We’ve been installing AiM Sports' MXL systems on a number of applications for a while, and are impressed with their performance and value. When we were approached by Rockwall Honda Racing for help with their AMA Formula Extreme program, we knew AiM could help the team get up to speed fast. The bikes were equipped with MOTEC M880 ECUs, and the integration of the two is so easy … it was a no-brainer.

Rockwall had a number of goals: more logging time, easy to use driver display, ability to compare riders and help with chassis setup. AiM Sports' MXL Pista let us accomplish all these. With Apex’s specialty in custom installations we could ensure that the whole package worked smoothly and was well integrated with the bikes.

The simplicity of an MXL Pista installation is one of their strong points. The AiM Sports MXL plug & play systems for motorcycles make most installations of breeze. As this was a high-level pro system, it involved a few custom details. First of all, we wanted to make it a clean installation, integrated with the rest of the bike’s functions and harnesses. We were communicating with the MOTEC ECU via CAN, and we wanted the neutral light to work. We also wanted the dash powered through a single connector and be separately fused, so a custom harness was built. The neutral light was just a simple switch to ground signal. We made it work by adding a “pull up resistor” to make sure the circuit read 5V when the bike was in gear. This made it easy to set up an alarm light as a neutral light. Our good friends Kris & Geoff at Dynamic Racing Solutions fabricated a custom dash bracket and some sensor mounts, Joel from Apex did the wiring and we got the first bike running in about a day.

Apex Speed Technology not only handled the installation, but was also contracted to provide engineering support for the season. Rockwall doesn’t have years of setup information like other teams do, so the need to dial in setups quickly is very important. To get an understanding of how the chassis is working, we installed fork and shock travel sensors. To watch rider performance, we installed a gyro and brake pressures sensors. We were already getting throttle, fuel pressure, oil pressure, RPM, air/fuel and many other parameters over the CAN connection to the ECU, so we had a very powerful tool – and it worked! At the first test, we moved from 20th to 3rd fastest in just 2 days, not bad for a brand new team!

At the season opener in Daytona, the bikes were in the top 10 every practice. The MXL proved invaluable in getting suspension setup quickly and improving the engine mapping. Unfortunately, a crash on one bike and a fuel pump failure on the other kept us from finishing the race. But even then we were able to diagnose the problems quickly thanks to our data.