Out of the goodness of the competitors' hearts (and our own), Pagan is allowed 30 minutes of testing and tuning on the dyno, prior to running. Half an hour quickly becomes two and we're running out of time to have all three cars tested. With the natives becoming restless, Pagan's car has to run, ready or not.
Unsurprisingly, the yellow Evo goes bang during its first hard dyno pull, drenching the dyno in coolant. The culprit was the last thing anyone would have thought to check: an unfastened fuel rail. In Pagan's sleep-deprived haste, he'd forgotten to tighten the rail down and the injectors have popped out. As a result, the mixture goes lean and the head gasket goes bye-bye.
To Eddie, a salute is due. His is the only Evo in attendance with a unique solution to eclipsing the grand and his commitment to the challenge can't go unnoticed. This guy needs an energy drink sponsor. Anyone?
Anthony Panaligan's `World's Highest HP Evolution VIII' comes next, casually idling onto the rollers and cracking off a run so hard that all four wheels spin in place. More crucially, the rear is squatting so violently under the power that the tires become gouged in the fender-wells. The solution comes in the form of two-by-four wood boards, stacked between the dyno floor and the chassis, ahead of the rear wheels. In hindsight, this probably wasn't the safest decision, but it was getting late and we needed numbers.
The cobbled-together solution ends up being what was needed for a clean run. Time after time, the black-and-silver Veilside whale rips the rollers to more than 800hp, with a record of 936 wheel-hp. AMS's Martin Musial, with a typically casual air, notes that Anthony's car could have boosted 52psi, but because he's already beaten the 1000hp mark, elects to keep the boost at a "more reasonable" 45psi. Pulling back into the parking lot, we notice some wetness around a freeze plug on the outside of the block, indicating that we might have been seconds from disaster. But hey, it's off the dyno now.
Later in the day, John Malinowsky's beautiful gold widebody car pulls into the lot with a puttering exhaust manifold. A close inspection reveals that the welds have failed, likely a result of his 24-hour drive--heat and bumps stressing the tubular masterpiece over time. In a fine display of camaraderie, everyone dives in to help.
The Fynetune guys call in a mobile TIG welder, while Juckett and Musial begin blasting the bumper cover off the broken widebody. Pagan is heartbroken from his head gasket failure, but quickly finds redemption in being a good sport. With about five people wrenching on the one car they know better than the back of their own hands, the gold Evo doesn't escape the dyno. Within minutes, the manifold is off and Musial promptly gets welding. In an hour, the gold Evolution is ready for action and spins the rollers to the tune of 928 wheel-hp.
Chicago
Two more Evolutions claim to eclipse the grand, and we caught up with them at AMS in Chicago. Setting foot outside O'Hare International in the dead of winter is like being hosed down and then thrown into a meat freezer full of industrial-strength fans. It's 16 below zero and I'm utterly shocked to learn they make heaters that cope with this.
Before I can irritate myself enough to be in my usual complaining state, I hear the A-Team soundtrack blaring through the passenger pick-up lane. I was told to look for an A-Team van, but I must say, I didn't expect the actual A-Team van to be picking me up. Turns out AMS vice president Arne Toman has a peculiar diesel van fetish--his personal ride goes down the quarter-mile in 13 seconds and is strapped with a queen-sized bed and a turbocharger larger than a human head. Back to the A-Team van, though: embarrassment promptly overshadows the cold. After 30 minutes spent as Murdoch, I'm inside the dyno room at AMS.
AMS is unlike any shop I've seen, in that it actually has dozens of employees and they actually all seem to be doing something. Maybe it's a well-orchestrated illusion while the magazine guys are in town, but the busy shop seems to tick like a Swiss watch. This won't exactly be the first time their silver drag car has bumped over the dyno rollers, either. With an utterly massive GT42R turbo peering through a cut-out in the front bumper and jagged teeth painted on the fenders like a World War II war bird, nobody questions the veteran's intentions.
Knowing the goal is `just' to crack 1000bhp, Musial decides the car doesn't even need a tune. With that, the garage echoes with a sudden explosion of noise. I'm wearing push-in ear plugs and I have over-the-head shooting earmuffs on, too. But I can still feel my brain rattling inside my skull when the drag car erupts and the rollers start spinning at ludicrous speed. On the first run, the car hits 962 wheel-hp. Done.
With the mechanical precision you'd expect from an OE manufacturer, Musial's guys back the dragster off the rollers and line Dan Bajalis' white-and-black Shamu-esque Evolution up for testing. Although it's typically used as a street car, it's not out of the ordinary to see Dan's Evo the way we're seeing it now: shod with Mickey Thompson ET Drag slicks on 15-inch Buddy Club wheels and a Diest parachute towering off the rear bumper. Yeah. Street car.
Like the AMS drag car, Bajalis' killer whale needs no tuning to spin the rollers to 945 wheel-hp and 625lb-ft. of torque. The total lack of drama, explosions, or accidents is almost disappointing. Almost.
What's shocking is that four of the five cars actually pull off this seemingly impossible feat. Even one with a cracked exhaust manifold and another with a freeze plug just itching to pop out of the engine block with the force of a shotgun blast.
We owe a huge thank you to the staff at Falcon Trust Air in Miami (www.falcontrustair.com). Without their competence and helpfulness, much of the photography would not have been possible. As Ferris Bueller said: "If you have the means..."