Dynolicious (iPod/iPhone app)

[Owen]

So myself and Si both have it, and Ger's in the middle of getting it. I had my first play with Dynolicious last night. The cost for the app is a very reasonable €10.30 and installs through the Appstore on your mobile device.

After the initial loading of the app, it brings up a huge warning telling you not to do your testing on public roads, be careful of children, and chew your food 32 times before swallowing. The usual nonsense disclaimers. The app then needs you to setup your car. You give it a name, type in the kerb weight, and the drivetrain loss between the flywheel in the engine, and the wheels itself. After that, you can run your initial test.

The accelerometer inside the iPhone works brilliantly for this test, but it has a few basic requirements. The designers say it doesn't matter if it's pointed lengthways, or crossways, but it must be perpendicular to the angle of direction, if the phone is rotates sideways, it won't work. They recommend just sticking it into a Cup Holder and working like that. In the real world, I'm not so sure. I did a few tests last night, and I found that when it was just in the cup holder, the results weren't so great.

On my first run, it gave me a horsepower figure of 140hp (Not Bhp), and a 0-60 of almost 9 seconds. Mostly because the road was wet, and the traction was fighting to stop the wheels from spinning. Second run gave me 160hp (About 180bhp), and a 0-60 of 7.5 seconds. Still not great, the traction control was still fighting to get the power down on the wet roads. As you're driving, it is plotting the graphs in realtime for G force, Hp, and Speed. It's very much a real dynograph sensation, and it breaks down the whole test into detailed statistics when you're finished, including 0-10, 0-20, 0-30, etc, maximum hp, maximum G force, and total test time/terminal speed.

There's also a skid pan screen, where you can just sit the phone in the cup holder, and it'll tell you lateral (Sideways) and directional G forces, for both accelleration and braking.

Overall, it's a very good app, and well worth the money. I can't wait to try it at the Cork 100 run in Watergrasshill and get some real world figures without having to observe the national speed limits, etc.

[1lightningd]

It sounds very slick Owen, but can you just bring it with you into any car to test the power or is it linked to your own car? In other words can you test my D?

[Owen]

You can test anything. Bike, car, lawnmower, kayak!

[1lightningd]

Cool :rr:

[ONED]

Will you get a chance to compare against rolling road?

[Owen]

No, but I've a link to a video posted in the Engine forum, where Garage419 (An American site) has actually done that, and the program was very close in figures to the rolling road.

[ONED]

Would be interesting to compare to see which method of mounting / position etc gives the best results, as you had a lot of variance!

[Si]

Ive tried it in a Mk4 Golf GTTDI 150bhp thingy thing, and it got 149bhp ! thats pretty darn close to me ! I did notice i had to calibrate it twice as the first calibration didnt go through correctly....but my god, its a very cool app ! :cheers:

[Step_7]

Got my iPhone 3G last week and bought Dynolicious the next day - bloody brilliant! I've only tried it in the S so far and I need a better way of mounting it so no real results yet. I'll be trying it in all the cars once I get some dry weather - I want to see how much lateral G I can pull in the Paul Smith - it is always good for "roundabout" fun....

[MiniMpi]

Ha ha, sounds like great fun Niall

[Step_7]

Well, I finally got a case for my iPhone and with it fitted it sits nice and snug in the cup holder. Had a play on the way to work this morning (6am - empty roads.... ) I did 2 runs and got 170 and 171 bhp using a weight of 1300kg (Seemed about right for an S with a sunroof, bootful of crap and a fat bloke driving!) and a Drivetrain loss of 15%. I'd say that was pretty close to the mark for the mods on the car. Going to have another go in the morning to get a good baseline before the pulley goes on.

[Step_7]

Roundabout fun....

[img:320:480]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3630/3348125298_79edfcf18d_o.jpg[/img]

That was in the Paul Smith - I went round a few times.....

[irlmin]

Niall , you will have us all arrested , I can see it now minis and MINIs flat out around roundabouts driver looking down at his ipod checking his G's !!! must try it later with a classic , word of warning though beware doing this for too long with a classic as without a center oil pick-up oil starvation will occur , We had a customer that used to love taking roundabouts with his classic that he used to go around every one several times until his engine packed up due to oil starvation . not sure how many G's he was pulling though !
G

[Step_7]

Just in case you were wondering - I did this after midnight on a roundabout where I can see down all the roads for a good quarter mile. At no point did I exceed any speed limits or use my phone whilst driving! I had the phone jammed into the gap in the passenger seat so I couldn't even see the part of the screen with the results on it.


Didn't stop it being massive fun though!

Oil starvation is a very good point though......

I'll be going round the same rounndabout tonight in the MINI on my way home from work. Iexpect to be smiling again!!!!

[MiniMpi]

Great fun Niall, must download it tonight to my iTouch