BOOST WARDS

TURBOS CHALLENGE BLOWERS IN A FIGHT TO SETTLE WHO IS THE DRAG-STRIP HORSEPOWER KING

AN AWESOME addition to the Summernats 32 line-up was the Turbo versus Blower Challenge, pitting the Fabietti Racing Acdelco Monaro Pro Slammer against the Castle Hill Performance twin-turbo VT Commodore of Dale Heiler. Expectations of an awesome show were high, and neither team disappointed through the three rounds over three days.

Maurice Fabietti’s 521ci blown alcohol Noonan-headed Hemi was surely the loudest car to ever run in the ’Nats Dyno Cell, blowing lights around and shaking the dust out of the rafters. However, while the ’Slammer was spectacular, it went down three times to the turbocharged VT, managing 2563hp on Friday, 2823.9hp on Saturday and 2992hp on Sunday.

While it wouldn’t have been able to catch the Pro Slammer on a drag strip, Dale’s methanolfuelled 540ci big-block Chev gapped the blown car when it came to power. It ran 2604hp on Friday, 2824.6hp on Saturday and 3076hp on Sunday – the most power ever recorded on a dyno at Summernats!

“That last run had 54psi in it, but I thought it might have done a little bit more,” said Dale after his winning run on Sunday. “It had way too much fuel in it as we’ve never had that much boost in it before.”

“This has been the best time,” said Maurice. “We’re like a family here and we’ll go home and lick our wounds, but if we get to come back we’ll come back ready to do battle again!”

A gracious winner, Dale was also quick to point out one difference between the two cars: “The cool thing about the supercharged car is that is how they would run it down the strip, but my car probably wouldn’t be able to handle this power at the track right now.

“It’s been an awesome time and I hope the crowd enjoyed it; this was a unique opportunity to see a car like the Acdelco ’Slammer running on the dyno, just 15m away from them.”

1: Drinking methanol and inflated by a pair of Garrett GTX55 turbos, the Castle Hill Performance VT has run low 4s in the eighth-mile 2: Mark Hinchelwood, the driver of the Acdelco Monaro, had an agreement with Castle Hill Performance’s Dale Heiler (standing) that if Mark lost, he’d bow to Dale. Mark wound up bowing to him three times 3: The Acdelco Slammer has run a PB of 5.72@252mph, but this is now the team’s old car, as they unveiled a new, sleeker, lighter car at Summernats. Boss Maurice Fabietti explained the new car is far more aerodynamically shaped, too