be for the device to monitor engine RPM and / or vehicle speed to allow more control of the blips. For example, when I'm driving slowly in a parking lot, I don't want the AUTO-BLiP to blip every time I press the clutch. Obviously, I can just push the power button to turn it off, but I would prefer that it just allow me to set a threshold speed or RPM where it will NOT blip.

Next most significant criticism is that there doesn't seem to be a way to make it automatically turn on every time I start the car. The device is powered by the brake wire, which is hot all the time. Thankfully, it does automatically turn itself off after 7 or 8 hours, so it won't run your battery dead. This is not an issue at all for a dedicated track car, but if you want to use the AUTO-BLiP every time you drive the car, you're going to have to push the power button every time.

Final criticism (minor), is that the 2 adjustment knobs are too close to the power button. When I reach down to push the power button, it's too easy to accidentally turn one or both of the knobs. So I keep having to readjust them.

robrob

That video is impressive--there's no way I would be able to heel-and-toe downshift that fast. Wow.

CKit

I think there's no arguing that electronic aids make most (if not all) people faster.

This sort of thing would be allowed in SSM and XP. Not legal in Stock-Street. Possibly legal (but probably not) in STR.

That being said, we picked up a PDK '14 Cayman S that is fast... but I don't have the same bond with it that I do with our CR. So much so that I'm thinking of pulling the CR back to autocross in STR.

Sebring AP1

I can downshift faster.

s2000ellier

be cool to see it do a 5-4-3-2 downshift

andrewhake

That sounds absolutely dreadful honestly. It is perfectly possible to downshift that fast without electronic aid. I understand your reasoning reading through your post but if you just spent time practicing heel-toeing you would be able to control it just as well as your electronic setup could if not better because of how passive that system is. To me it seems like people that never learned how to heel-toe gave up way to quickly when trying to learn it and never get to the point where they can do it without thinking about it.

No way in hell I would trust that thing to blip the throttle correctly if it isn't even accounting for what gear I am in and my speed/revs like the 370Z autoblip does.

DTP525

There seems to be a delay when getting back on throttle after the electronic blip, can't really tell though.

ZDan

A friend of mine with the club I do time trials with designed and built his own, and it works great for him.

The good thing about such a system is that it will blip the same amount (magnitude and duration) every time. One less HUGE variable in downshifting.

rhouck

Although the 370z autoblip craps out when used on track so I wouldn't trust that either

I am somewhat surprised that Hondata has not developed this sort of thing as an add-on to Flashpro.

JJ7

I'm working on something that turns the steering wheel for me. One less thing for me to worry about when driving.