There are numerous power management and traction control options available in the newest generations of ECUs. Time-based strategies are among the most popular features tuners use to put the maximum level of horsepower to the surface of the track. Jacob Gaddis walks us through how to use FuelTech’s driveshaft curves, engine RPM curves, and fuel trim plus ignition curves for traction control.

Driveshaft Curve

One of the best uses of time-based options in FuelTech’s FT Manager software is the driveshaft curve. A well-crafted driveshaft curve helps your vehicle make A-to-B passes. Building a driveshaft curve starts with a solid data foundation. You’ll want to use data from passes where your vehicle made it successfully down the track as the base for the driveshaft curve — you can’t just create one out of thin air.

A driveshaft curve is designed to pull timing to prevent the tires from spinning during a pass. You create a driveshaft curve using the A-line (baseline) and the B-line (upper limit). These two lines create the timing window, allowing timing to be pulled gradually if the tires start to spin. This is why it’s so critical to use good data to build your driveshaft curve.

In this video, Jacob covers the basics of creating a driveshaft curve and how to tune your radial or slick tire car using it based on track conditions.

Engine RPM Curve

Using an engine RPM curve is one of the best forms of traction control. These curves can be created from scratch in FT Manager software, and there are a few different options for doing so. An effective engine RPM curve will give you more consistent results than a driveshaft curve.

The biggest advantage an engine RPM curve provides is the ability to implement traction control much sooner in a run. Since the ECU is looking directly at engine RPM, it can pull timing quicker because it doesn’t have to wait for the driveshaft RPM to change. This allows you to control wheel speed much earlier in the run, so it functions much better as traction control at the start of a pass.

You can also strategically place curve points to provide a better shape to the traction control profile. These additional curve points give the tuner the ability to build a curve that gradually pulls timing and make precise changes based on track conditions.

Jacob dives into great detail on how to build engine RPM curves and tune with them in this video.

Time-Based Fuel Trim and Time-Based Ignition Curve

The time-based fuel and ignition options in FT Manager are some of the most advanced features that FuelTech offers. Engine timing can be managed via a pre-plotted timing curve that controls traction during a run. The time-based fuel enrichment functions optimize fuel delivery without relying on sensor feedback. All of this must be balanced with any closed-loop O₂ sensor corrections you’ve set up to avoid conflicting ECU commands to the engine.

You can use time-based fuel and ignition strategies to create complex and impactful traction control setups. That said, these aren’t the types of curves that someone with minimal experience should attempt. Jacob takes a deep dive into each of these and covers what you need to know before using these advanced tuning tools.