In a drag racing situation - Would an evo ever benefit from gear based boost?

I have seen TONS of fast awd's run with nothing more then a manual boost controller.

Now - I have seen tons of FWD's use dual stage, or boost by gear controllers to help minimize spin in 1/2 gears.




I was just curious if an AWD drag racing ever would benefit from gear based boost?



My understanding is -- never. This was sparked by a co-worker that told me I didn't understand awd.. and that his "theory's" of gear based boost would only be applicable to "big turbo" cars... and that a "bull**** red" wouldn't be in that class.



....He drives a stock srt4.

 

If you ever notice you will experience different boost in different gears. The pupose of gear based boost control to to eliminate any fluctuations from gear to gear. In addition, you will see with an MBC that air temperature and barometric pressure greatly affect your boost. Gear based boost control will help eliminate this....kind of.

A more accurate way to control boost is by using pressure. With the implementation of a MAP (manifold absolute pressure) you can control boost based on the pressure the turbo is creating. The MAP sensor reads real time boost and allows the controller to rapidly adjust to changes in boost.

In all, for consistancy, the gear based and especially the MAP based boost control offer the most accurate boost control solutions across every gear and in any RPM.

 

Gear based boost control is needed in an AWD car that gets no traction in 1st and 2nd and you have already looked into suspension, tires etc.. That is if you wanna go as fast as possible..

 

Like Mike said. Its not needed until you have already maxed out your traction. Just lowering the boost rather than fixing the issue at hand will only make a car slower then its potential.


-Em

 

So it seems it is a "last resort" kinda thing?

Do any of the major shops or single digit evos run electronic controlled boost?

 

Its not exactly a last resort thing. If you are breaking traction off the line and in second (or 3rd) and have done all you can to the suspension then regulating boost in those gears your next step. Now if you are not breaking traction and have done what you want to suspension (not making an all out track car) then you can use the gear specific control to bring it up to just about the point of breaking loose..ie..if you build 12 psi on the line and you want 15 or you make 16 psi max in 1st but you can ( or you believe you can) take 18 psi before breaking loose.
We have much less of a traction issue than a fwd or rwd which gear specific control is pretty benifical once they reach high hp/tq #'s.

 

shep ran what .. 8s? with a manual boost controller...