McLaren MP4-12C Fabspeed Motorsports Tune Testing

October 19th, 2014

mclaren-dynoTuning and performance options have been quite limited for the McLaren MP4-12C as it’s a fairly new car and it takes time to get things moving in the tuning world.  We had some time testing the Fabspeed Motorsports Engine Turning Power Kit on the McLaren MP4-12C we’ve been working with over the past year.   The Fabspeed engine tuning kit for the MP4-12C has a list price of $5,295 and states  a 77 horsepower and 110 ft-lbs torque increase at the engine which would bring the McLaren from 616 HP to almost 700 horsepower.

Since the MP4-12C we’ve been testing already laid down some pretty amazing numbers running 10.2 @ 135 MPH in optimal conditions, we were really excited to get to work with the tune and adding power.

fabspeed-logoFirst stop was over to Horsepower Logic in Royal Palm Beach, FL to meet with Jack.  Jack has been our go to guy for years and was ready to help get the McLaren on the dyno for some baseline numbers, assist with installing the tune and hitting the dyno again for the results.

Dyno testing the MP4-12C isn’t an easy task, we had to remove the carbon fiber rear diffuser to get access to some strap down points.  In addition, even though the the MP4-12C is rear wheel drive, it needs to be dyno tested on an all wheel drive dyno with front and rear rollers linked.  The keeps the car happy on the dyno making it think it’s driving on the street with all 4 wheels rolling.  This also tends to produce lower than expected dyno results, our test car put down just 439 horsepower and 369 ft-lbs of torque the the wheels, a low number considering the car is rated at 616 horsepower.  Since we’re testing modifications back to back on the same day/same dyno, the difference in power is what we’re really looking at.

hplogic-logoWe then proceeded to install the Fabspeed tune which according to the directions takes about 1.5 hours.  The directions where clear, we removed a few of the carbon fiber engine panels, a painstaking process, unplugged a few engine connections and plugged in the Fabspeed tuning box.  After driving the car for a few miles we put the car back on the dyno where it made 506 horsepower and 439 ft-lbs of torque to the wheels, an increase of 66 horsepower and 70 ft-lbs of torque.  As you can see from the graphs below the increases are across the engine RPM range.  With the outstanding results in hand we headed out to Palm Beach International Raceway for some 1/4 mile runs and VBOX testing.

McLaren-MP4-12C-Fabspeed-TuneWeather hasn’t quite cooled down in South Florida yet, so we weren’t expecting to break any records, especially at a test and tune night were runs and track prep can be limited.  We made a couple passes down the 1/4 mile with the tune installed and ended up with a 10.6-10.7 @ 133.82 MPH.  We then removed the tune and make a couple passes in stock form, running a 10.6 @ 132.36 MPH.  ET is mostly a function of the launch and track prep, so the real numbers to look at are the trap speeds with the tune having a 1.5 MPH advantage.

To gather a more complete picture of the performance gains we had a VBOX in the car and held down the power past the 1/4 mile to hit the 150 MPH mark .  There was a .27 second gain from 60-130 MPH, and a .73 second gain from 100-150 MPH.  When the tuned car hit the 150 MPH mark, the stock car was at 146 MPH.

. 60-130 MPH (seconds) 30-150 MPH (seconds) 100-150 MPH (seconds)
Stock 7.27 13.04 8.14
Tune 7.0 12.30 7.41

As soon as the weather cools down some more we’ll do some more testing and take the car to a dedicated track rental where we’ll attempt to break some more records with the McLaren.  Check back soon as we plan on taking a McLaren MP4-12C to the next stage with some more Fabspeed gear, a tune and full exhaust system that will add even more power.

Take a look at the dyno graphs,  timeslips, VBOX results and dyno video below!

 

mclaren-stock-vs-tune-vbox

 

Follow