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Hi there, we've created a shift point calculator in support of the TrackCoach ProShift series of shiftlights. What's really cool is that we're giving it away for free to anyone who wants it!
This calculator has several transmission configurations available from a drop down list.
There is a custom field for cars other than Minis!
The calculator will automatically create and display the thrust curve for your car.
This is the only shift point calculator that I've found that takes into account the effective mass of the car (due to rotational effects from the drivetrain, flywheel, engine internals and all driven accessories).
Anyway, it's available for free from the FES Auto publications page. It's a Windows program. Any Mac programmers want to port it for us? If so, drop me a line here via PM or send an e-mail to mattr@fes-auto.com
Thanks for letting us know of this resource. When I downloaded the program, I did not find a valid digital signature. Is it working on other's computers with no problems?
__________________ "Frodo" - '07 MCS SS/Blk, PB int, Anthrocite HL, Armrest, Hi-Fi, Sport & Premium Pkg, Sport Susp, LSD, Rear Fog, Alarm, TAGUS, 9/13/07 delivery. MINI-mini mods: shorty antenna, front and rear mud flaps, CF scoop, phone mount, brake light pulsar, glove box organizer, airbag stickers, Team Dynamic 1.2's, catch can
Thanks for letting us know of this resource. When I downloaded the program, I did not find a valid digital signature. Is it working on other's computers with no problems?
What is "effective mass" and what effect does it have on the calculation?
I'm a Mac programmer, but I don't usually do applications, I've been meaning to work out how to use the crazy new system in OS X. Maybe I could try porting this as a learning exercise. How about an iPhone version, that's the other thing I've been meaning to try.
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Serial MINI owners (keep 2), Shawn: 08 Cooper-S (DS/B with red cloth/leather interior). Tristan: 07 Cooper (LB/W with blue cloth/leather interior). Quentin: 05 Cooper-S (PH/W). Our first: 04 Cooper (Indi Blue/White)
If you think about a car as a perfect engine that just generates torque, the driveline (and anything that spins) that has mass, and the car (that just goes zoom but doesn't go round and round), the engine does work to accelerate everything. Some of this work goes into spinning all the rotational parts, and what's left (after friction) goes into accelerating the car. If you don't take the rotational effects into account, you get an acceleration that is too high. Now if you think about the transmission, the parts before the transmission spin at different speeds relative to the car depending on what gear your in. So the amount of work that it takes to spin these parts compared to accelerating the car and the rest of the rotational parts depends on the gear that you're in. This effect is much larger than many think because it goes as the square of the relative velocity. So you put 16 times more energy into spinning all the pre-transmission rotating assemblies in first gear than you do in 6th.
While it's very hard to find these numbers for cars, one example that I did find was that an early 60 flacon v8 had an effective mass of 2.2 times the car weight in first gear. Now materials have gotten much better, and the little FWD transaxle is very compact, but my 02 MCS had a 30 lb flywheel in it!
The net effect on shift points is that taking the effective mass into account tends to lower the shift point for maximum thrust.
This is also why lighter flywheels and the like (pulley sets, wheels and tires) can all help a car accelerate faster than just the decrease in raw weight would indicate.
Its not running for me, does it need anything to be installed? I'm running Xp (SP2).
When I run it it says it "failed to initialize (0xc0000135)".
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Serial MINI owners (keep 2), Shawn: 08 Cooper-S (DS/B with red cloth/leather interior). Tristan: 07 Cooper (LB/W with blue cloth/leather interior). Quentin: 05 Cooper-S (PH/W). Our first: 04 Cooper (Indi Blue/White)
when it all goes into one sell, the text cursor shows there. You want to paste in when the sell is grey only, no text cursor. I'll make some screen shots to show you and post it shortly.
But when I ran your data, it also showed that the math needs a bit more work. It's only using the data points as possible shift points, not the spaces in between. With the data points spaced like yours (every 240 RPM), it's missing the proper shift points and returning the next highest data point.
any chance of a theoretical 0-60 or 1/4 mi time for giggles?
Keep up the good work!
-Jonathan
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Alta intake, TSW damper and mount, Powerflex gearbox mount, BSH lower, 17%, Borla sport exhaust.
Dinan springs, Koni yellows, TSW x-brace, Ireland fixed, TSW control arms, Powerflex front control and trailing arm bushings.
Bobcats, Tyrol bushings, Way SS lines and ATE Blue
but the times would be off a bit because so much happens at the launch when things are really non-linear.... But the deltas between shifting at red-line and optimal should be pretty close, we'll start thinking about it...
The next changes will account for aero losses and give top speeds.
When I downloaded the program, I did not find a valid digital signature. Is it working on other's computers with no problems?
"Frodo" - '07 MCS SS/Blk, PB int, Anthrocite HL, Armrest, Hi-Fi, Sport & Premium Pkg, Sport Susp, LSD, Rear Fog, Alarm, TAGUS, 9/13/07 delivery. MINI-mini mods: shorty antenna, front and rear mud flaps, CF scoop, phone mount, brake light pulsar, glove box organizer, airbag stickers, Team Dynamic 1.2's, catch can
