I had a thread going in the Rossa Section but now that the work is done, it is time to post the results for all to see. I have been working with Formula Dynamics on Beta for their new F1 Enhancement Module for Ferrari F360. Yes, this is exactly what it sounds like. Dramatically improved shifting speed for the 360. Formula Dynamics has been making shift enhancement modules for Maserati for many years. They have a lot of units installed and everyone apparently loves the results. They are well respected in the Maserati community and are now branching into Ferrari. Development for the Ferrari was based on their Maserati unit and refined on a Challenge car. My car was the first install on a street car. The module contains two performance profiles. You can select between them using a small switch. Alternately you can take it out of the system and have the stock behavior back by plugging in a jumper plug instead of the module. Plus, sport and normal modes still work as before. Changing to sport change the behavior of any of the profiles. Yes, that means that there are 4 combinations PLUS the two stock modes. NOTE: you go back to stock by plugging in a jumper block, no module. The install is well mapped out now and is pretty easy. A small harness is added behind the passenger's seat. The new harness provides a plug for the module or jumper block and the profile select switch. I will have to confirm with Jeff if the release version will be spliced into the wiring harness or if it will be a set of plugs to plug into the system. Either way the install shouldn't take more than a couple of hours. I was home after the install and tuning was done. Jeff took the car out for a test drive and I could hear that it was shifting much faster. Then I drove the car and the shifting was notably faster and launch was quicker and smoother. In the most aggressive modes I can get full clutch engagement in less than 1/2 a car length. VERY impressive. I have been driving the car for a few days now. I was on the most aggressive profile for the last day. Honestly we adapt so quickly and the F1 is adapting as well so the performance gain kind of sneaks up on you. How do I know this? The other day I took the module out of the system and went back to stock (a test). When I started to drive the car I thought that the clutch would never engage. We get spoiled so quickly. What I can tell you is that this upgrade is definitely worth the effort; I won't be giving it up any time soon. I also can't say enough about Formula Dynamics. What a professional organization! They really know what customer services is and how to run a business. I am looking forward to working with them on additional projects for the 360. Oh yea, I believe that it will be priced at $1995. Given the that shifting is one of the key complaints about the 360 F1 the price looks like a bargain. If any of you want to contact Jeff at Formula Dynamics I can give you his contact information.
Hi Scott, My car is a euro so I am going to say yes. It will work on a UK car. I don't know if they have a UK agent but I will PM you Jeff's contact information and you can ask him.
Hi, do you know if they got something for the 430? Looks like this is something I realy would like to have. Regards
$1995 for a plug in module that has a shifting program? Sounds like Formula Dynamics is taping into the notion that I hear many say...."If they have a Ferrari then they can afford anything." A bit overpriced but that is only my opinion.
I have followed Jeff's creations for some time on the Maserati site, and he is one clever guy who comes up with very well engineered items. I would bet that between Jeff's competence and the extensive knowledge and cleverness of Skidkid that this gizmo will work well. My $ would be on these two, and I don't even have an F1 pump in my car!!!
The Magneti Maranelli TCU only boasts a 256kbytes sized flash chip. These chips costs $4 each (I've posted about this before). The Motorola core cpu is a MC680x0 family derivative with CAN bus comms architecture built in. Theoretically you'll need to byte swap the endian of the dump once you extract it before you can use something like IDAPro to reverse engineer it. After that you can do a full reverse back into assembly language in a couple of weeks if you so desire (assuming your competant in 68000 assembly and your in a country where its legal to reverse engineer, many countries forbid such activities ). The TCU's hardware electronics themselves are a common part across a lot of mundate machinery including various Fiat's, Alfa Romeo's, BMW's, Maserati's and other cars. Brand new these TCU's can be used from other cars (so you can buy a brand new TCU for less than $100 for a FIAT and re-use it with the correct software in a Ferrari). Ofcourse they will have the wrong software on so you cannot just plug it in without a reflash (they will be without the correct software on their original $4 chips - but you made a backup of your flash chip right?). If you still own the original TCU I'd strongly advise backing up the software from you Modena, CS, etc. are putting in a piggyback board and switch to allow you to swap over from one chip to another. Therefore it costs next to nothing to do (you get piece of mind of backing up your original TCU software) and you can then switch between 3 modes. Normal, Sport and Race. (assuming you have your original and strad software flashed on 2 different chips - but you must continue to own both tcu's). Yes this is entirely possible to do and no it doesn't require that much effort but some research and reading - a background in soft/hardware is useful or access to someone who does. Once you have the correct software and know how the shift points are actually reprogrammable without too much effort as they are stored in the data segment so no assembly language (or nops! 0x4e71's are required!) so you can adjust the aggressiveness of the shifts can be played around with with relative easy just messing with a realtime debugger ice or hex editor offline. I personally think the prices quoted are a little steep, no way would a Selespeed gearboxed Alfa owner pay this much (!). Once a few hours of adjustments need to be done and tested on a dyno you'll have all you need. Dev. time is therefore no more than a few runs on a dyno and playing with a laptop and mapping out the data segment. Jeff, Did you actually re-write / modify the TCU software or just remap the data segment??? If you got involved in re-writing the assembly program fair play to you but if you've used an original TCU software firmware [originally written by Magneti Maranelli] as the baseline for your 'modifying' then technically you've made a 'derivative' of the original Magneti Maranelli software and you actually don't own the rights to sell it without their approval. Not sure if they'd bother to pursue you but its worth noting. Also are you planning to transfer over the number of hours of operating from the original gearbox TCU? If not the dashboard clocks and the new TCU software will be 'out of sync' and dealers will think the car has been 'clocked' or messed with.
