999 Automotive recently celebrated their 10th birthday and to celebrate, they contacted us at Downshift to see if we’d help run an event for them. The event? Our first ever Dyno Day! At first we were nervous that we wouldn’t be able to draw a crowd. We’d never held a dyno day before as an organisation. The DS team has been around the car scene for years though, and by pulling together were able to round up some of the toughest cars Queensland has to offer.
Lets rewind slightly though: we were on site by 8am to set up for kick off at 9am, when we started throwing cars on the rollers. Over all we had 48 cars touch the dyno. A lesson learnt for next time, realised when we wrapped up at 8:30pm.
This 999 tuned EP3 civic pulled 188hp.
A Mazda 6 MPS jumped on and ran an impressive 246.9hp.
This Jetta wanted to play however once on the dyno realised it was too smart for its own good. The AWD system on the rollers sent the sensors and traction control in the car crazy, and without any way of switching it off, didn’t get to run. A turbo Porsche 997 later on had the same issues.
There were a few noteable cars on display that didn’t actually compete on the day.
Jared’s Mazda 6.
This Evo 7 was mint!
Alex brought his Civic out: on point as always.
Varun from 101 Motorsport brought out Chuttar, his 10 second R33 GT-R.
Carbon bits on cars everywhere.
Some of the big hitters waiting patiently for the afternoon/evening for their turns.
FAT R8 had some height issues getting on the dyno, quickly rectified by the 999 staff jacking up the front and driving the car back on the jack.
Once on the bonnet was popped…
…the bay revealed the 454 LSX with Harrop intake and individual throttle bodies & trumpets.
FAT R8 took out the NA class with an impressive 518.9hp.
There were two R35 GTRs in attendance.
Mark from StreetFX drove down his WTF GT-R. It pumped out a figure to the tune of 589.3HP at all fours. Also a big thanks to Mark for bringing down some merchandise to give away. Some plush turbo and nitrous pillows and some StreetFX shirts and jumpers. Thanks mate!
NEXT UP also fronted with an R35, SLOW AZ. Everyone was watching, the people at the back lucky enough to have this bloke hold up an ipad to see what was happening.
Just edging out Mark with 595.2hp.
Lining up any of the GT-Rs at the Ramp Up! Dyno Day would have resulted in views similar to this:
NEXT UP also threw on this crazy Evo, making the top end of the 4 cylinder category very close.
One of the more… interesting setups on the day was this golf buggy. Another 101 Motorsports creation. As it drove in you could see the confusion on people’s faces.
Running an engine setup from a ZX7R motorbike, it pulled 87.3hp, or 40hp more than the lowest HP on the day, a KE30.
Whilst we’re on the 101 train, they put on this mint FD Rx7 which won the rotary category with 584.5hp.
In the afternoon we heard rumours that police had set up on the main road for the general motorists. ‘RBTs and all that’. So to protect our patrons, we advised them on exit.
It was great having so many big workshops attend! EFI turned up with their VR Commodore running a JZ setup, and impressively punching out 688.9hp. They’re hoping it will net them a 9 second pass at Jamboree. Good luck guys, mental setup!
Now the afternoon we’d all been waiting for had arrived. Jordan got all these cars on video, so there is a feature to come!
We’d had pretty solid crowds all day, but when the big hitters lined up, so did the masses. First in the lineup, repping the 4cylinders was Kane in his 2.2L stroked SR20. As mentioned before the top 3 spots in the 4 cylinder segment were close, but Kane edged them out with fantastic 474.8hp.
Skipping the sixes for a moment and jumping straight to the 8 cylinders. This insane, 9 second, street driven, XW GT had been parked in the lot all day. I was VERY excited to finally see it step up…
… and step up it did.
Leaping way ahead of the other forced 8 cylinders with a MASSIVE 1004.6hp.
The cars the crowd had been pumped for though was the battle of the GT-Rs.
First up was Adam’s GODZLR. You may have heard of Adam’s other car, his R32 GT-R – FAT GTR which has made upwards of 1100hp. With that currently undergoing maintenance, we were excited to see what his recently tuned R34 would pull.
What it pulled was, a gigantic crowd.
Oh, and 851.3HP on 31psi.
Adam, the owner, along with other Club High Rollers members Jared (who owns a 600hp Supra) and Kane, owner of 90WER S14, smile as the power figure displays on the monitor.
NEXT UP were…. Next Up with their R32 GT-R – HANDFUL.
That it was, with a resounding 909.8hp.
Which brings us to nearing the end of the night… the car everyone had been waiting for, the anticipation in the air.
NITTO.
There were rumours in the air of a 4 digit power figure from the previous days tuning. Would we see it repeated? The engine setup certainly looked as if it had the capability with a 3L bottom end stroked to 3.2L with a Nitto Performance Engineering stroker ki and customised RB26 head with an 82mm Precision turbo bolted to the side.
All strapped down, it was time to see what it had.
ONE THOUSAND AND SEVENTY TWO POINT EIGHT HORSEPOWER!
This picture gets me every time. It epitomises what it’s all about. All the hard work, the road to results. The relief and celebration on everyone’s faces as it all comes to fruition. Also Rory, who looks like he’s thanking the gods that this night finished like this. The guys at Mercury Motorsport have since shown that it’s not just a dyno queen either, running a 9.6 at a blistering 160mph at Willowbank Raceway.
Here are the full results of the night.
Big congratulations to all winners and a huge thanks to everyone that came along and supported the day. Happy Birthday and thank you for all the hard work from the 999 Automotive boys, and we’ll see you at the next one!
Photos: Chris Howard | Words: Daniel Sharp