Race chip throttle response

[facet edge]

I've got the throttle response on order. They referred me to some pictures which were interesting but all the text was in German!

Looking at the pictures they didn't seem to match my accelerator pedal. I can see a connector at the top which I assume it's the one you replace. There should be some instructions to come with it but could someone tell me exactly how tho get this plug off asI don't want to force it.

[Gizmo]

Pull the coloured retaining clip up and then ‘just’ pull the plug off.

[Rainmaker]

To add to Gizmo's post, on the S3 you'll find that top connector has more of a red wedge on a the side than a clip per se. It has lines/grips on it so you can just encircle the whole connector and apply inwards and upwards pressure on the red section to release the whole unit. Do not pull on the wires! Once the connector is off you plug it into the corresponding part of the RaceChip. Then you're left with a single connector to plug back into the pedal. It's very straightforward when you have the RaceChip in hand, once you see it you'll just know what to do. It's very intuitive. 

[facet edge]

Thanks guys, watch this space.

[l4wrence]

Good luck. I got mine and when fitted it threw all kinds of errors up on the dash. Have had to return it last week and still waiting for a replacement. Let's hope this one actually works when it arrives.

 

Installation is much easier if you remove the little storage drop down drawer under the headlights switch. To remove it, open it, unclip at the bottom left, ease it out to clear the plastic at the top which stops it from opening all the way out, then unclip at the bottom right. Re-install it in reverse order. It's actually a nice compartment to store the controller if you don't want it on show.

[Rainmaker]

That happened to BillyJim and me too. The replacement units are perfect months down the line, they must have had a faulty batch. Don't worry about it.  

[Devonshiredave]

Do they make much difference to the response?

[BillyJim]

2 hours ago, Devonshiredave said:

Do they make much difference to the response?

Totally, completely and utterly. It's like driving a completely different car - or rather how it should have been before they messed about with Euro6 compliance (assumption, not fact).

Despite suffering the problems early on as mentioned by Rainmaker and now l4wrence, I wouldn't want to be without it. Eight months trouble free with the replacement.

I occasionally turn it off - but only very briefly - just to remind myself how lamentable the 'default' response is in comparison (and that's with the 'Audi' mod too).

[facet edge]

Well the response control arrived today but it doesn't fit!  First of all thanks l4wrence for the tip about the storage drawer. Taking that out made it a lot easier to see the connector.

Anyway the connector is totally different to mine as you can see in the photos. I have sent them these photos and am waiting for them to get back to me. 

[BillyJim]

@facet edge  In the last picture the pink connector is correct so if the (yellow, upper) connector is on the Throttle Response cable then it is indeed wrong, but if it's the connector you pulled from the car then you've pulled the wrong one.

Edited 3 April, 2017 by BillyJim

[facet edge]

Yeah the pink one is mine and I put their connector beside it to show how different they are.

I take it that you have got the pink one as well. Makes you wonder what they have given me. 

[BillyJim]

23 minutes ago, facet edge said:

I take it that you have got the pink one as well.

Yup. Throttle Response and OEM are exactly the same, even the same girly colour. 

[Devonshiredave]

I'm guessing this is plug n play? Once fitted, it stays in situ? Where do you house the unit once it's in? Very interested in this as they're not overly expensive if I remember correctly?

Edited 4 April, 2017 by Devonshiredave

[Windscreenman]

1 hour ago, Devonshiredave said:

I'm guessing this is plug n play? Once fitted, it stays in situ? Where do you house the unit once it's in? Very interested in this as they're not overly expensive if I remember correctly?

Plug and play 5 minutes to fit hours and hours of fun mine is mounted inthe cubby box you remove to get better access to fit although i didnt remove mine to fit 

Makes the car react like it should  makes the right foot connected engine  instead of errrrrrrrrr go

[l4wrence]

Well that sucks. You'll need to go round the whole send it back and wait for a new one dance. They will refund postage if you send them a copy of your receipt, however, 1 week later I am still waiting for them to refund my money even though they have all my details. I hope you kept the original packaging

[Rustynuts]

It does sound as though this unit does the same as the old Sprint Booster used to a few years ago when that was all the rage. Someone analysed what it actually did. It's an interesting read.

