Those who've seen some of my previous cars know that I, shall we say, have a weakness for horsepower. Thus, one of my reasons for choosing the 997TT was the inherent ease of extracting additional horsepower from the turbo powerplant. That said, even stock the TT felt pretty quick in "sport" mode, with only the top-end power above 1st gear disappointing relative to some other 11 sec cars I've driven recently.

Then, I sent my ECU to Todd over at Protomotive earlier this week, and got it back in time to install this evening. I popped out to fill the tank with 100 octane, engaged sport mode, found an open stretch of road, and put the pedal down. Two words now come to mind: Good Lord!

The car is literally transformed. Even from a street start, 1st gear now rips through with a scream, the tach needle swinging past 7000 in a heartbeat. A quick 1-2 shift and the power never lets up, with 60 mph on Page Mill Rd flashing by faster than I could say "Hi Officer!". The acceleration was comparable to my SL65 on drag tires, which regularly registers sub-3 second 0-60s. I had to hit the brakes to avoid rear-ending a vehicle which had, moments earlier, been many carlengths ahead of me. On street tires I don't think there's anything I've driven which will keep up with the TT until 3rd gear.

So Todd, my hat's off to you. The ECU is great, the car is now insane, and I'm looking forward to getting into further mods on this beast

 

Wow! Can you post more information about how to contact Todd so I can maybe get the ECU upgrade done to mine too.

 

That's great Ben! Glad to hear.

So I am guessing your car is the first 997TT to be modified by Protomotive?

How many miles did you put on it before and after the re-programming?

 

I don't know how many other cars Todd has done; I believe at least one other which also had exhaust+intake.

My car had just over 1000 miles when I installed the ECU. Now it's about 1050

 

I believe that one other fellow from San Diego had his 997TT upgraded by Protomotive. He posts on rennteam.com and has thrown accolades about this upgrade our way too.

Thanks for the information...I've fired off an email.

 

Some in-car acceleration data, starting from a 33 mph roll in 2nd. Times in seconds:

T0: 40 MPH, 9 PSI
T1: 54 MPH, 18 PSI
T2: 71 MPH, 18 PSI
(shift to 3rd)
T3: 76 MPH, 18 PSI
T4: 87 MPH, 18 PSI
T5: 98 MPH, 18 PSI
T6: 105 MPH, 8 PSI (lifted)

That pretty much confirms what my butt-dyno has told me -- the 997TT is already *faster* from a roll than my RENNtech SL65. Gad.

video: http://www.treynor.com/997TT-protomotive-accel.3g2

 

Thats Todd for you, always be deliverin. Congrats to you Ben you seem to be happy. Talked to Todd earlier today and got some more info on the tuning for the 997tt, will be doing mine with him (of course) real soon.

Bajo

 

Ben, That's totally awesome. I'm shocked that it is really quicker than your SL65. That Benz of yours is a superfreak.

On the TT can you feel the car pulling linear to 7300 rpm or is there is slight drop in power as it approaches raised redline?

Have you given any thoughts to exhaust? I'm wondering if Todd's program needs to be adjusted slightly for free flowing exhaust?

What program do I need to play the video?

Man, I am going to get cranking on those mods as soon as the car comes in (late Nov) you guys just are killing me.

 

Congrats, Ben. Glad to hear your happy.

 

treynor you said TT is fast...but what about " sub 3 seconds 0 - 60" with the SL65?
I can't even imagine that...

 

Congrats Ben! I noticed you mentioned Page Mill Road so we should meet up sometime and do a side by side, or a nice little photoshoot and call Kirby ;-)

Are you coming to the bay area drive Nov 4th?

 

Kudos to you and Todd for going ahead with this. Did you put an exhaust on it yet?

 

My butt-dyno isn't that well calibrated -- there was no perceptible drop in power on the top end, but it would take a 10% difference before I'd notice, and in 1st and 2nd it's all happening so fast...

I'm waiting for Europipe, although I also hear good things about AWE. My concerns are (a) high flow and (b) low interior noise.

Quicktime appears to handle it. The format is the native output of my Treo, which was all I had on hand at the time

 

I'm up for either / both -- or bring your TT up to the Sacto drag races on 10/28 and we can get some races in

A photoshoot would be great, since my car is still stock looking/sounding, so the comparison would be useful.

 

Wow Ben awesome man, thanks for the review and congrats. With my car almost gone this makes the decision even harder, I mean the power of tt porsche'ss are INSANE, I can't imagine what your turbo feels like now, and the gallardo has a lot to offer in other areas the tt can't :/ Be safe and enjoy!Martin