Dyno Day Nov 8

[Joseph Donnelly]

The Las Vegas TDR Chapter will hold a Dyno Day on Saturday, November 8, 2003 at Silver State Motorsports. In between May Madness Dyno Days, we have traditionally held an intermediate Dyno Day in the November—March time frame. This Dyno Day will be a testing and tuning type event, to show what progress is being made for the Tenth May Madness. Several high horsepower trucks have reportedly made significant progress since May 2003 and this will the time to show it! We have heard about a few 24 valve Rams knocking on the 700 hp door (right, Nathan, Nowel, and Opie??). The monster crew cab Ford with the 12-valve Cummins is struggling to get 800 hp (will Maddog make it? Will HVAC pour on the nitrous and get there?). Last May, around 40 trucks and 50 different configurations ran on the dynamometer. Horsepower numbers were the highest ever, by a long way. A dozen trucks showed more than 500 horsepower, and two were in the 700s.

Saturday, November 8 is a good date because the SEMA show is in Las Vegas November 4-7 and the Veterans' Day holiday is the following Tuesday, November 11. Many folks can get a long weekend by takinng off from work on Monday. The Las Vegas Motor Speedway (lvms.com) is holding a Midnight Mayhem drag "grudge" race Friday November 7.

For this event, we expect a substantial number of Fords and some Chevys to compete with the Dodges.

I can think of five reasons—undoubtedly there are more—for participating in the Dyno Day. First, one may want a baseline horsepower for a stock Turbo Diesel. Second, one may want to compare the improvement from a set of standard changes—like injectors, or a power box—to the truck’s previous number or to others’ results from the same kind of modifications. Third is the desire to “beat” others with similar configurations. Fourth is the desire for all-out competition. Fifth is the desire just to participate with others. This particular Dyno Day gives all the chance to run together on the same dyno at the same time, with a small correction factor that does not bring about the nay-sayers' criticism of “inflated” numbers.

Silver State is located at the LV Speedway, I-15 Exit 54, Building Q-Suite 103 (Vendors are welcome). Turn right at the bottom of Exit 54 off-ramp, right again after the Petro truck stop and before the Shelby building, and left through the gate to Bldg. Q. You can also get to Q by turning right after the Shelby building and taking the internal access road.

If you need a place to stay, check with Arizona Charlie’s—East on Boulder Highway, the site of May Madness. They have about 300 rooms and 200 RV spaces. Call 702-951-5900 or 800-362-4040 for the hotel; call 702-951-5911 or 800-970-7280 for the RV park. They will give the same rates as for May Madness, about $50 hotel and $18 RV park.