Zen 2009 development
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From: S E London........ 555 Wagon Sqn
It's an excellent ECU, but worth buying with the extras to enable a proper setup such as closed loop fuel control, 8 position cal switch and proper air temp compensation. Luckily, all the features are already enabled in the Solaris so you don't have to pay to unlock them.
It's an excellent setup for a road car and our recommended route for anyone wanting to go to the next level on their ECU.
Paul
It's an excellent setup for a road car and our recommended route for anyone wanting to go to the next level on their ECU.
Paul
It's an excellent ECU, but worth buying with the extras to enable a proper setup such as closed loop fuel control, 8 position cal switch and proper air temp compensation. Luckily, all the features are already enabled in the Solaris so you don't have to pay to unlock them.
It's an excellent setup for a road car and our recommended route for anyone wanting to go to the next level on their ECU.
Paul
It's an excellent setup for a road car and our recommended route for anyone wanting to go to the next level on their ECU.
Paul
It bodes well that using it for Ta use
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Former Sponsor
Joined: Jul 2005
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From: Wellingborough, Northamptonshire
The motec is more flexible overall, as it's designed to be used in a very wide range of applications ranging from racing lawnmowers to offshore powerboats and everything in between. However for what we want to do with it, the Solaris offers no compromises, and is very complete. The DBW mods should be integrated into the plug in unit when that is released, in the meantime there are currently some external electronics the size of a matchbox to help drive the motors on the throttle body. HOwever on the Motec you need to pay extra for DBW functionality so it's not all plain sailing (on a motec you would also need single Lambda upgrade, cam control upgrade, 1mb datalogging upgrade, knock control upgrade and module and advanced tuning upgrade to have the same functionality as an out the box solaris, and you would need to buy a CAN adaptor at additional cost to connect to the motec yourself).
Just had a read through on http://www.team-zen.co.uk superb !
Thanks for taking the time to write about what you're up to it's a really good insight
Thanks for taking the time to write about what you're up to it's a really good insight
Thread Starter
Former Sponsor
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 2,859
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From: Wellingborough, Northamptonshire
Cheers ABW
I have just completed a small update on http://www.team-zen.co.uk... We are busy getting ready for the trip north to Knockhill tonight!
I will do my best to update the blog and Twitter ( ZEN Performance (TeamZEN) on Twitter ) over the weekend, as laptop charge, iPhone charge and 3g etc signals will allow.
The schedule is....
Finish car this afternoon.
Pack up later this afternoon.
Drive to Knockhill this evening.
Lie in.
Testing / track time from 2pm till 5pm tomorrow afternoon.
Beer and curry.
Time Attack from 10am till 4pm Sunday.
Good luck to all of our fellow competitors with Imprezas Lets whoop Skyline and Evo butt
Liz @ZEN
I have just completed a small update on http://www.team-zen.co.uk... We are busy getting ready for the trip north to Knockhill tonight!
I will do my best to update the blog and Twitter ( ZEN Performance (TeamZEN) on Twitter ) over the weekend, as laptop charge, iPhone charge and 3g etc signals will allow.
The schedule is....
Finish car this afternoon.
Pack up later this afternoon.
Drive to Knockhill this evening.
Lie in.
Testing / track time from 2pm till 5pm tomorrow afternoon.
Beer and curry.
Time Attack from 10am till 4pm Sunday.
Good luck to all of our fellow competitors with Imprezas Lets whoop Skyline and Evo butt
Liz @ZEN
Finish the car this evening
Pack up at 1 or 2 am
Drive overnight to Knockhill
Collapse in a heap on the hotel bed/floor/bar
Surface in time for a mad dash to testing, then a lot of swearing because something got left behind, followed by a ring round of the locals
Beer, more beer, a bit more beer, some food, beer, beer beer...
Collapse in a heap on the hotel bed/floor/bar
Time attack from 10am till 4pm Sunday
Beer, more beer, a bit more beer, some food, beer, beer beer...
Collapse in a heap on the hotel bed/floor/bar
Not speaking from any experience what so ever of course...
Last edited by Tim W; May 15, 2009 at 08:09 PM.
Scooby Regular
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From: S E London........ 555 Wagon Sqn
Meanwhile, the reality will be:
Finish the car this evening
Pack up at 1 or 2 am
Drive overnight to Knockhill
Collapse in a heap on the hotel bed/floor/bar
Surface in time for a mad dash to testing, then a lot of swearing because something got left behind, followed by a ring round of the locals
Beer, more beer, a bit more beer, some food, beer, beer beer...
Collapse in a heap on the hotel bed/floor/bar
Time attack from 10am till 4pm Sunday
Beer, more beer, a bit more beer, some food, beer, beer beer...
