Our Project True SStreet Chevrolet Camaro has been taking up space in our shop for longer than we intended when we kicked the build off a handful of years ago, but that’s all about to change, as we are just days away from burning rubber with the LS-powered street/strip machine.
Our goal with the 427-inch, Whipple-supercharged machine is to click off a 1/4-mile run in the nines, and get us to and from the track if we need it to. Just because it’s a relatively mild machine, though, doesn’t mean we can’t benefit from the use of traction control. After all, high-performance production cars come right from the factory with it these days, and well…this is a street car.
Traction control is particularly beneficial for us, as we’ll be racing this car primarily in Southern California, where racetracks are scarce, and the surfaces we do have leave a lot to be desired. Nevermind that in the summer months — like, right now — the tracks are hot and greasy, making matters worse. Of course, we’ll be tuning the engine, the gear ratios, the AFCO front struts, JRi rear shocks, and our 4-link conversion to get us down the track efficiently, but for those moments that we miss the mark a little, Davis Technologies will be there to save our ass.
The Need For Speed
We acquired one of Davis’ TC3-SL units, a self-learning traction control system, to help us manage wheel speed in True SStreet. Davis’ TC3 (this lineup includes the base TC3, the TC3-SL, and TC3-SL Pro) was built from the ground up with speed and accuracy in mind. How fast? It samples driveshaft RPM at a rate of 1,000 times per second. Along with retarding engine timing, the unit can also drop cylinders in severe cases. But its very foundation — what traction control guru Shannon Davis hangs his hat on — is its speed and accuracy.
“Step one to building a good traction control system is the speed at which it can measure RPM, so that we can react fast,” Davis says, adding “whether it’s front-wheel speed versus rear-wheel speed, driveshaft speed over a time plot, or driveshaft speed rate-of-change.
“Getting right down to the core of it, there’s a lot of ways to measure RPM, and some aren’t that good,” Davis…
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