RICA Engineering are very proud to have been appointed as the official suppliers and scrutineers of ECM tuning software in the Dutch Touring Car Diesel Cup for the BMW and Volvo race diesel race cars in 2010. Dutch Power Pack, the organisation responsible for the cup, wanted to level the playing field by ensuring that all the cars are tuned to the same level and that no teams had an unfair advantage through non-approved tuning modifications. A target lap time of approximately 2:05 seconds was required for all the cars and any cars which were significantly faster would have to be scrutinised. RICA Engineering have long been established as leaders in performance diesel tuning both on the road and on the race track as well as being equipped with precise dyno measuring equipment (Maha LPS 3000) and specialist ECU software analysis capability. Dutch Power Pack therefore considered RICA Engineering to be the best company to fulfil this new role. All the BMW (120d and 123d) and Volvo race cars have RICA performance software installed, tuned to ensure that no team has any performance advantage. RICA Engineering are also responsible for dyno testing and examining the ECU software in any cars which require post-race scrutineering on request of the race officials. All the Touring Car Diesel Cup race events are held at Zandvoort and Assen in the Netherlands. RICA Engineering is very active in the motorsport field in Europe, providing various engine tuning and race preparation services to many teams and securing frequent podium finishes. RICA tunes many BMWs and Volvos for motorsport and specialises in diesel race car tuning. The knowledge and experience gained from such motorsport activity can then be used in the development of road car ECM upgrade technology. The pictures below are of the Volvo C30 D5 race car, owned by Dutch Volvo dealer Niham and tuned by RICA Engineering. For a period of time it ran with the NIRA engine management system in order to promote the NIRA system, but it now runs the factory Bosch management system with RICA ECM software in order to comply with the new regulations. This car was also used as the development and testing platform for the RICA Sports Tune ECM upgrades. The racing conditions during the endurance events are ideal for testing the engine and transmission reliability.

The pictures below show a Volvo S60 2.0T rally car, running a normal factory Bosch ME7 engine management system, remapped by RICA Engineering.

Pictured below is an ex-STCC Volvo S60 T5 2.3 turbo, entered in the Dutch Supercar Challenge, tuned by RICA Engineering to 310 hp and 430 Nm.

2006 champion Dutch Supercar Challenge Supersport II BMW 1 Series, tuned by RICA Engineering. Engine Specifications: BMW E46 3.2 M3 engine, MOTEC engine management system, 391 Bhp @ 7715rpm, 387Nm @ 4980 rpm.

2006 and 2009 champion Dutch Supercar Supersport II M3 E46 V8 GTR, tuned by RICA Engineering. Motec M800 engine management system, 483 hp, 598 Nm

LEFT: BMW M3 E46 V8 GTR, engine V8 5.0L, Motec M800 engine management system, 512 hp @ 7800 rpm, 538 nm @ 5700 rpm, tuned by RICA Engineering. RIGHT: Touringcar Diesel Cup. All the BMW 120 diesels in this cup were tuned by RICA Engineering, as well as the Volvo C30.