Dyno days are all about what your car can do. Anyone can dump money into a car, but making horsepower takes a little more planning and skill in execution. There are plenty of show cars with thousands of dollars in bolt-on parts that, on paper, should be putting out 400 wheel-hp. Then the owner finally gets up the nerve to put the car on the rollers, only to find out all his engine bling is good for a mere 250.
This is why european car jumped at the chance to help out with a recent dyno day held by Eurosport Accessories in Anaheim, California. Walk through Eurosport's shop and there are racecars and street cars built for performance. Customers browsing its website will see performance parts. No airbag suspension systems, no Lambo door kits-just stuff to make cars go fast. The surrounding area always turns into an impromptu car show, but it's more about poking around under hoods than checking out interiors reskinned in hideous fake designer fabrics.
One of the more interesting cars was a 1981 Rabbit Truck with a custom fabricated supercharger-it managed a respectable 260 wheel-hp even with loads of tire spin. A privately owned MkIII Golf VR6 turbo clocked 322 wheel-hp. But top dog was VF Engineering's MkV RSR GTI, putting down a staggering 388 wheel-hp.
Amid displays of power and performance, there was almost a party atmosphere. Several sponsors provided great prizes for an after-lunch raffle. AUTOart, builder of incredible diecast models, supplied a generous stack of 18-scale cars, plus one very special 12-scale Lambo to bestow on the car deemed the nicest built of the event by both ec and Eurosport. And Mothers provided a couple of cases of detail products. The most anticipated raffle, however, was for a brand new set of Nitto Invos.
The AUTOart 12-scale Lamborghini Anniversary Murcilago went to Mike Frechette. His MkII GTI is a home-built masterpiece, running standalone fuel injection and sporting several trick components sourced straight from Europe. We won't give too much away-you might see it in an upcoming issue. Andy Parravicini was the lucky winner of the Nitto Invos. We've run these tires on several of our own cars and have no doubt Parravicini will enjoy them.
Dyno days are for real gearheads who cringe at the thought of car shows, but still want to see some cool cars and hang out with like-minded people. We encourage readers to check out shows in their area. If you belong to club, you can even call a local dyno shop and set one up for a weekend. There are plenty worse ways to spend a Sunday.
Eurosport Accessories
www.eurosportacc.com
AUTOart
www.autoartmodels.com
Nitto Tires
www.nittotire.com