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Technical Bulletin: Dyno Testing Procedures-- 4-22-14


Greg G.

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  • National Staff

Technical Bulletin 4-22-14:

 

Dyno Testing Procedures (all vehicles):

 

Section 8 Dynamometer/Power Testing

 

Dyno testing should be done with the vehicle at normal operating temperature, with at least 28 psi tire pressure (but should be at normal operating tire pressure if higher), and in the gear producing the highest horsepower readings. It is the competitor's responsibility to ensure that the vehicle is compliant with horsepower limits in ALL gears.

 

For compliance testing, the dynamometer operator and the Super Touring Director or NASA Official will determine the dynamometer testing procedures (including which gear(s) to use) and how many test runs will be performed for any given car being tested in order to obtain accurate test data.

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We didn't find vehicles that were not gear tuned that showed 3rd gear the highest. M3's, S2000's, Boxsters, and RX-8's all tended to show 5th gear the highest. The Corvette was highest at 1:1 (the guys liked watching the car go up to 175mph on the Dyno, though). LOL. We had a Saturn doing 150+....probably the longest Dyno pull ever run in history.

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The Corvette was highest at 1:1 (the guys liked watching the car go up to 175mph on the Dyno, though). LOL.

 

That's a M12 .84 box. 210 mph with a .74 M6 box (I think a 224 is only rated @ 200 mph)

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Why the mid-season rules changes? Most of us have already done our dyno testing/tuning earlier this year. This just just more time/expense to drag the car back to the dyno yet again.

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Why the mid-season rules changes? Most of us have already done our dyno testing/tuning earlier this year. This just just more time/expense to drag the car back to the dyno yet again.

This was announced here on the forums before the season, with a warning that testing would occur, and then a TB would come out. We wanted to make sure that we had enough time to do our own Dyno testing before coming out with the rule. Those that were tuning their car to put out more power in a gear not known for Dyno compliance testing are the reason for the mid-season changes. We will be using this at the Championships.

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I'd be frustrated if I didn't need to head back to the dyno anyway.

Not sure exactly sure what is going to happen on the dyno, but it seems like there is a decent chance that I'll need a gear dependent tune to stay in compliance with the anti-gear dependent tune rule. There is really no safe harbor for people that have a compliant 1:1 dyno chart and a non-gear dependent tune?

 

How is the GPS-based compliance coming along? This dyno thing is only useful for ensuring compliance when the cars are moving at ~0mph.

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I have four tunes. Does this mean I need to go back and get my tuner to potentially check the four tunes 24 times?

I don't foresee us messing with gears that are not useful on-track, so it may be track dependent as to what is needed to check for compliance. If your tuner tuned each gear separately, with the idea that only 4th gear mattered for compliance (not saying that's what he did), then he better check everything.

 

If a car was not tuned for specific gears, our testing showed that 4th and 5th gears showed the highest HP readings on the Dynojet. Blame your fellow competitors for this, not us. They are the ones that have been playing games and attempting to cheat you. The safe harbor is the amount of room you should already be leaving for Dyno variance and the knowledge of your vehicle. FYI, this ruling has been getting a lot of praise from multiple sources--RD's, Series Directors, and competitors tired of dealing with those pushing the rules past the legal limits.

 

I don't foresee us having a new GPS system for this Championships, but development and testing continues. We still have our previous GPS testing that will be used. More than any of you, I would like to have a better system for compliance testing.

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More than any of you, I would like to have a better system for compliance testing.

 

Every P/W class car runs a mechanical (fixed) restrictor

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Greg,

 

Thanks for the feedback. I am certain my tuner tuned my car for 4th (1:1) only, but since I typically use 2nd through 4th gears at Road Atl, I guess I will need to have dyno runs done in 2nd - 5th gears on at least two do my tunes just to be certain that the other gears do not produce more power.

 

To Ben's point, IF my power levels are LOWER than my hp limit in gears 2, 3, and 5, then that begs the question to my tuner, "Hey, figure out a way to give me more power in these other gears so I can be at the max in all gears." While I understand the ruling, I really do, I reserve the right to shake my head at it due to the creativity of my competitors.

 

Alvin is going to LOVE several of us when I tell him this news. Especially after he spent two days on my car alone to get the tunes I wanted.

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Greg,

 

Thanks for the feedback. I am certain my tuner tuned my car for 4th (1:1) only.....

 

 

 

Actually, I am going to rephrase that. My car is equally tuned for all gears, but we never dyno'ed it in anything but 4th.

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Greg,

 

 

To Ben's point, IF my power levels are LOWER than my hp limit in gears 2, 3, and 5, then that begs the question to my tuner, "Hey, figure out a way to give me more power in these other gears so I can be at the max in all gears." While I understand the ruling, I really do, I reserve the right to shake my head at it due to the creativity of my competitors.

 

Your competitors were already being creative. This rule just lets the rest of you know about it.

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I don't understand why people want to cheat to win plastic trophies... never have.

It was very uncommon back when that's all it was about. Now, it's about up to $2000 in tires in just a weekend, National Championships, etc. That is no excuse, and your quote still stands, "I don't understand why people want to cheat to win essentially an amateur event, even if they can get some free tires."

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Once you're caught, you're always and forever a cheater. Not worth being known as a rule stretcher around the paddock all to save a few bucks.

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Once you're caught, you're always and forever a cheater. Not worth being known as a rule stretcher around the paddock all to save a few bucks.

This.

 

I love being completely transparent about my car and my setup. That way when I'm lucky enough to win a race or set a track record everyone in the know with me and my car are like, "Wow. That's fast." I'll take that over trophies and tires any day of the week.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm happy to see this!

 

I've been very disappointed with some of what has gone on... Tires, track records, trophies... Don't know how some of these guys do it with straight face.

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