In August of 2002, VW Trends enlivened the Volkswagen community by organizing a Dyno Day intended solely for our aircooled toys. Such an affair, the first of its kind for Vee Dubs, had never been organized in the U.S. until then. It proved an instant success, and some participants even told us it was the best event they had attended in years. In case you haven't seen the extensive report in our January 2003 issue, you may wonder what this friendly competition is all about. To sum it up, it consists of running a variety of high-performance VWs on a dyno to see how they perform. Simple, isn't it? We should mention that the horsepower readings are measured at the rear wheels. As a result, the numbers obtained end up being 15 to 20 percent lower than the figures taken at the flywheel--the transmission eats up some of those ponies indeed!
Our first Dyno Day featured a bunch of fast street cars from Southern California, the majority equipped with naturally-aspirated engines over two liters. A few turbocharged beasts joined in as well, including Robert Hemphill and his '69 Sedan which recorded the best performance of the day: 281 horsepower. For our second edition, brought to you in part by SCAT Enterprises, we chose to invite some drag racers in addition to a few wicked street-driven Volkswagens. Sounds like a good plan, huh? It wasn't as easy as expected however. We logically contacted several PRA participants in advance and many showed interest; but shortly before the extravaganza, a few renounced. The Sacramento Bug-O-Rama, held six days before Dyno Day II, had taken its toll on some cars! This setback didn't deter us, and in the end we were still able to gather an exciting list of participants, as you may have already concluded from the pictures.
Dyno Don Chamberlin was once...
Dyno Don Chamberlin was once again our official MC. As usual, he did an awesome job!
Finding a proper location also needed to be addressed. We held the first Dyno Day in a shop run in part by our publishing company, and situated next to our office. No doubt, the place is awesome... save for the fact that it cannot host our growing event anymore, due to space limitations! Actually we didn't even promote last year's edition for this reason, on top of time restraints--a wise decision since the 80 people present certainly filled the place to capacity. But the situation was quite different in 2003, as we opted to heavily advertise this new happening. After some brainstorming, Rob Gonzales, our ad coordinator, came up with a great alternative: the dyno from Magnaflow Performance Mufflers. Yep, the company that manufactures mufflers used by many gearheads on their aircooled Volkswagens. Magnaflow is located in Rancho Santa Margarita, a peaceful community in Orange County where Vee-Dubs are still a dime a dozen.
Furthermore, the huge facility offered to us was spotless and well lit, and provided ample room to welcome this get-together. All participants and even a few visitors driving nice VWs could indeed park their vehicles inside the building!
The first contestant to make...
The first contestant to make some serious horsepower was Darren Koenig's turbocharged Oval--330 ponies.
The crew of Super 2NR TV,...
The crew of Super 2NR TV, a show aired on TNN, spent the whole day filming the action.
Plenty of visitors drove their...
Plenty of visitors drove their VW powered toys to the event. We especially liked this Porsche 550 Replica a-la James Dean.
Talk about a gigantic facility!...
Talk about a gigantic facility! It was large enough to welcome all the cars entered in this friendly competition. The silver '64 to the left, owned by 19-year old Taylor Walton, delivered 146 horsepower.
Super Gas competitor Muffler...
Super Gas competitor Muffler Mike Shelden tested his '62 Ragtop on the dyno as well.
Result: 283 horsepower.