Skoda Laura VRS - Officially Unofficial Review and Initial Ownership Report

prithwi-81 · 10th February 2013, 16:08

For all those of you who would ask "Why no Cold air or open/ram air intake"?

In my experience with turbo cars (which have much higher performance than the VRS), an open/ram air intake is an absolute no no for turbo small displacement engines. No matter what K&N or HKS or any other intake manufacturer says, an open/ram air Intake in any turbo car WILL KILL your bottom end power. The turbulent airflow due to the conical filters plays dirty games with your AF/MAF sensor, causing lean out conditions. Also the increased airflow from within the hot engine bay, causes heat soak and the engine pulls timing and runs richer, which reduces power under open loop conditions. When the turbo does spool up and the closed loop AF program kicks in, the RAM air intake sucks in hotter air and the turbo superheats it causing HIGH IATs pushing the engine to rich conditions and also makes your car pull timing.U will need a bigger intercooler to negate the effects to extract the max power but that adds piping and lag.
In the Evo a RAM Air intake killed my bottom end, even with a tune could not be recovered. The topend opened up, but daily drivability suffered. Moving to a CAI improved top end further and added a bit to the middle rev range, but the bottom end remained same even after a tune.
First hand experience of heat soak with the STI's Top Mount intercooler (TMIC), which i swapped out for a larger TMIC hoping to get more cooling power, yet ended up extracting only 18 whp/20-25wtq when i installed a bigger turbo with all the necessary upgrades (Feul Pump, 650cc injectors, better boost controller, high pressure bypass valve). When I finally swapped the TMIC setup to a proper Front mount intercooler, the car picked up close to 50whp as the boost pressure could be safely increased to around 25-29psi from the 21ps ui MAX we could do with the FMIC.

What you can modify and this does improve the boost performance slightly, is to change the plastic piping from the airbox to the turbo intlet, by a metal one, which doesnt compress during high suction.

Bottom line on this - The stock airbox is designed to be restrictive on turbo cars for a reason, and the engineers are NOT stupid. Dont mess with it unless you absolutely have to. :-)

prithwi-81 · 10th February 2013, 22:29

Funny thing happened today in galleria. Never thought I'd see this.. Twins!!!

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prithwi-81 · 17th February 2013, 19:12

Time Trial at Buddh. 3rd Fastest lap time!!!

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Not bad for a stock car. Maxed out at 182kmph on the long straight. Did a video ofme chasing the SLK. Will upload shortly.

samyboy · 17th February 2013, 19:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by prithwi-81

Not bad for a stock car. Maxed out at 182kmph on the long straight. Did a video ofme chasing the SLK. Will upload shortly.

This is outstanding. You make me proud as another Skoda owner! Looking forward to the video. If you can, please describe what is this event and how come consumer cars are allowed on the track? while this might be common knowledge but at least I am not aware of it.

Happy speeding on the track.

agambhandari · 17th February 2013, 20:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by samyboy

If you can, please describe what is this event and how come consumer cars are allowed on the track?
.

Here you go
Take your car on BIC

prithwi-81 · 17th February 2013, 20:57

Now whoever thinks the laura RS is just a TSI with a fancy bodykit, eat my dust... hehehehehe....

robimahanta · 17th February 2013, 21:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by prithwi-81

Now whoever thinks the laura RS is just a TSI with a fancy bodykit, eat my dust... hehehehehe....

Glad that you had a great time at the circuit, so other than the Milltek exhaust you were on stock tires and suspension set up right? Whats the damage on the tires after the run? Any issues with the brakes?

prithwi-81 · 17th February 2013, 21:17

Other than exhaust, i am totally stock.

Stock tyres held very well. Better than I ever expected. Not much wear at all considering how hard I was pushing it. Brakes remained fade free, but that totally depends on driving style. I was only flooring the brakes on the straights, rest was cornering slowdown, engine breaking and line corrections. Clutch is also normal, but like I said, depends on driving style.

