MRM
Team Owner
We hear some of the announcers on TV going about "these cars have 850 horse power" and blah, blah, blah. Some numbers from last week's chassis dyno and engine dyno tests were released. Those cars are cranking out some serious ponies.
Last weekend's NASCAR chassis-dyno tests -- the first of the season -- and this week's NASCAR engine-dyno tests of those same motors have been somewhat inconclusive, although Roush continues to say that Toyota has a significant technical edge in engine design.
#2-Kurt Busch's Penske-Dodge showed the most horsepower at the rear wheels in Sunday's Cup testing at Michigan, by a fairly good margin, particularly against Jimmie Johnson's Hendrick-Chevy -- maybe 20 to 21 horsepower. But then Jeff Burton's Childress-Chevy apparently won the pure engine tests two days later at NASCAR's Concord shop. The Michigan engine testing was the first major chassis-dyno test of the season. #2-Kurt Busch's car weighed in with 839 horsepower at the rear wheels, best of Sunday.
Now the rule of thumb is that numbers from a chassis-dyno run are about seven percent lower than actual engine horsepower (because the chassis dyno measures output after the horsepower runs through the entire drivetrain). That would mean Busch's true engine horsepower would be nearly 900 horsepower.
Other key Sunday chassis dyno results (unofficial since NASCAR doesn't publicly release the figures, despite a push by several top crew chiefs for NASCAR to release the numbers):
#31-Jeff Burton (11th at Michigan), 830 horsepower.
#8-Mark Martin (sixth), 827 horsepower.
#18-Kyle Busch (race runner-up) 825 horsepower.
#99-Carl Edwards (race winner) 819 horsepower.
#48-Jimmie Johnson (17th), 819 horsepower.
#83-Brian Vickers (seventh), 818 horsepower.
That's a range of 21 horsepower.(Winston Salem Journal), these are the only hp numbers posted, have not heard of any other reported.(8-23-2008)
Last weekend's NASCAR chassis-dyno tests -- the first of the season -- and this week's NASCAR engine-dyno tests of those same motors have been somewhat inconclusive, although Roush continues to say that Toyota has a significant technical edge in engine design.
#2-Kurt Busch's Penske-Dodge showed the most horsepower at the rear wheels in Sunday's Cup testing at Michigan, by a fairly good margin, particularly against Jimmie Johnson's Hendrick-Chevy -- maybe 20 to 21 horsepower. But then Jeff Burton's Childress-Chevy apparently won the pure engine tests two days later at NASCAR's Concord shop. The Michigan engine testing was the first major chassis-dyno test of the season. #2-Kurt Busch's car weighed in with 839 horsepower at the rear wheels, best of Sunday.
Now the rule of thumb is that numbers from a chassis-dyno run are about seven percent lower than actual engine horsepower (because the chassis dyno measures output after the horsepower runs through the entire drivetrain). That would mean Busch's true engine horsepower would be nearly 900 horsepower.
Other key Sunday chassis dyno results (unofficial since NASCAR doesn't publicly release the figures, despite a push by several top crew chiefs for NASCAR to release the numbers):
#31-Jeff Burton (11th at Michigan), 830 horsepower.
#8-Mark Martin (sixth), 827 horsepower.
#18-Kyle Busch (race runner-up) 825 horsepower.
#99-Carl Edwards (race winner) 819 horsepower.
#48-Jimmie Johnson (17th), 819 horsepower.
#83-Brian Vickers (seventh), 818 horsepower.
That's a range of 21 horsepower.(Winston Salem Journal), these are the only hp numbers posted, have not heard of any other reported.(8-23-2008)
