Have you ever wondered how much power a NASCAR engine makes on the chassis dyno? It’s pretty relative to our street cars too since the official dyno of NASCAR is the Dynojet 248. Reading the May 08 RET, an article posted Dynojet horsepower figures from one car per engine manufacturer after the 150 mile qualifyier at Daytona earlier this year. They are not necessarily the strongest engines from each manufacturer, but just samples from the top qualifiers. This is with 31/32″ restrictor plates that the cars have to run at super speedways like Daytona and Talladega.
Toyota = 461whp peak, 448whp @ 8700rpm
Dodge = 459whp peak, 433whp @ 8700rpm
Ford = 456whp peak, 443whp @ 8700rpm
GM = 452whp peak, 441whp @ 8700rpm
It looks like Toyota with their big money is already on top. DAMN, don’t you hate how Toyota goes into every form of motorsport and eventually dominates with their big money? Its a good thing they are still getting their ass handed to them in F1. HA fuckers!
The article goes on to say that since these measurements were taken immediately after qualifying, that the figures may not be actual race horsepower because the cars may have been running lighter viscosity engine oil, lower oil pressure, more aggressive valvetrain, lighter viscosity trans and rear end lubricants, and hotter spark plugs. Before you say, “Dude, my freakin Civic make more power than that!” keep in mind that these engines are restricted and will cruise at 8500rpm for 150-500 miles. How long will your 500whp turbo Civic last at 8500rpm? Maybe 20 1/4 mile passes for a total of 5 miles? Bitch, please…Without restrictors these very same cars will generate around 700whp normally aspirated. They have to run small restrictor plates on the super speedways or the cars will launch in to flight with that kind of horsepower. Regardless, pretty nice power figures for old tech pushrod engines that cruise at 8500rpm for 500 miles. Sometimes you gotta give it up to the good ol’ boys.