2nd Annual Dyno Day

After the success and interest in last year’s dyno day, it was decided that it should definitely be an annual event. After having had great results from Eric and Wendy at Goodguys Performance Centre in Bayswater, Paul and Adam recognised it as a good venue with friendly and helpful operators. The dyno was booked for a full day on the 31st of July - all the boys had to do was find enough cars!

When the day rolled around it was not your typical Winters day; clear blue skies, sunny but still not that warm. The show was due to start at 8.30 with a front wheel drive Celica up first. Eric and Wendy had the workshop all but empty to make maneuvering cars easy and they had hired Bill, to strap cars down to speed up the process. As the day kicked off Adam jumped in too, helping get cars on and off the dyno smoothly and Paul organised the cars coming in and out, usually having 2 cars ahead of schedule sitting ready to roll. Cars of a huge variety went on to the rollers over the course of the day, Holden’s, Ford’s, Mazda’s, Peugeot’s and Nissan’s. Some of the most notable cars of the day were the V6 turbo 505 Peugeot’s, Dave’s 350 Chev powered Gemini, a blown 5lt Statesman, a Gen III GTS Monaro, a 308 powered RX4, and a super neat Mustang, just to name a couple.

Additional to the activity on the dyno, out the front we had a hand full of member’s cars on display throughout the day and the club BBQ trailer cooking up a storm - thanks to Ado for doing the tong work pretty much all day. With egg and bacon rolls in the morning and sausages and cold drinks through out the day there was no excuse for going hungry or thirsty!

To liven things up and stop anyone from getting bored there were several awards given out as cars went on the rollers, a small auction during the lunch break as well as a power guess later in the day. The auction was a pair of heavy-duty ratchet tie down straps, which went into Gary’s hands after some smooth talking from our auctioneers.

Some excitement was created by Brett’s Torana having this year’s electrical fire while on the dyno. With what appeared to be a flat battery the boot was opened to release plumes of white smoke into the atmosphere. Once the smoke cleared the sight was not pretty and the car was unceremoniously pushed out of the workshop and into the car park. Brett being the bloke that he is set to it, sourced the problem and got the car up and running again for a later showing on the rollers. As there is not much clearance under Brett’s car with the drop tank lowered stance, the straps had pulled slightly on the heat shield on the fuel pump. The metal shield had hit the terminals and shorted it out, melting all its wiring and most of the stereo wiring with it.

Some huge smiles were on the faces of Paul, Dave and Quentin who all had their expectations exceeded on the day. A few had figures that were a bit lower than expected or hoped, but that hopefully will just make them more determined for next year! A big congratulations to Keith, who received the operators choice of the day for his Mazda RX2. Eric said it was a tough choice given the quality and diversity of cars there on the day, and made even tougher by the neat Mustang, which took his heart. But when it all came down to it he said the Mazda was an exceptional and complete package that stood out in his mind. Eric said that as well as being neat with everything having a particular and purposeful place, it had attitude and wound up like a pissed off bumblebee to produce a whole lot of power!!! When it all came down to it we put in a huge day with 36 cars doing power runs on the dyno. It would not have been possible with out the pre and during event organization of Paul, Adam, Eric, Wendy and Bill, not to mention all the people promptly getting their cars ready when asked.

I had a chat to Eric at the end of the event to get some feedback from him:

• When asked which car he had the most fun with on the dyno, he said that Brett’s Torana took the cake. Being near impossible to tie down due to the “Shit and Corruption” under it and it still turning the tyres on the rollers, we put 3 crew in the back seat and another 3 in the boot for it to push out a healthy 212.7kw at the treads.
• When asked which car he had the most fun with on the dyno, he said that Brett’s Torana took the cake. Being near impossible to tie down due to the “Shit and Corruption” under it and it still turning the tyres on the rollers, we put 3 crew in the back seat and another 3 in the boot for it to push out a healthy 212.7kw at the treads.
• His overall favourite car, as mentioned above, was Keith’s RX2 and he commented that it was also a most unlikely choice by him.
• Biggest surprise for Eric on the day was primarily that Bill stayed all day and didn’t clear off when he found out how many cars were coming. As far as on the dyno was concerned he was very surprised by the Peugeot’s and the power that they made. The very standard looking 6 cylinder white XE sedan, which pushed out 106.4kw, took a few by surprise. The other car he mentioned was the Yellow HJ sedan, which looked like a very well restored car mostly unmodified until it put 196.3kw on the tyres!
• Best reaction of the day he said came from Quentin when his Torana rolled out an unexpected 220.2kw. Eric reckons he has never seen a bloke smile that much.

One of our spectators for the day – Steven - managed to guess almost spot on how much power Chris’ Mustang made with a guess of 145kw to the cars out put of 145.3kw. Steven walked away with a Meguire’s gift pack.

A massive thanks goes out to Eric and Wendy at Goodguys Performance centre, Bill, Paul, Adam and Ado for their commitment and input to the day. Thanks heaps to those people who sold food and drinks throughout the day and fulfilled other rolls as required. Thanks to the people who brought their cars down and got involved either on the rollers or just putting their cars on display. I think I can confidently say that pretty much everyone had a great day. You all have a benchmark to exceed next year!

Check out the results of all cars that went onto the dyno in order of appearance, as well as the manufacturer averages & total power for the day.

- Simon

DYNO DAY AVERAGES & TOTAL POWER