by David Ferguson on Wed May 30, 2018 12:32 am
I have setup and successfully used Knock Control on the M1. What it allows you to do is have the ignition retard on an individual cylinder basis as knock is detected. This is a safety and reliability feature that avoids the engine running continuously in a knock condition which can be very bad particularly for an engine with forced induction.
However, only if the engine is knock limited in it's ignition timing does this result in maximum performance. You will obtain the true maximum performance by using a fuel with adequate octane to avoid knock when the ignition timing is tuned for maximum best torque.
I run a stock Mazda 2L engine in my sports racer. It can run with out knock on 91 octance pump fuel (ie, relatively inexpensive compared to race fuels), however there are certain situations (end of a long straight, 25+sec at WOT, where the combustion temps have started to rise) when knock will be detected and the M1 will pull 2 - 4 degrees of timing from a couple of cylinders. I'm pretty sure I'm maximizing performance per dollar for my car!
David Ferguson
Veracity Racing Data