Mitch McKee: Why Tuning is Changing and McLarens Hurt Themselves

By Zack Klapman, Matt Farah

The Smoking Tire

12/01/23·1h 43m

When it comes to engine tuning, Mitch McKee knows it. He spent years working for Vivid racing and COBB before opening his own company, M Engineering. They write software (and some hardware) upgrades for high-dollar exotics like McLaren, Porsche, and Lamborghini. As you'll learn from the show, they don't do simple reflash or throttle maps, either. They're so good, in fact, that OEMs hire them to prevent cheating in racing team ECUs.

We talk about Mitch's unorthodox start; why his approach is different; the challenge that is tuning a modern ECU; OEM security; why McLarens explode; why he doesn't tune Ferraris; Pikes Peak; and more.

From his page: Mitch is an engine and transmission calibrator with over 15 years of hands on experience. Mitch has contributed calibrations to multiple high caliber, championship winning teams over a wide variety of racing disciplines, including road racing, drag racing, hill climbs, rally racing, and drifting. As a reverse engineer, Mitch was the lead on a project that was responsible for bringing Porsche aftermarket engine and transmission tuning to the mass market. Mitch has also consulted with multiple OEM part manufacturers for various products.

https://www.m-engineering.us/pages/about-us

https://www.dynospectrum.com/

Recorded January 4, 2023

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