Collapse in a heap on the hotel bed/floor/bar
Not speaking from any experience what so ever of course...
Finish the car this evening
Pack up at 1 or 2 am
Drive overnight to Knockhill
Collapse in a heap on the hotel bed/floor/bar
Surface in time for a mad dash to testing, then a lot of swearing because something got left behind, followed by a ring round of the locals
Beer, more beer, a bit more beer, some food, beer, beer beer...
Collapse in a heap on the hotel bed/floor/bar
Time attack from 10am till 4pm Sunday
Beer, more beer, a bit more beer, some food, beer, beer beer...
Collapse in a heap on the hotel bed/floor/bar
Not speaking from any experience what so ever of course...
aha - liz has been busy writing the Zen report.
Nice work and a good account of what happened
Team ZEN | Knockhill Event Report | Team ZEN
Bring it on at the Home of British Motorsport
Nice work and a good account of what happened
Team ZEN | Knockhill Event Report | Team ZEN
Bring it on at the Home of British Motorsport
Thread Starter
Former Sponsor
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 2,859
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From: Wellingborough, Northamptonshire
So, we took the 3rd place at Knockhill which was great (you only had to hear the cheering to see how pleased we were) but there was plenty of frustration at Knockhill for Team ZEN too... My report (Team ZEN | Knockhill Event Report | Team ZEN) touches on some of that, it is quite blow by blow! Once this weekend is over with, there should be time for Paul to make some more technical appraisals of our progress. I will be sure to let you know when he does!
We have been working hard on some very subtle stuff over the past week and a bit, although most spare time in the evenings and on Sunday has been taken up with building an engine for Duncan
There will be some more visible changes to the car too though, not least a different driver. As much as we hoped to have one driver for the full season, it didn't quite come off, with Tom obliged to fulfill another engagement on Sunday. So, for round 3 we will have an old friend behind the wheel... Matt Allison, last seen working for Team ZEN at Round 1 of Time Attack in 2007 at Donnington Park where he took us to a very convincing victory. Matt himself has been busy of late driving BTCC in 2007 and 2008 and some Clio Cup in 2008. We are confident that Matt will get to grips with the car quickly and do the business and he is certainly looking forward to driving the new and improved car.
Silverstone is going to be exciting for a number of reasons and as it is our 'home' circuit, we will have lots of friends and family around too. With full power facilities and good mobile signals, I will have a laptop online all day so there will be plenty of live updates - mostly via Twitter (ZEN Performance (TeamZEN) on Twitter), as it is so quick and easy but perhaps on the blog (Team ZEN | Bioethanol Powered Time Attack Impreza) too. So, if you can't be at Silverstone, you can still share the agonies and ecstasies!
Time willing, I will get some more info on to the blog this week as the development of the car reaches it's conclusion for the week and we do some testing....
Cheers for your interest
Liz @ZEN
We have been working hard on some very subtle stuff over the past week and a bit, although most spare time in the evenings and on Sunday has been taken up with building an engine for Duncan
There will be some more visible changes to the car too though, not least a different driver. As much as we hoped to have one driver for the full season, it didn't quite come off, with Tom obliged to fulfill another engagement on Sunday. So, for round 3 we will have an old friend behind the wheel... Matt Allison, last seen working for Team ZEN at Round 1 of Time Attack in 2007 at Donnington Park where he took us to a very convincing victory. Matt himself has been busy of late driving BTCC in 2007 and 2008 and some Clio Cup in 2008. We are confident that Matt will get to grips with the car quickly and do the business and he is certainly looking forward to driving the new and improved car.
Silverstone is going to be exciting for a number of reasons and as it is our 'home' circuit, we will have lots of friends and family around too. With full power facilities and good mobile signals, I will have a laptop online all day so there will be plenty of live updates - mostly via Twitter (ZEN Performance (TeamZEN) on Twitter), as it is so quick and easy but perhaps on the blog (Team ZEN | Bioethanol Powered Time Attack Impreza) too. So, if you can't be at Silverstone, you can still share the agonies and ecstasies!
Time willing, I will get some more info on to the blog this week as the development of the car reaches it's conclusion for the week and we do some testing....
Cheers for your interest
Liz @ZEN
Thanks for the write up on Solaris sounds interesting. Will try and get to Silverstone and check out yours and RCMs scoobys in action. Which tracks do you think will suite your car? I suppose the Scooby and evos have very similar weaknesses and benefits ?
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Former Sponsor
Joined: Jul 2005
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From: Wellingborough, Northamptonshire
Morning!
I have made a couple of updates to the blog.