Surprisingly no wear on the car at all. Then again it has only 4000kms on it. Wait till my friend uploads the video, you'll know what I mean.

agambhandari · 17th February 2013, 22:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by prithwi-81

Now whoever thinks the laura RS is just a TSI with a fancy bodykit, eat my dust... hehehehehe....

So you're saying that you couldn't have posted this laptime with a regular TSi?

prithwi-81 · 17th February 2013, 22:19

The honest answer is no. The way the suspension behaves on a normal tsi, it wouldnt be as confidence inspiring, nor as responsive. Also the small steering has a lot of role in how fast you can react on chicanes. The stock tires on the tsi, both size and rating wouldn't have helped things either. The was a regular tsi in the first session, and best he posted was a 3.12. I have both cars, and trust me when I tell you, the way I was pushing the VRS, and the way it was responding, the regular tsi would have given up mid way thru.

Change the wheels, tires, and steering wheel on the regular tsi, and your good to go. Oh, and the seats helped a LOT. More so my Co passenger - Krazydriver84...

robimahanta · 17th February 2013, 22:40

In my honest opinion a lot depends on the guy behind the wheel. Agreed that the tires make an impact but the stiffer springs (dampers being the same) and smaller diameter steering wheel would result in a meagre lap time improvement.

prithwi-81 · 18th February 2013, 08:45

Video of a few laps :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djnitu5suQI

prithwi-81 · 18th February 2013, 21:00

Another Video from the Track Day. You get to see the top three cars, the porsche, the SLK, and my vRS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqwoqhCl0V8

prithwi-81 · 18th February 2013, 22:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by prithwi-81

Video of a few laps :

http://www.Youtube.com/watch?v=djnitu5suQI

Edited and cleaned up version of the first run. Timesheet at the end. Did a lil showboating, but hey.. :-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBc-jNLrV9w

azeemhafiz · 18th February 2013, 23:05

Hey Prithwi,

Congratulations on the fantastic times. Did you try a lap with the ASR on v/s the ASR off? I have seen it kick in some of the corners when driven spiritedly (most noticeably on the inner ring road in Bangalore before they got the speed humps).

My reading was that it kicks in much later and the interference was limited, in fact it felt more of an assist than a resist. What was your experience? Or did you not bother with it at all? Which I can understand too :-)

Thanks,

Azeem

10th February 2013, 16:08	#61
prithwi-81 BHPian Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Gurgaon Posts: 686 Thanked: 1,046 Times	Re: Skoda Laura VRS - Officially Unofficial Review and Initial Ownership Report For all those of you who would ask "Why no Cold air or open/ram air intake"? In my experience with turbo cars (which have much higher performance than the VRS), an open/ram air intake is an absolute no no for turbo small displacement engines. No matter what K&N or HKS or any other intake manufacturer says, an open/ram air Intake in any turbo car WILL KILL your bottom end power. The turbulent airflow due to the conical filters plays dirty games with your AF/MAF sensor, causing lean out conditions. Also the increased airflow from within the hot engine bay, causes heat soak and the engine pulls timing and runs richer, which reduces power under open loop conditions. When the turbo does spool up and the closed loop AF program kicks in, the RAM air intake sucks in hotter air and the turbo superheats it causing HIGH IATs pushing the engine to rich conditions and also makes your car pull timing.U will need a bigger intercooler to negate the effects to extract the max power but that adds piping and lag. In the Evo a RAM Air intake killed my bottom end, even with a tune could not be recovered. The topend opened up, but daily drivability suffered. Moving to a CAI improved top end further and added a bit to the middle rev range, but the bottom end remained same even after a tune. First hand experience of heat soak with the STI's Top Mount intercooler (TMIC), which i swapped out for a larger TMIC hoping to get more cooling power, yet ended up extracting only 18 whp/20-25wtq when i installed a bigger turbo with all the necessary upgrades (Feul Pump, 650cc injectors, better boost controller, high pressure bypass valve). When I finally swapped the TMIC setup to a proper Front mount intercooler, the car picked up close to 50whp as the boost pressure could be safely increased to around 25-29psi from the 21ps ui MAX we could do with the FMIC. What you can modify and this does improve the boost performance slightly, is to change the plastic piping from the airbox to the turbo intlet, by a metal one, which doesnt compress during high suction. Bottom line on this - The stock airbox is designed to be restrictive on turbo cars for a reason, and the engineers are NOT stupid. Dont mess with it unless you absolutely have to. :-)
	(5) Thanks