360trev, Very informative post... my guess is that you'd take your own route as it seems that you're capable in this area. Certainly you could retune the existing data segment values and see an improvement. Essentially this is the same as the CS TCU. In regards to the technical nature of our offering. I'd rather not get into all of the specifics but suffice it to say that our approach was a bit different. We are not reflashing the unit, so your original programming will stay intact. It's simply another option out there for those of you that are looking for a solid improvement in this area. Best Regards, -- Jeff
Sure. Short answer, it runs great and I am very happy with the results. Development was done on a challenge car and I was the first install on a street car. The wiring harnesses are somewhat different so there was some testing, probing, etc while they worked out the specifics of the installation. The exploration process set a few codes and caused the engine to run rich. Once the codes were cleared everything worked correctly and all is good. Now that the specifics for a street car are well documented I would not expect to see any issues for a new installation.
What's the final form factor of your production model? Pictures would be appreciated. I'm doing something re TCU and clutch over the winter or in the spring, at about 90% wear currently. PM me please with everything you've got in the way of white papers or specs or whatever as well. Thanks. Man, there are some great and timely threads out there right now just when I need them.
FWIW, I'm doing this over the winter. I'm dropping the 360 off with Josh at ECS in Sterling sometime dead of winter, shipping the clutch off for the ceramic/kevlar and installing the formula dynamics package, plus annual, safety inspection and a detailing
FWIW, I had a friend install one of those Formula Dynamics things on his 05 coupe, and it made NO DIFFERENCE at all. Complete waste of money. Rode in the car before and after, made no difference. Had another friend install one on his QP, same results, no difference. Save your money. I think people feel compelled to say it works because they blew all the money and are embarrassed to say it does not work.
What is the year of your friend car? The only cars that will feel a big difference is 99-02 models like mine. Later cars were updated with a better TCU.
Gentleman, Further we have never (not even a single time) had a customer complain about the effectiveness of the product or ask for a return on the module. Quite the opposte, we have received rave reviews. We also have many factory Ferrari / Maserati dealers and Reputable Independant Install Centers around the world that perform the installations. I'm not sure why this poster would write something like this when there is so much evidence that the product does work. Not to mention that it was just reviewed well in Rosso Magazine as well as the OP (SkidKid), who has been a member of this site since 2005 with 1768 posts and has just rated the product very highly. GCalo, also a long term member and contributor on this and Maserati sites, has recognized that we have had a great deal of success with our products for the Maserati. While this single negative comment is coming from a member that has been with the site for 2 days and hasn't installed the product. @Ingpr: He is referring to a Maserati model, not the Ferrari Best Regards, -- Jeff
Interesting how someone will come in, not register, yet have the chutzpah to degrade the work of a known pioneer. It sure says a great deal about this poster. Maybe an unsuccessful competitor at work here? As per SkidKid's experience, my money would still be on Jeff's work. I am sure John may comment here about his follow up experiences.
I'm sorry but why all the fuzz about this.... Kick it in between and it shifts just like you want it to shift..... .....or not? I don't have a problem. Why this?
+100 I'm sure that it's a Great product. I personally have installed the Stradale TCU I purchased from Ricambi(Daniel) and it was a Quantum leap over the 2001 model that was in my 360 Spider, night and day...Period! As per my 2003 model 360 spider, just update the software and adjust your PIS settings on the TCU to where it's 'just' about to creep and you're set. I can be fully engaged clutch wise within a car length or less easy! In fact, when I just put my foot on the accelerator pedal just slightly it is engaging. I hope this clears the air on this as I have been dealing with the older crap TCU that came with our cars back in 99-2001 and early 2002 to the newer 'Update-able' TCU and again, night and day. If I hit the gas it knows it and adjusts accordingly!
My input based on my experience with driving early and late coupes and QP's and installing this product is as such: The gains from this mod are noticable in every car I've installed it in. The greatest gain is in initial clutch engagement with the secondary benefit being shift speed improved. The software has improved in the cars over the years and obviously early cars benefit more. Again, the initial clutch engagement improvement is more noticable than upshift improvement. The goal of this unit isn't to create Schumacher like shift speeds, it's to remedy lazy engagement at initial take off which is both annoying and creating clutch wear. I encourage my clients to add this to their cars and include an explanation of my experience that initial clutch engagment is our primary motive and this product accels in that area. I've also found that as with any automated manual, clutch actuation is only as good as the PIS setup. The PIS does need to be adjusted properly to get the full benefit. I've done a number of installs with this product and everyone has been pleased enough to thank me for either recommending it to for being the one that installed it. If anyone is looking for a true F1 car feel when grabbing a paddle...do us all a favor and go buy one and tell us how great it is.
