Last week, the Professional Awesome! team decided it was time to find out exactly how powerful the Evolution really is. After hearing good things from fellow racers, the team loaded the Evolution onto the trailer and headed north to Komet Motorsports in St. Charles, IL.
While Komet specializes in the European brands such as Volkswagen, Porsche, and Mercedes, their expertise in tuning and service certainly still applies to cars with an American or Asian origin. Shortly after we rolled the Evolution off of our trailer, Kurt, of Komet, quickly had the dyno all set, with our car securely strapped to the rollers. When I say securely, I mean it – the Evolution wasn’t going anywhere.
Before the first runs, Grant changed out spark plugs for a colder set so that we could safely turn up the boost without damaging the engine. Then the fun began.

The first run was a bit of a surprise at 290 horsepower; lower than we expected, but that makes our performance at New Jersey (story on that is coming soon) all the more impressive. Then Andy Stevens, resident combustion cycle mad scientist, was let loose on the fueling and timing maps. After a few minutes with a laptop, Andy had given the Evolution a healthy bump in power to a more respectable 350hp. For a 3000lb car, 350 horsepower will certainly make quick work of long stretches of track, but we’re not complacent types here.
After more time adjusting timing, fuel delivery, swapping out bypass valves (BOVs to you auto forum-types out there) we landed at a number that we can be happy with: 400 horsepower and 398 ft-lb of torque. At the wheels, of course. As soon as we get a chance to scan in our printouts, you can all admire the power and torque curves with us, but for the time being, just imagine a nice broad torque curve and power curve that increases all the way up to redline.
Overall, the day was a success, with a new tune giving us a whole mess of reliable power and we can’t wait to go toe to toe with the rest of the Street AWD class at the Redline Autobahn CC Event this June! We also give Komet Motorsports our much-admired and desired seal of approval – if you are looking for someone to help you reach your insane power goals or if you just want some new parts installed, call them up and tell them we sent ya!
Komet Motorsports
630-584-5400
www.kometmotorsports.com