 

http://www.crosslake.net/~dbipes/sprintbooster/SprintBooster.pdf

[facet edge]

5 hours ago, l4wrence said:

Well that sucks. You'll need to go round the whole send it back and wait for a new one dance. They will refund postage if you send them a copy of your receipt, however, 1 week later I am still waiting for them to refund my money even though they have all my details. I hope you kept the original packaging

Yeah I've got all the packaging. I'm in contact with the UK customer service and they got my email with the pictures.

They agreed that out was totally wrong but it has to be seen by the technical department now, I guess they mean the factory in Germany.

Awaiting an email from them. They haven't asked for the wrong one to be sent back, it sounds like I may be able to give it to UPS when they deliver the right one. We shall see....

[2slo]

2 hours ago, facet edge said:

Yeah I've got all the packaging. I'm in contact with the UK customer service and they got my email with the pictures.

They agreed that out was totally wrong but it has to be seen by the technical department now, I guess they mean the factory in Germany.

Awaiting an email from them. They haven't asked for the wrong one to be sent back, it sounds like I may be able to give it to UPS when they deliver the right one. We shall see....

I wonder if the company who make these monitor forums for threads just such as these. In their position, I would. A good quick response (no pun intended) to this sort of issue could get them more sales from like minded owners. The reverse also holds true of course.

[Devonshiredave]

I'm very interested in getting one. The 190 is a bit of a sleeping beast I think. Sport mode certainly livens the old girl up.

[Windscreenman]

15 minutes ago, Devonshiredave said:

I'm very interested in getting one. The 190 is a bit of a sleeping beast I think. Sport mode certainly livens the old girl up.

I personally guarantee that if you get the correct one for your car, fit it as per instuctions it will totally tranform your way of driving your own car pulling on to a roundabout push the pedal and away you go this little box makes the connection from right foot input to the car responding totaly different to what the standard throttle does as i have said before transforms the car into what i thought i had bought in the first place 

Real world driving you really dont need hesitation at junctions !! Or pulling onto roundabouts imho standard is dangerous  

You will also get a new driving mode its called hooligan top sport setting on the throttle response and sport on car 

HOOLIGANS mode 

For normal driving i find sport 1 the most easy to live with the response on my 190 is on the button right there but try them all as you know all cars drive differently 

Your call 

Cheers

[fluffmeister]

I'm just going to chip in here (see what I did there ) I've got the Racechip Pro 2 on order but after running DTUK on my Octavia vRS I'm a convert of sorts. When  I dropped off the vRS I'd removed my DTUK Pedal Box of course, and driving the 280 back from the dealers I was really disappointed by the throttle response. The thing is though I knew the DTUK Pedal Box would be a straight fit. So 10 minutes after parking up on the driveway I had the Pedal Box fitted running on Sport > 2 and the Throttle response is perfect.

 

I'd run the pedal box (and a DTUK Tuning Box) for 2 years on the Octavia vRS without any issues (Mk3 TDI) , so I see no reason why I should get any now. The 280 is good powerwise, but based on reading a few reviews including the posts from BillyJim I thought "Why not", so I'm going to be running a combination of DTUK / DTE Pedal Box and Racechip Pro 2 tuning box.

 

Bang for bucks though, the Pedalbox (and thus the Racechip Throttle Response Controller) is one of the best mods I've ever done to a car. 

 

If I turn my pedal box off, the 280 becomes a fairly dull drive with regards to response, the sharpening of the throttle and reduction in pedal travel really do make a difference to the "driveability" of the car.

 

Fitting the pedal box / response controller is a breeze, and as mentioned drop the right side cubby out and you have perfect access. I keep my pedal box controller in the cubby and if I want to I can quickly change from Sport to Sport Plus (Which is fun but a bit intense for daily use) or go up + 3 positions or - 3 positions to fine tune the throttle response.

 

As mentioned, these devices are on and off in 5 - 10 minutes tops.

