The decision to increase the power of my smart wasn’t one I thought I would ever make, I had never been disappointed by the performance of the smart, liked the practicality and most importantly, liked the MPG. As the modifications started building up on my car, I started thinking about performance more and more so tentatively started planning the mods.

By this time I had already had a low power remap, an ITG filter and a Blindschleiche exhaust but really didn’t feel as if the remap had done much apart from remove the speed limiter. The larger alloy wheels had knocked a bit of power off the engine so it was time to get serious.
The dyno readout at this point was 66bhp at the flywheel and 64 ft-lb of torque, not much up on the 61bhp standard power ouput
At this time the 0-60 time was averaging about 16 seconds and the fuel tank was averaging about 330 miles to the 5 litre point.

I didn’t want to just take the car in one day and have everything thrown on, since starting my website 3 years ago I have developed a thirst for knowledge and really wanted to see what effects each of the performance mods had on my smart. Not just 0-60, BHP and torque but fuel consumption and drivability too

With the old remap still in place I booked my car in with Rob at Smartarse Watford.

The first wave of mods started with a standard 80bhp Roadster turbo, the Blindschleiche exhaust had to go because the manifold just wasn’t big enough for the new turbo. Lucky for me, the Smartarse boys managed to source me a reconditioned Janspeed Stealth exhaust which would fit the new turbo. I have always preferred a nice looking visible tail pipe but the price, construction and sound of the exhaust made it a must have item.

The work was done and the car put on the rolling road to test the new power output.

77bhp and 69ft-lb of torque was achieved. I was then offered to be a guinea pig for a new induction kit for the grand price of nothing so I took them up on their offer. The GSR/Red Dot/Smartarse silicone TIK pipe was added with a generic carbon covered filter drawing air in from the engine bay. Again it was put on the dyno for testing. 80bhp and 70ft-lb of torque was pushed out by the smarts tiny engine and this was before the old remap got used to the new setup.

A few months later I had recorded average 0-60 times of 13 seconds even though the clutch was in severe need of adjustment. The most surprising part was the average tank of fuel now lasted 350 miles. I can only guess that the remap wasn’t taking into account the full potential of the new parts so the whole engine had just become more efficient.

The trials for the induction kit finished and the silicone TIK was removed and replaced with a 74kw pipe from a Brabus 101, this has become a very popular mod since smart reduced the price to a wallet friendly £50. With the change of TIK came a change of filter, off came the generic filter and on went the Janspeed venom filter. I have been much happier with the new venom as it has a foam filter element which will filter far better and longer than a cotton gauze style filter. BHP, torque and fuel economy were as before, the only difference I noticed was the induction noise was quieter and the turbo flutter had vanished.

I spent a couple of months considering my options, after mulling over charge coolers, cryogenic injection and gas flowed heads I decided to keep it simple and see how far I could take the power without resorting to expensive, over complicated parts.

Booked back in at Smartarse Watford, Rob fitted a set of stainless steel Janspeed intercooler pipes, at this point I realise my car is a rolling advert for Janspeed, just a shame you can’t see any of these parts just looking at the car normally. I didn’t feel paying for a dyno test was worthwhile for this mod so left it out. The MPG seemed to rise a fraction but nothing to get excited about.

Around the time that Shell’s V-Power petrol was released, I fitted a 4 bar fuel pressure regulator and switched from Optimax to the new 99RON petrol. The 2 seemed to go together well, not only was there a little more mid range power, the average tank of fuel was lasting 365 miles to the 5 litre reserve. One tank even broke the 400 mile mark and I filled up with 2 litres left.

Eventually I found Chequered Flag in Strood, they could manually and electronically adjust the clutch which improved the 0-60 times to an average of 12 seconds, although the clutch still seemed a little sluggish which I now put down to contamination of the clutch actuator.

There was very little left to do, I had bought a Roadster cam shaft many months before but lack of funds stopped it from being fitted. The final item on the tuning agenda was an up to date Red Dot custom remap. I pondered over the £350 charge for the remap and almost didn’t bother but I’m glad I did.

On the 20th of January, my smart pulled into the Smartarse Watford garage once again.
Handing over the cam shaft, Rob began the gruelling strip down of the top of the engine. The man is a legend, how he manages to get any work is totally beyond me. The phone rings every 5 minutes without fail, people come into the workshop and require assistance not to mention the number of distressed smart owners who pull into the yard with something broken that needs fixing straight away. What ever he is paid isn’t enough if you also consider there are 4 people working at the Romsey branch and 2 at Watford.

With the cam finally fitted, the engine timed, all the bits replaced and torqued and all the wiring and hoses refitted, the engine sprang into life. It sounded like a smart but one that was a little annoyed, it was a nice sound, a smart with a bit more guts. I was interested in the new power output so it was placed back on the dyno. I was astonished.

6bhp and 82ft-lb of torque, a 16bhp increase and 12ft-lb of torque more than before.

Then the option was there, I could imagine Noel Edmonds standing next to me saying “custom remap – deal or no deal”. I took the deal and Oggy from Red Dot Racing started setting up the remapping machine. He asked me what petrol I used and what mods I had fitted, after reeling them all off he nodded and started searching the laptop for an appropriate remap. The remap was loaded and the car was tested again, the remap tweaked and tested another 2 times.

As the graph appeared on his laptop he nodded in satisfaction. Rob walked in to look at the graph and winced and mouthed a silent Ooooooh! when he saw the figures. The graph was printed and handed to me, I just could not believe my eyes.

I imagined 105bhp was pretty much my maximum target so the sight of 117bhp and 107.ft-lb of torque just didn’t quite register. More power than the Roadster Brabus 101, and all this from a lowly mk7 pure.

After happily paying I was eager to get onto a main road to have a go, it was like I was being pushed down the road by a much faster car and I was thankful that I had upgraded the brake discs, pads and lines. I was also happy to notice that the extra power didn’t ruin the smart during low speed driving and gentle pulling away. The 10 second 0-60 times were short lived however as the standard Fortwo clutch just shook its head and went on holiday. Luckily the remap is so smooth I can still drive normally with no problems.

As the remap settled in I noticed it became faster and smoother plus I was amazed to find that under normal driving the MPG didn’t change at all. If however you do extended spirited driving you can empty the tank in 220 miles.

So, to the drawbacks. Well, the cost of the remap. Most high level remaps are about £250 and don’t require too many extra mods to make use of the power. If you go for the custom map you will have to have a few choice mods. Wide front wheels and tyres being a no brainer.
The second problem is the power. The standard Fortwo clutch can’t handle it so to take full advantage of the power you are going to have to consider the Roadster clutch. Another expense.

Having a quick car is good but having one that can stop effectively is better.
In my case I fitted Red Dot discs, pads and braided hoses which were suitably cheap.

Conclusion

You can do all manner of things to your smart but it is the remap that ties it all together, gets it all working in harmony and extracts that last bit of power from the components you have added. Scrimp on the remap and you will never realise your car’s full potential, get it right and you’ll be smiling so much your face will hurt.