WOOLICH RACING

Woolich Racing is one of the better known ECU flashing software companies on the market, which was started by an Aussie’s desire to better the performance of his beloved Suzuki B-King. Numerous years later and founder Justin Woolich’s products are now responsible for bettering tens of thousands of bikes’ mapping annually. We got all quizzical with the genius…

Which bikes benefit most from a remap?

All bikes. But when you say a remap – I’d specify that a custom tune is where you will see the benefit. Every bike is an individual and should be tuned appropriate to what it needs to run best. Send-in flashes and ‘canned’ maps will not give anywhere near the best results.

How do you go about producing the hardware and software to map a totally new bike?

We purchase a bike or borrow the bike from a customer, strip it down to identify the important electronic components, trace wiring harnesses and work out how to communicate with the ECU. It’s a manual process and there’s no telling how long it’ll take for us to achieve what we need to do. The most difficult part of the process is reading the low level assembly code; the human brain can only store so many bits of information at a time and this is often exceeded when trying to understand assembly code.

Are some bikes/manufacturers easier than others to access?

While there are vastly different methods required to flash ECUs from different manufacturers, over time we have developed our skills and processes to make the process easier. Like most technical projects, there are always complications when working with a new ECU or manufacturer, but over time you build information that allows you to overcome these difficulties. No particular brand is any easier than another; they’re all pretty complex.

Do some firms deliberately make life harder for you to do mapping?

It would seem that way. The new BMW and Aprilia are prime examples. I don’t know if there is an official policy from the manufacturers (of the bikes that we currently support) to make things harder, however, the size and complexity of the code, maps and settings is increasing exponentially with every generation of sports bike. Electronics will continue to play a large part in making modern bikes faster, safer and easier to ride. However, with this complexity comes opportunity. Manufacturers tend to develop many of these features too conservatively for the more experienced riders and racers.

Are any firms open to your ECU mapping techniques, or helpful in any way?

We do not have any official lines of communications with manufacturers, but we do benefit from our associations with race teams around the world. At the end of the day, manufacturers benefit from our customers using our products to get the most out of their bikes. We allow them to win. What wins at the race track sells in the showroom.

Where do you see ECU mapping going in the future?

For the most part modern motorcycles are pretty good right out of the box. However, there are many things that we make available, for a very reasonable cost, that turn a good motorcycles into an exceptional motorcycle that is more tailored to the individual rider. I also see the development of additional features, likeWoolich Racing Race Tools, continuing to build in the future.