Abarth Racing UK

04/05/2026

OMG I must be mad grafting on a Bank Holiday and now passing on to you guys some useful advice.
Three customers have said the same thing, their cars aren’t consistent. Michael took one out on the road with a data logger on it. The water temperature was fine when he left the workshop at 85 degrees, but the temperature dropped and dropped – the guage stayed at ‘normal’ – but the water temperature dropped to the point where the temperature corrections kicked in and would reduce the power. One good pull and the temp was back at 80+, next pull and full power. Drive a bit and the water temperature dropped to 60 degrees, the mixture richened up, the ignition re****ed, boost reduced etc etc. The engine thought that is was warming up. The inconsistency that we had heard about. It would not have shown on a chassis dyno. So we investigated the thermostat.

Read the full blog here: https://abarthracinguk.com/news/the-thermostat-problem

09/04/2026

Uh oh! Another engine saved from dodgy tuning yesterday. This 140bhp car was brought to us to be remapped, however unknowing to the current owner it had already been “tampered” with. Somebody thought it would be a great idea to go into the main ignition angle map and increase the entire thing by 4 degrees. The result? No it wasn’t faster... It was creating more heat and knocking quite badly.

A proper road test with our datalogger (see attached) showed the knock sensor pulling timing backwards and then advancing again straight into knock. Most commonly available loggers do not have the logging frequency required to see what is really happening. How many Abarth tuners are actually logging properly because a dyno won’t show this, or do they get a quick dyno printout and call it a day? Needless to say this was an easy fix for us, and now we have a happy revving engine.

02/04/2026

Do we think they noticed it's not a go-kart?

Earlier this morning we borrowed Whilton Mills karting track for testing and found it to be perfect for developing this sprint/hill climb car!

21/01/2026

Another one through the doors recently – this time a rather special Abarth 695 Tributo Ferrari 🍌

In with us for extensive maintenance and a number of repairs.

Work carried out included:
• Timing belt replacement
• Full service and health check
• New front dampers and droplinks
• New discs and pads all round
•Fresh set of Tyres

To finish things off, we installed our ARUK Performance Chassis & Handling Kit 🇮🇹🇬🇧

To get your Abarth booked in get in touch below:
📧 [email protected]
📞 01386 793138

12/01/2026

Abarth 500 Handling Performance Package –

We’ve just completed the installation of one of our Abarth 500 Handling Performance Packages, giving this car a properly sorted chassis rather than just a cosmetic suspension change.

The standard Abarth setup carries a lot of compliance at the front and poor control at the rear, especially once ride height and wheel size are altered. This package addresses those issues as a complete system, improving steering precision, balance and overall confidence.

What’s included in the package:
• Front lower arms with spherical bearings in both inner pivots for clearer steering feel and more accurate geometry under braking and cornering
• 2° rear negative camber plates to improve rear tyre contact and stability, complete with integrated spigot extenders to correctly locate the stub axle in the rear beam
• Shortened rear springs with adjustable dampers to maintain spring location at full droop and allow the rear axle behaviour to be tuned for road or track use

The result on the road:
• Sharper turn-in
• Reduced understeer
• Improved balance through fast direction changes
• A more predictable, confidence-inspiring rear end

This is the exact handling package fitted to this car and it’s available now via the ARUK store, either supply-only or with professional fitting.

👉 Link to the kit in our bio
https://www.abarthracinguk.co.uk/product-page/abarth-500-complete-chassis-handling-upgrade-pack

Developed from real-world testing and experience – not just theory.

01386 793138
[email protected]

09/01/2026

Another busy day outside the workshop.

Based in Inkberrow, Worcestershire, Abarth Racing UK provides complete servicing, maintenance and performance upgrades, all under one roof.

From routine servicing to preventative maintenance and carefully chosen performance upgrades, every car is fully taken care of by experienced hands who understand both road and performance cars.

Looked after properly, by people who care about the details.

📍 Inkberrow, Worcester

Get in touch below:
[email protected]
01386 793138

09/12/2025

Behind the Scenes: Solving the Bosch M17 ECU Puzzle

Over the past couple of months, we’ve seen a flood of enquiries from Abarth owners who’ve had their cars tuned elsewhere and are now experiencing issues from poor bottom end response to problems with second lambda deletion on decat cars. What quickly became clear is that this isn’t just an Abarth issue it affects petrol and diesel VAG cars, BMWs and even Porsche running the Bosch M17 ECU.

After driving a customer car that “felt acceptable” but clearly wasn’t right, we began a deep dive into the M17 platform. What we discovered was eye-opening: there are over 20 software variants, with nearly 29,000 individual maps in some files. This is a completely different world to the older ME7 ECUs, which many tuners still approach with a “one map fits all” mindset.

The M17’s Tricore processor is vastly more powerful, and the EEPROM capacity has jumped from 2KB to 64KB - meaning far more data, far more control, and far more potential… if it’s properly understood.

After upgrading all our software and firmware and spending a frankly unhealthy amount of time analysing the data, the results speak for themselves. Our development car now:
✅ Outperforms its Euro 5 predecessor at the bottom end
✅ Holds a flat, strong torque curve from 5,000–7,000rpm
✅ Starts and idles perfectly with a standard cat fitted
✅ Meets MOT idle and emissions requirements

We’re still fine-tuning boost control around 4,300rpm to protect the gearbox torque limits – but we’re very close.

The takeaway? Modern ECUs like the M17 cannot be tuned with old-school methods. The detail matters more than ever – and we’re fully invested in doing it properly.

[email protected]
01386 793138

10/11/2025

Customer in this morning all the way from Manchester. For a steering wheel spacer install, that we have supplied aswell .

These really transform the driving position of the cars.

01/10/2025

We’re settling into our new home and excited to welcome customers, old and new!

At Abarth Racing UK, we offer:
-Servicing & maintenance
-Repairs & restoration
-Motorsport preparation
-Tuning & Performance upgrades

Same passion, new base – come and see us!

01386 793138
[email protected]

09/09/2025

Some exciting changes are happening here at Abarth Racing UK.

We’re entering a new era, but the same passion and expertise remain.

Discover what’s next 👇

https://www.sportsvehicleperformance.co.uk/post/svp-to-take-over-operations-of-abarth-racing-uk

[28/08/2025] – Sports Vehicle Performance (SVP) is proud to announce that it will be taking over the running of Abarth Racing UK, marking the start of an exciting new chapter for the brand’s UK motorsport activities.Founded in 2012 by Chief Engineer Andy Dawson of Dawson Auto Developments Ltd, A...