iAutomotive Help
Below are some example applications, there are many other with this v powerful tool, let us know your ideas:-
- In speed mode see exactly the effect you will get from engine tuning mods. Getting an ECU chip upgrade? See how much top speed you will gain
- Using frontal area mode to see the effect of crouching down on a bike and taking off the wing mirrors as opposed to sitting upright with wing mirrors
-Use frontal area mode and drag to calculate the effect of lowering your vehicle (Slammed !!)
-You have a Hayabusa and want to see what modifications you need to do to hit a genuine 200 mph on the autobahns/salt flats.
In standard trim with 0.558 fa and 0.561 drag and 175 hp at the flywheel it will hit 186 mph and so to hit 200 with just engine modifications you will need 218 hp. Note that to get to 250mph you will need a staggering 422 hp and 300 needs a crazy 726hp
- Its very easy to see the effect of weight on your fuel consumption which is very handy if you run a fleet of trucks
-You want to know an accurate Drag figure for your kit car / bike but don’t have a wind tunnel handy. By using the fa and at a fixed speed / revs, if you have put your vehicle on a rolling road you can read across on the power curve at the appropriate revs and using iAutomotive get a very accurate Drag
-If you run a fleet of vehicles such as haulage / couriers / airport shuttles or just watching your personal fuel bills. You can work out your mpg for fixed speeds going down in say 10 mpg intervals and you will be amazed at the results. For the Golf TDI Below you will see that the faster you get the much bigger the effect on mpg. It uses an average SFC of 240 g/kwh
100 mph = 31.4 mpg
90 mph = 37.2 mpg
80 mph = 44.6 mpg
70 mph = 54.1 mpg
60 mph = 66.3 mpg
50 mph = 81.8 mpg
40 mph = 101.7 mpg
30 mph = 124.1 mpg
-If you run an HGV or delivery truck you can see the difference in performance and fuel consumption if fully laden or empty and light.
- Calculate the effect on fuel consumption if you have a roof rack or surf racks on the roof.
- Using your MPG achieved from one car to predict what you will achieve with another car with a similar engine
If you use iCalcMPG and record your average MPG for every tank of fuel you can enter this in as your MPG and using an average speed for driving. This is typically between 40 and 45 but obviously varies depending whether your in a city or mostly motorway driving.
By then calculating your specific fuel consumption (SFC) you will get an average SFC for that engine for your whole driving cycle.
Then if you are looking for another car with a similar engine by changing the Frontal area and Drag you can estimate the difference in fuel economy
For example I ran a Golf estate Tdi and ran at an average speed of 44 mph and 58 mpg
2.1FA, 0.31 Drag, 44 mph, 1430 kg
Therefore my average SFC is 388 g/kwh despite the best sfc for that engine being 205
So then deciding to go for a Ford Galaxy using the same engine I can calculate that my mpg with the same driving style should go from 58 in the golf to 46.3 for the galaxy. This is done by inputing 388 as my average SFC with the new FA and drag for the Galaxy.
Following the same logic I plan to re engine my T4 transporter from an old 2.4 IDI to the 1.9 TDI as above in the golf.
Using the numbers from the table above and using a lower average speed of 40mph and the 38mpg I have experienced with the 2.4 idi it shows an average SFC of 451.7 g/kwh. Applying the 388 SFC which I have found with this engine in other cars l should be able to go from 38 mpg to around 44.2!!
If you have any comments or suggestions email support at descom@btinternet.com
The table below gives some sample vehicle data, no guarantees are made as to its accuracy, please email us if you have any questions or reliable sets of data to add. Remember top speed accuracies if calculated using app rely on top speed being at peak hp rpm.