RaceChip: tuning data and vehicle compatibility

The data behind engine tuning

RaceChip is a German manufacturer of performance engine tuning chips that can deliver up to 30% more horsepower and improved fuel efficiency across virtually every car make and model. By early 2016, it had sold more than 500,000 chips worldwide and was expanding into new markets.

Each chip needs parameters for the customer's exact make, model, year, engine variant and ECU type. With more than 4,500 supported vehicle models, multiple product lines and frequent updates, the existing tooling could no longer keep up. A wrong tuning value could damage an engine.

RaceChip needed centralized data management, reversible parameter changes, fast compatibility lookups and infrastructure that could handle campaign traffic.

What we built

We designed and implemented a Java backend using Play, with PostgreSQL storage and Redis caching.

The data model mapped product lines to vehicle configurations. Administrative tools let RaceChip's engineering team update tuning parameters with full audit trails: each change was versioned, attributed and reversible.

For customer-facing vehicle lookups, we used multi-level Redis caching and precomputed compatibility results for common selections. Response times dropped from seconds to milliseconds, including under heavy traffic.

A REST API served the ecommerce site, dealer portals and internal tools. It could evolve independently of those clients. We deployed the system on AWS with auto-scaling for marketing campaigns and seasonal sales.

In operation

The system managed tuning data for the full 4,500+ vehicle catalog, supported international expansion and handled growing campaign traffic without downtime or data-integrity issues.

Our role

We handled architecture, development and deployment, working directly with RaceChip's engineering and product teams on the domain, data model and tools. After the initial build, we continued adding features as the company's needs changed.