There is a write up on our test day at Silverstone last Friday: Team ZEN | Silverstone Test | Team ZEN
A write up on the engine out job that evening and the next day:
The hokey cokey | Team ZEN
And finally, for all of those that have been asking, some in car video:
Video - wooop wooop | Team ZEN
And at slightly better resolution here:
Team ZEN Time Attack, Silverstone Round 3, 31st May 2009 on Vimeo
The sharper ones amongst you will notice the clutch slip... if you don't you probably will notice the early gear changes... Our triple carbon clutch decided to declare it had had enough on race day
Matt, the superstar that he is, did a fantastic job of driving around it... just a shame that he had to 1. turn the boost down to do so and 2. change so early to do so... On some of the footage from earlier on in the day / session, the slip is so bad it makes me cringe. Ah well, at least we have Brands Hatch to see what it can really do!
We will also have live video feeds from both Team ZEN cars to the 50" plasma in the pit garage at Brands Hatch and subsequently, all the footage to stream on the web for you guys.
Today with luck I will get our full event report up. It certainly was an exciting day, with an element of F1 qualifying about it
That's all for now folks!
Liz@ZEN
I have made a couple of updates to the blog.
There is a write up on our test day at Silverstone last Friday: Team ZEN | Silverstone Test | Team ZEN
A write up on the engine out job that evening and the next day:
The hokey cokey | Team ZEN
And finally, for all of those that have been asking, some in car video:
Video - wooop wooop | Team ZEN
And at slightly better resolution here:
Team ZEN Time Attack, Silverstone Round 3, 31st May 2009 on Vimeo
The sharper ones amongst you will notice the clutch slip... if you don't you probably will notice the early gear changes... Our triple carbon clutch decided to declare it had had enough on race day
Matt, the superstar that he is, did a fantastic job of driving around it... just a shame that he had to 1. turn the boost down to do so and 2. change so early to do so... On some of the footage from earlier on in the day / session, the slip is so bad it makes me cringe. Ah well, at least we have Brands Hatch to see what it can really do!We will also have live video feeds from both Team ZEN cars to the 50" plasma in the pit garage at Brands Hatch and subsequently, all the footage to stream on the web for you guys.
Today with luck I will get our full event report up. It certainly was an exciting day, with an element of F1 qualifying about it
That's all for now folks!
Liz@ZEN
Thread Starter
Former Sponsor
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 2,859
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From: Wellingborough, Northamptonshire
Team ZEN Silverstone reports are now on the blog... 
Step up! Duncan finishes second at Silverstone
Matt Allison takes ZEN closer
I know that the experience of spectating Time Attack is kind of limited! It is probably worst at Silverstone, which is so big and impersonal... I also know there was no PA system for Time Attack. However, it was bloody nailbiting and exciting in the garages
I hope you get some kind of feel for the atmosphere from the blog
Cheers all,
Liz
Step up! Duncan finishes second at Silverstone
Matt Allison takes ZEN closer
I know that the experience of spectating Time Attack is kind of limited! It is probably worst at Silverstone, which is so big and impersonal... I also know there was no PA system for Time Attack. However, it was bloody nailbiting and exciting in the garages
I hope you get some kind of feel for the atmosphere from the blog
Cheers all,
Liz
Team ZEN Silverstone reports are now on the blog...
Step up! Duncan finishes second at Silverstone
Matt Allison takes ZEN closer
I know that the experience of spectating Time Attack is kind of limited! It is probably worst at Silverstone, which is so big and impersonal... I also know there was no PA system for Time Attack. However, it was bloody nailbiting and exciting in the garages
I hope you get some kind of feel for the atmosphere from the blog
Cheers all,
Liz
Step up! Duncan finishes second at Silverstone
Matt Allison takes ZEN closer
I know that the experience of spectating Time Attack is kind of limited! It is probably worst at Silverstone, which is so big and impersonal... I also know there was no PA system for Time Attack. However, it was bloody nailbiting and exciting in the garages
I hope you get some kind of feel for the atmosphere from the blog
Cheers all,
Liz
keep up the good work guys 
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Joined: Dec 2007
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Cheers lads!
We are getting there. Engine has been run in on the dyno, changing the oil now and then more running before slinging the car on to the trailer for the drive up to Snetterton.
They are dodgy phone shots in dim lighting but you get the picture
If Carlsberg made wheels...
Mmmmmmmm
Good luck to everyone at Time Attack tomorrow!
Liz
We are getting there. Engine has been run in on the dyno, changing the oil now and then more running before slinging the car on to the trailer for the drive up to Snetterton.
They are dodgy phone shots in dim lighting but you get the picture
If Carlsberg made wheels...
Mmmmmmmm
Good luck to everyone at Time Attack tomorrow!
Liz
