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THROTTLE CONTROLLER


nissanjuke

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Unless Sprint Booster does anything different to the others that have preceded it (happy to be told otherwise), It does exactly that. Effectively it pulls forwards the 100% throttle position of the gas pedal forwards of the fully down to the floor position to further up thus increasing the gradient of the curve to get there. As described, this would normally be when the pedal hits the floor, instead if you select an aggressive setting 100% will be halfway down the pedal travel giving a feeling that small inputs give big acceleration, when in fact you have the same horsepower, same fuel air mix etc. going on - the car isn't going to go any faster than 'putting your foot down' - the only aside to that is that pushing the pedal all the way down vs half way down is more travel, the difference though is really negligible. You can test this by setting it aggressively, putting your foot in say 70% then push it further, you will notice no increase in power because you have reached 100% already with the pedal 70% of the way down.

 

Its a fair outlay nearly £100 for some of these devices, but its completely up to you guys. I had one years ago and at first it does feel fun but then you work it out and realise whats going on - actually the benefit I only found was the eco mode (which Ekona alluded to) where you can drive more softly and reduce a bit of juddering in and around town. 

Edited by coldel
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I've had them on cars in the past and loved them, it all comes down to how you drive. I was finding on track I didn't like the pedal travel so these things shorten that and tighten it all up, means getting your foot to the brake pedal is a bit quicker. Basically helps set the car up how you want it. 

 

On some cars around town its made them jerkey to drive due to how they work, but you don't really need them around town! 

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It does come down to what you want to use this for, essentially you are moving the WOT position of the pedal from to the floor to further up the pedal travel and compressing the curve to get there. Sit in the car and push the pedal all the way in vs half way in and see how little difference there is. If you are a serious track driver possibly there are some marginal gains to be had but as I say each to their own - its also worth noting that given you are halfway there cost wise on some of these devises to a proper remap which does give extra BHP and improves the drive I know where I would be putting my money (and did!). What they do not do is improve acceleration or outright performance, or anything along those lines.

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By making the throttle sharper you reduce sensitivity and control of the throttle, so arguably it’s going to make you a slower/more erratic driver. I had one, found it fun for about a week, then realised just what it was doing to my driving so sold it. 
 

Worth it if you’re planning on running in Eco mode though, as Col says. Maybe. 

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This subject is always going to divide opinions. I think most of us know exactly how it works, it effectively gives a bigger throttle output for less pedal travel.

 

Does it give more power - No (but I don’t think anyone is claiming it does)

Does it make the car faster - No  (but I don’t think anyone is claiming it does)

Does it ’feel’ the same as putting your foot down further - In theory it is the same I.e. throttle output increased for less pedal travel, but, does it ’feel’ the same - No it doesn’t. It’s difficult to explain ‘feel’ , and people will disagree with me, however I bought one for my auto 370 years ago because the throttle response felt ‘dull and slow’. I DId Not buy it to make the car faster (or even feel faster), more powerful etc etc, I bought it to improve driveability by improving throttle response. For me personally, and it is only my opinion, it made a huge improvement to the driveability of my car. Since installing it I’ve let loads of people try it and every single one has said the car drives much better with the sprint booster on.

 

There will always be people who through personal experience or just opinion will disagree with my points above, and I’m not saying I’m right, just stating my opinion. 
 

If anyone is thinking of getting one I’d say try a car with one installed and make up your own mind - at the end of the day that’s all that matters. 

 

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In the first three gears on these cars the butterflies on the throttle bodies are limited to how fast they open even at full throttle they are restricted which is what gets removed when the car gets mapped. Throttle controller also gets rid of the same restriction in the first three gears so you get full power as apposed to progressive power waiting for the butterflies to open. PM Sprintbooster on Facebook, they were happy to explain it all to me.

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Reading back what you said Dave, it is exactly what I said. That in the lower gears the standard throttle input is lazy, but thats deliberate as most likely 99% of the time you will be in traffic in and around town so you dont want the car being very jumpy in lower gears. Makes sense really. All the sprint booster does, iike the blitz / D1 Spec etc boxes that came before it is compress the inputs going into the ECU so that laziness in effect feels like it goes away as the signal  going to the ECU is higher than it would otherwise be. 

