PROGRESSIVE USE IN THE REAL WORLD

Nitrous progressive controllers have gotten a bad rap in some corners of the pits. It may be deserved due to poor electronic design, but installation errors or improper nitrous tuning also account for some of it. However, most of the time it is due to a lack of understanding about what is realistically possible when using the controllers. While most racers got along fine, there were some unexplained things happening on track.

Mike Swann (photo) of Racing Instrumentation is a PSCA racer that runs copious amounts of nitrous through his tire-limited race car. Due to the class tire limitations, traction is at premium and he has incorporated various brands and types of nitrous “progressive” controllers and band-aids to allow him to launch the car without blowing the tires off or standing it straight up.

Mike is in the electronic industrial control business and he felt strongly that these intermittent and engine damaging issues were flat unacceptable, so he embarked on a quest to solve the mysterious problems. After a year of study, the Twilight Zone problems he was experiencing were narrowed down to the progressive boxes. In more than one

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case it was determined that one of the worst offender was electrical interference. The energy emitting from the ignition system would scramble the box, and the signal to the solenoids would be either incorrect or incorrectly timed. This would either force the solenoids closed or wide open at the wrong time. Sometimes it was only the nitrous solenoid or the fuel solenoid.

True to his background, Mike is passionate about electrical shielding as he works with a diverse collection of electronic equipment on a daily basis. Those of you who have fought garbled data from your data logger can relate to this. Unfortunately, no amount of shielding on every other wire and item in the car would solve the problem. This scenario is not a good thing. What to do? He couldn’t run the car without some kind of nitrous launch control.

ENTER THE RACING INSTRUMENTATION PROGRESSIVE TIMER/CONTROLLER

Under the banner of his Racing Instrumentation Company, Swann set out to whip the electrical interference problem and then design a computer program to allow setting the controller parameters from a laptop or desktop computer. RI has designed a bullet proof, industrial grade control unit to suit the needs of drag cars. Bullet proof means it is immune to electrical interference while carrying out its duties.