Pete's Treat

When my friend Peter Chacko who owns the International Hotel, Cochin invited me to come along, I had little idea about what was in store. I was expecting a delicious five course dinner at his grand and opulent hotel, with thick soup, steaming dishes and frozen desserts. But I was in for an even bigger and more delicious treat. I had three cars to play with. Two Skoda Octavias and a Laura.

So what is special about these cars? These are not anyone’s usual commuter cars. The two Octavias produce in excess of 300bhp. And the Laura makes a healthy 150bhp, not bad for a diesel. Now for those who are not much into vehicle performance terms, let me explain what ‘bhp’ really means. BHP or Brake Horse Power is a measure of how much torque (twisting force) an engine can deliver for a given time or it is simply the amount of work an engine can do. The term ‘bhp’ gets its name from the way horse power is measured. Mechanical brakes are applied to an engine which is running. So how much braking force is applied will give the power of the engine.

The petrol Skoda Octavia RS is a car that is fast on its own. It has a top speed in excess of 210kmph and will accelerate from rest to 100kmph in around 9 seconds. And then there are people who get bored of even this. After a couple of years of driving around with ‘just’ 150bhp, they feel an even more need for speed. I recommend them to take a visit to Petes performance where they will tinker around your car and up the power by 100%. You drive in with 150bhp and storm out of there with 300bhp.

It is not just increasing the power that they do at Petes. They turn your family car into a sports car by tinkering around with its electronic brain-the ECU(Engine Control Unit). So what they do at Petes is to make this brain forget what it was taught at the factory and teach it some new tricks by a process of remapping the initial maps (instructions to the engine about how much fuel to take on various conditions). Then they install a bigger turbo, a new clutch and others to increase the power. Then, to harness all that power, they fit stronger brakes, larger wheels, wider and grippier tyres. The end result is quite exemplary. You get what is one among the fastest cars in the country.

Now the two Skoda Octavias may produce similar power output. But the way they both feel is totally different. The black one is the more untamed beast of the two. It is like a dangerous wild dog that will bite you back, should you provoke him. It barks loudly as to scare everyone, thanks to one of the loudest exhausts I have ever come across. It has more aggression in its nature and the remap to this car was done on the basis of the performance mentality of the owner. Compared to it, the white car is your powerful yet dependable hunting dog. It is aggressive where it matters, while being friendly towards you. It is much more driveable in city traffic with a lighter clutch and is quieter. Now the two cars can dismiss off the 0-100kmph run in as less as 5.5 seconds! Top speed is a yet-to-be-tested 280kmph+.

Now with these levels of performance, these cars can threaten most of the exotic sports cars in India . In a straight line, they accelerate so hard that you have to strain your neck muscles to make your head stay straight. But they get all this done without making a dent to their practicality factor. They can still seat four and has a large boot to carry the luggage. Then there is the silver Laura DSG which has everything like this and a diesel economy to back it up. It still develops 150bhp which is 45 bhp over the standard car. Now, for a diesel, that is more than enough. It has a large amount of torque as well.

So head to Petes with your Skoda to see what it is really capable of. The way they makes these cars perform like this is just brilliant. What if you don’t have a Skoda? Petes Performance will be able to get more power from most modern cars on our roads. If it is a diesel that you drive, Petes will get you one of his tuning boxes. This is a small ‘plug and play’ device that connects to the ECU and instructs it to produce more power and the best part is that all this power comes with no adverse effect on fuel economy. As for me, I have already started saving!