uperchips is probably the most familiar name in chip tuning, recognised as offering worthwhile upgrades which are extremely simple to fit and hassle-freeonce installed. Chip tuning is regarded as a modern performance art but in
fact the Superchips story goes mance packages.The first road chip produced was for the Ford back more than 15 years,and like so many performancecompanies RS Turbo. The company went from evolved from a race background. It was in 1916 that Peter Wales strength to strength. Five years founded Detection Techniques, ago the road catalogue covered 30 different models of car. Three Superchips parent company. At years ago the company changed the time Peter was busy tuning Mitsubishi Starions for noted its name to Superchips Ltd, Ian racer Colin Blower, but soon Sandford becoming Managing realised that such techniques Director and Peter Wales Company President,and now the could be applied to road perforcatalogue stretchesto 45 pages and includes virtually every conceivablemake and model around. "Superchipsspecialisesin chip design and manufacture, and the ancillarieswhich go with re-chipping - we don't do general tuning," says Ian. "Chip technology
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OFIIEAHI TOPGAR
Theheart of the matter - a Superchipschip, mounted on its protective board takesup all our time - its progress is such that we have one person specifically allocated to constant development work every working day." The Superchips philosophy when they set about a new car is to make it better than the stock version, centering around driveability and power. Torque is regarded as the fundamental item for improvement, and the gains found are very useful. Being conservative, Ian quotes "up to five percent more torque" and "up to 10 percent more power" from a
Theevidenceis in the graph...Ohviously the steadi Iy climbing one is thepower lbft/BHP
Superchipspackageon a normally aspirated car. But it can often be more. Development is a rapid process."If we get a new model in and we can recognisethe computer data," says Ian, "We can have a suitable conversion designed within two days." Superchipsachievesthis through having a wide developmentbase - The company acts as consultants to many of the major motor manufacturersin Britain and has its own centresin most European countries, along with a recently launchedUS arm. A Superchips conversion includes the re-chip, plus any ancillariesthat improve the package- arestriction in the filter system for example can be eradicated by fitting a performance filter. But on the majority of cars the simple chip conversion is all that is required. These conversions are carried out at Superchips' network of dealers,70 official outlets plus another 20 or so who carry Superchips product. In the past the company had suffered from illegal copying of its chips, but specially developedtechnology Makes a bit of a change from "12 pumping cylinders," or "300 throbbing horses"
1
:
325MOD.
200 190 180 I70 160 150 140 130 L20 OWNERS NAME:
110 100 90
REG. NO.
80 70
IEST
ENG.
60 50 40 30
10 0 3000
3500
4000
4500
5000
RENN
6500
RPM Max 197 BHP at
6270
RPM
POWER ANALYSIS
eradicatedthe problem. "All our chips now come mounted in protection boards, which are nonreproducable. The chip won't work unlessit's in the board. This meanswe can now supply to outlets we would previously have been wary of." Major dealers are computerlinked to Superchips Buckingham headquarters, allowing up to the minute chip tuning with no loss in quality. A
Compufer linksto deulers ollowupto the
TOPCAR
minute rhiptuning
customercan call at a Superchips dealer with a particular car, the details of its chip sentby computer modem to Buckingham, and a replacement program sent back in under an hour. "This is very useful with for example the Bosch systems," says Ian, "as Bosch change their computer programs very frequently. With this system,being in Singaporeis just like being next door." Ian has no illusions about the importance of the computer linkup. "When customers call at a dealer their questions must be answeredimmediately. This system allows that, and is part of our vitally important dealer support." There's very few cars that don't appear in the Superchips catalogue, but there are one or two examples. "Non-turbo Toyotas," saysIan. "We can do a chip for them, but the cost would be prohibitive, around f4-f500. But we'll always do a one-off chip if the customer wants. So if your car's not in the Superchips catalogue,it's always worth giving us a call..." CONTACT: Superchips Ltd, 2-10 Homestall, Buckingham Industrial Park, Buckingham MK18 lXJ. Tel 0280 816781. fax 0280 816764.