 

I have a friend who lives round the corner who has a C63AMG and he has a Pedal Box fitted, lunatic stuck it on Sport Plus + 3 (Max Response) pulled out of the driveway and inadvertently smoked his tyres with the traction control moaning, that will teach him, He's backed off to Sport Mode + 1 and the thing is perfect. He says turning it off makes the C63 throttle feel like planting your foot in a bowl of blancmange

[fluffmeister]

On 4/4/2017 at 08:28, Rustynuts said:

It does sound as though this unit does the same as the old Sprint Booster used to a few years ago when that was all the rage. Someone analysed what it actually did. It's an interesting read.

 

http://www.crosslake.net/~dbipes/sprintbooster/SprintBooster.pdf

 

That's about right to, I'd argue the case that in my previous Octavia vRS and in the current Superb 280, the reduction in pedal travel does translate to greater "feel" and make it better to drive. No doubt it's just an amplification device, is it worth the cost? to me yes, it's not a placebo, it does make my car more responsive, even though that is only and truly due to the change in pedal travel. Combine that with a DSG box though, and it's a feeling that's greater than the sum of it's parts.

 

On my K1600 I've got 3 riding modes, Rain, Road, Dynamic. Selecting the different modes tweaks the engine mapping (and suspension etc etc) but also as it's a ride by wire throttle reduces the amount of travel (or twisting) of the throttle needed to get to WOT. In Dynamic mode, the throttle is needing to be twisted a significant amount less to get to WOT, this translates to feel and response. If I've got a pillion on the K16 I usually stick it Rain Mode as Dynamic is to "responsive" so on and off the throttle results in pillion helmet bashing in traffic. When I'm solo it's in Dynamic all the time, unless torrential rain.

 

If say going into "Sport" mode on the 280 significantly reduced the pedal travel as well, then the device becomes obsolete  

[fluffmeister]

I've got my Race Chip Pro 2 fitted now, and I've got to say initial impressions are rather good. Takes about an hour to fit because of the location of the boost sensor needing a jack, axle stand and the removal of the undertray. After fitting, I've no reason to doubt their claims that it puts the car into the mid 300's, from 3k onwards there is a far greater surge that builds and builds to the redline.

Edited 22 April, 2017 by fluffmeister

[Rainmaker]

On 06/04/2017 at 10:26, fluffmeister said:

 

That's about right to, I'd argue the case that in my previous Octavia vRS and in the current Superb 280, the reduction in pedal travel does translate to greater "feel" and make it better to drive. No doubt it's just an amplification device, is it worth the cost? to me yes, it's not a placebo, it does make my car more responsive, even though that is only and truly due to the change in pedal travel. Combine that with a DSG box though, and it's a feeling that's greater than the sum of it's parts.

 

Additionally, the DSG reacts differently with the RaceChip installed. Without it, a small prod of the throttle will result in a downshift (often two gears) no matter how gentle you are. It just does. With the RaceChip Response Control attached you can give even quite firm application of the throttle and the car will accelerate hard in-gear instead. It feels much smoother in delivery and more refined for day to day use. It helps make the car 'feel' more powerful also, building up power on the surge of low down torque. The constant up and down shifts of the factory default can leave the car sounding and feeling wheezy (even though in reality nothing much changes). As I said, I've not been able to replicate this in-gear acceleration with just the factory pedal, so I don't know what's going on.

[facet edge]

I got the correct control and I have been running it for a few weeks to see how it went. Yes, it does sharpen the throttle response which is gratifying. The car certainly feels more responsive.

I must admit that I still have a hesitation on entering roundabouts etc. but it does seem less. I don't think you would be able to get rid of it completely as it seems to be the dsg sorting itself out.

When I sent the wrong one back RaceChip said they would refund the postage of up to £15. It cost £25 to send it back and UPS made a right mess of that. It was at the docks in Newhaven for a week and then got involved in an accident on the continent. A two or three day trip took over two weeks!

I email RaceChip saying I needed  more compensation than they were offering and they paid me in full without question, so if anyone else is contemplating using RaceChip I can recommend them.