Modified Trackhawk Terrorizes English Countryside
Tuned by British ECU remapper TDI Tuning, Trackhawk lets out a mighty roar from its 770-horsepower supercharged V8.
If there’s one Jeep that you wouldn’t want to take out on the rocky trails, it’s the Grand Cherokee Trackhawk. This monster SUV is more about destroying the pavement on track days and blisteringly-quick quarter-mile times than proving its off-roading prowess in Moab, thanks to its 6.2-liter supercharged Hemi V8. The 707 horses and 645 lb-ft of torque smoke the corners to 60 mph in 3.5 seconds, and the quarter-mile in 11.6 seconds.
While that’s plenty of high-performance for Jeep fans, there are a few who want to squeeze more from it. That’s where companies like British ECU remapper TDI Tuning come in, using their magic to pump up the volume. YouTuber Ricky Senior (a.k.a., LivingLifeFast) recently visited TDI to check out a Trackhawk with 770 horses under the hood.
“Well, as you know, everyone needs more power, everybody needs more torque,” said TDI Technical Director Steve Legon. “We put the CRTD4 system onto this, custom-programmed it for this vehicle. Custom firmware, custom hardware, unique harness… reprogrammed entirely to suit this car.”
Out in the English countryside, the tuned Trackhawk roars with the force of a demon. The sound it makes, though, can be easily switched off via Bluetooth to keep things quiet while moving through town, so as not to scare the neighbors.
Legon adds that his company was happy to get its hands on a Trackhawk because of its status as the world’s most powerful SUV. For TDI, it was a matter of making the monster Jeep more of a monster in all of the right ways.
“We love a challenge,” said Legon, “and when we had the opportunity to get our hands on this, it was exciting because it was something new.”
TDI had worked its ECU magic on European rides before, like the BMW M4 in this video. Yet, the Trackhawk fits right in with all of those vehicles, feeling very solid around the corners thanks to the Quadra-Trac four-wheel drive system. Legon adds that the Jeep can handle whatever his company throws at it, which, for them, “is a sign of a good setup.”
“The car is very, very stiff,” said Senior. “It does has adaptive suspension. You can’t feel how rigid it is. It’s definitely restricted by its aerodynamics… but I don’t think that, aerodynamically, it’s held back. It stays on its line. It doesn’t feel boaty or bouncy. It does feel like a sports car, almost.”
With Senior behind the wheel, though, the cameraman in the rear seat bounced around while trying to film the ride, laughing all the way over the madness of the Trackhawk’s raw power.
All in all, it’s wonderful to see a company like TDI Tuning make the most of the Trackhawk. All it needs is more road to thunder upon.
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