10th February 2013, 22:29	#62
prithwi-81 BHPian Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Gurgaon Posts: 686 Thanked: 1,046 Times	Funny thing happened today in galleria. Never thought I'd see this.. Twins!!!
	(2) Thanks

17th February 2013, 19:12	#63
prithwi-81 BHPian Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Gurgaon Posts: 686 Thanked: 1,046 Times	Time Trial at Buddh. 3rd Fastest lap time!!! Not bad for a stock car. Maxed out at 182kmph on the long straight. Did a video ofme chasing the SLK. Will upload shortly. Last edited by prithwi-81 : 17th February 2013 at 19:14.
	(10) Thanks

17th February 2013, 20:57	#66
prithwi-81 BHPian Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Gurgaon Posts: 686 Thanked: 1,046 Times	Now whoever thinks the laura RS is just a TSI with a fancy bodykit, eat my dust... hehehehehe....
	(1) Thanks

17th February 2013, 21:17	#68
prithwi-81 BHPian Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Gurgaon Posts: 686 Thanked: 1,046 Times	Other than exhaust, i am totally stock. Stock tyres held very well. Better than I ever expected. Not much wear at all considering how hard I was pushing it. Brakes remained fade free, but that totally depends on driving style. I was only flooring the brakes on the straights, rest was cornering slowdown, engine breaking and line corrections. Clutch is also normal, but like I said, depends on driving style. Surprisingly no wear on the car at all. Then again it has only 4000kms on it. Wait till my friend uploads the video, you'll know what I mean. Last edited by prithwi-81 : 17th February 2013 at 21:19.
	() Thanks

17th February 2013, 22:19	#70
prithwi-81 BHPian Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Gurgaon Posts: 686 Thanked: 1,046 Times	The honest answer is no. The way the suspension behaves on a normal tsi, it wouldnt be as confidence inspiring, nor as responsive. Also the small steering has a lot of role in how fast you can react on chicanes. The stock tires on the tsi, both size and rating wouldn't have helped things either. The was a regular tsi in the first session, and best he posted was a 3.12. I have both cars, and trust me when I tell you, the way I was pushing the VRS, and the way it was responding, the regular tsi would have given up mid way thru. Change the wheels, tires, and steering wheel on the regular tsi, and your good to go. Oh, and the seats helped a LOT. More so my Co passenger - Krazydriver84...
	(1) Thanks

17th February 2013, 22:40	#71
robimahanta Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: BLR/GAU Posts: 929 Thanked: 9,581 Times	In my honest opinion a lot depends on the guy behind the wheel. Agreed that the tires make an impact but the stiffer springs (dampers being the same) and smaller diameter steering wheel would result in a meagre lap time improvement.
	(2) Thanks

18th February 2013, 23:05	#75
azeemhafiz BHPian Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 289 Thanked: 311 Times	Re: Skoda Laura VRS - Officially Unofficial Review and Initial Ownership Report Hey Prithwi, Congratulations on the fantastic times. Did you try a lap with the ASR on v/s the ASR off? I have seen it kick in some of the corners when driven spiritedly (most noticeably on the inner ring road in Bangalore before they got the speed humps). My reading was that it kicks in much later and the interference was limited, in fact it felt more of an assist than a resist. What was your experience? Or did you not bother with it at all? Which I can understand too :-) Thanks, Azeem
	() Thanks