Damian Mac Donagh

Alright Gordon that's some good going happy to see your now enjoying the car, race file should yield interesting results. Shame your so far away be good to see the car. £10k will probably only cover the labour of doing the RS3 conversion in reality. It would be at least three times that plus and you could probably count the number of shops who'd entertain it on one hand in the whole of Europe and car would be off road for an age. Regards Damian Mac Donagh

There is so much hear say about products and until you test them first hand you realise. How many kits did APR sell, what was the point carrying on, theres no money in it for them with all the resource at their disposal and even if it did work out how many could they sell. It's a limited market so I can't say I blame them they've got better markets to pursue all be it with the same old problems. In full road trim with all the bells and whistles I have never seen a decent Stage 3 7R run on pump no matter what turbo it's on keep hearing it's coming. In your position and if I just had to go with something I would look into a TTE 555, response was so quick, it was lovely to drive on the road I was quite surprised but that was coming off my IMS 780 which is the polar opposite. Would have been running I guess circa 560bhp on stock internals but with inlet manifold and miles under the belt was quick as hell so would struggle to find better. Regards Damian Mac Donagh

It would be fairly easy to jump on them for the mapping side of things but previous tunes have also encountered difficulties so we'll wait and see before I pass final judgement. The gearbox map was a disappointment though as it wouldn't change gear on a charge and it was really ruff at docile speeds in the lower gears. There were other issues also that irked me that are on-going. In hindsight though and I'm not afraid to admit it I should have spoke to MRC Tuning and resolved some of the map issues I was having at the time rather than seeking to go elsewhere thinking the grass might be greener. Regards Damian Mac Donagh

A lot of the work they done was sourcing the turbo and fueling upgrades which are still in place. Mapping will all be re-done by MRC Tuning when the upgrades mentioned above get finished. Regards Damian Mac Donagh

Nope far from it. Car was running poorly prior to going back in so for peace of mind opened it back up, inspected it and while it's open doing a few further tweaks. The garage was also quite so thought may as well throw in the gearbox now while I'm at it. Regards Damian Mac Donagh

That's right Race Developments built the engine. No, TVS Engineering never carried out the DQ500 conversion. Might be getting muddled up as I posted the pricing schedule for the conversion through them a while ago. Intention was to let them do it if the car was completed and running good no dramas for a few months. Regards Damian Mac Donagh

Hello Ian, Still over at MRC Tuning and probably will be for a while longer yet. Engine is out and being re-built along with doing the DQ500 conversion so two fairly big jobs going on in their own right. Yes I did see this event a few weeks ago and never actually been to Castle Coombe so was going to pop along and take a look. Regards Damian Mac Donagh

Dave Henderson and the team from DH Automotive (MRC Scotland) are really good fellas. Love there fast cars so you'll be in safe hands with them for sure for works North of the border. Regards Damian Mac Donagh

Sorry to hear this about your Dad, hopefully he's going to be ok. Regards Damian Mac Donagh

No not quite sure Harry yet to be honest but that's the problem with highly tuned cars they more often than not throw a wobbly and leave you scratching your head but it's going back in shortly to get resolved and will be back out again I'm sure fairly soon. Sorry you didn't have the best of days Ian if it's any consolation mine was fairly pants also. I can sympathise with the stench as I had to say to one fella, seriously what are you doing, what's wrong with you. Smoking that disgusting stuff close to kids. Normally it's only at the likes of Fast Show/USC that attracts that sort of crowd. You have to drive around the water patches though close to the wall, that will have done you no favours. Standard cars run 12.7/12.8secs normally, mine was 12.8secs. Those were the days, no worries no problems. Regards Damian Mac Donagh

Hi Almac hope your keeping well. Another day of frustration. Car was having a mare and running horrible to be honest. It's my fault really for not road testing it properly after collection as it was a right rush and then more so recently but it is what it is. Ran 11.1secs @ 123.5mph ish in the first run bouncing off the rev limiter in sport in 4th and 5th gear, why the high gears and not the low I have no idea. Tried another couple of attempts in sport/manual and it was the same plus then began misfiring on two cylinders at 6,200rpm. Has it's first MOT tomorrow so need to get that out of the way so just parked it up and left it at that. The only positive I can take is it can't possibly run any worse and it's doing 11.1secs. Apologies for not catching up with anyone, it was a bit of a full on day. Was looking on point in the company of the Heads Up VW/Audi dragsters. On we go. Regards Damian Mac Donagh

At least two weeks every night circa 50miles an evening. To add to the annoyance I had to do it all again as they had to be replaced as soon as I'd done it as they hadn't bedded right. You'll get it mapped and go back for a check/tweak once done to turn it up. That seems a good price for the Dodson. I knew I seen my figures somewhere before, if you check out "Stage 3 APR... videos" ToRnado has them fitted to his 7R, while ago now mind so they probably have dropped. Yeah guess you'll have to go for the 700Nm version if you went TVS so will be circa €3,000 so looks to be a win for Dodson all round. Regards Damian Mac Donagh

Yep that's it taking it steady not going above 3,000rpm maybe 3,500rpm tops. What prices are you getting for Dodson fitted? There not as cheap as the likes of TVS and some of the others unless they've cut there prices very recently. Regards Damian Mac Donagh

When I was looking a few years back you had: * Getriebeklinik. * SSP. * Dodson. * HGP. * TVS. * APR. I'm running APR certainly not by choice, very limited options back then. Don't think they offer them anymore. A lot of these kits are very similar in design. If I was to go again on the DQ250 personally I would be trying Dodson but there not cheap, think it's a circa £3k job but the minimum will be near £2k anyway so while your at it. Mapping afterwards is the key element to get right. You need to allow then for circa 700+ miles of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 2, 3, 2, 1 etc. bedding them in otherwise they'll be toast and you'll be going again. Spent a few weeks doing that and it was a complete nause. You can see why most people just increase the clamping pressure and craic on and hope for the best. Regards Damian Mac Donagh

Nice results Trevor. Will catch up with you Sunday I'm sure. Should be a great days racing with a variety of Stage 1, 2, 3 & 4 car's in action. Can't wait. Regards Damian Mac Donagh