 

As I understand it (and again happy to be told otherwise there are much smarter people on here), there is a misconception about the 'lower gear' thing on 350z's. You can get 100% power in lower gears without a box, you simply put your foot to the floor and the throttle will be fully open. The shape of the input curves from the pedal to the ECU are like an exponential curve whereas the throttle controllers make them much steeper in terms of getting to 100% - what isn't true is that these boxes open up extra power in lower gears.

 

We should really be asking the likes of Horsham Dev on here, pretty sure they could clarify rather than an amatuer like me!

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7 hours ago, coldel said:

It would be interesting to see what they said - could you just copy and paste what they told y

There you go, proof enough? 

 

My car is auto and it has been tuned, I turned the Sprintbooster off when it was getting tuned so it wouldn't effect anything, came out and the car felt great but the box felt lazy still, turned the Sprintbooster back on and the box responsiveness is just ridiculous on the Sprintboosters auto setting, that coupled with the tune and it seriously sharpens up the car.

 

Imagine doing roll or dig races and having a setting that can give 100% throttle at the first tiny touch of the pedal, gives you a split second advantage that makes a difference. On track you want control so switch it off. Daily driving mine is set mid way and it's a pleasure to drive, I daily my car in traffic, no jumpyness and Z feels lazy otherwise. I've taken it to a garage for work and even though my car has valet mode mapped in I still set the Sprintbooster up to restrict the throttle to 55% so it doesn't get abused. At night I set the 3 digit code on it to pedal lock the vehicle so if it gets broken into you get no power from the throttle whatsoever. Cost me £120 off this forum. No brainer in my opinion even if it's just for the security of your car. 

Screenshot_20200110-164646_Messenger.jpg

Edited by Dave6188
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Thanks Dave, yes it does confirm it does what I said, it basically brings forwards the throttle position that goes into the ECU. So when you turn it on and you put your foot in say 30% of the way instead of the throttle signal saying 'give 20% throttle' to the ecu its saying 'give 50%' hence the responsiveness feel of the throttle. Actually Ekona's 'thin soled shoes' comment is very relevant here, as the Sprint Booster just brings forwards the throttle signal, if you have good throttle control you can do exactly the same thing by pushing the throttle say 70% of the way down which would also give you 50% - you are getting exactly the same power and acceleration but in an easier to manage way. If you want 100% throttle in lower gears, you can get it without this box, you just make sure the pedal is pretty much to the floor - with this box it brings it forwards and spread the curve so its easier to control if you want to be really putting the hammer down - but I stand by my comment, you can do all of what they claim without the box by just putting your foot in more. 

 

The security aspect is a nice touch I will give them that, a potential thief that has gotten past the alarm and immoboliser might not check under the pedal for this box (I presume to disable it you just unplug it) and if the control box is hidden from view they wont check to where it leads to.

Edited by coldel
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17 hours ago, Dave6188 said:

You still don't quite get it. Your half and half right and I've lost the will to try and explain lol. Don't take offense to this. 

Not offended, but nothing that guy from SB said is any different to what I said, it just changes the throttle signal. I guess its that thinking they do anything more than what I have observed so far is actually misleading to anyone buying one of these devices (be it D1 Spec, Blitz, SB etc). They change the throttle signal to the ECU, nothing more. Sprint Booster has a few additions to the others i.e. security, but in terms of its core function, its the same as what came before. 

 

When I put mine on years ago, it was a bit like a woah factor, but then you realise all its done has moved where 80%-100% throttle is on the pedal travel further up, no performance gain to be had. 

 

To be honest, if anyone is considering throwing £200 at a device like this I would save a bit more money and go into remap territory which accesses a dozen or so data tables in the ECU and does proper adjustments to create a faster, more responsive drive, removes flat spots etc. 

Edited by coldel
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