S&S Cycle Dyno Master Kerry Bryant gives a big thumbs at trophy presentation next to (right) Andrew Demotte, son Kerry Bryant, American Tubro's Harry Gunusen and John Cabral, Jamie from Patrick Racing,Tod Silicato, plus Tom and John Olson from S&S and the Calendar Kittens with Kari Kimmel.
Safety areas are controlled, along with fire extinguishers at the ready, and action plan in place. These are serious machines, making numbers that are far beyond normal. Further analyzing the data logger from their machine, and the graph mapped from the run on our computer, the termination took place at 8500 rpm and power was still climbing. Since their max power is set at a rev-limiter of 9500 rpm, it is easy to assume that the run would easily exceeded the record of 545 hp. Possibly in the 560 hp range. They also did not have the boost setting maxed out. Another indication of the potential power this engine had to exceed the record.
It took about 30 minutes to clear and clean the metal debris, coolant and oil, on and around the dyno area. Some of the exploded material made it's way to one of the Dyno drum speed sensor circuit boards, causing a malfunction. With the help of Eric & Bob Bennett (Bennett's Performance Products) and Dyno operator (Kerry Bryant's son Kenny), they were able to diagnose and trace the problem. When Kenny removed the circuit board, a hair-line crack was noted on the backside of one of the diodes. Very, very difficult to see. Eric Bennett graciously offered to loan us their circuit board sensor from their dyno located at their Long Beach facility. Kenny and Eric rushed over to the Bennett's Performance facility. The dyno was down approximately about 1 hour. It actually ended up being a good time to entertain the crowd with interviews from the engine staff of S&S Cycle, along with a question/answer trivia contest where we gave out free apparel to the crowd. They may have enjoyed this just as much as the Dyno runs. Kerry and his guest competitors actually do this through-out the weekend. This included Harry from American Turbo Power who donated a dozen T-shirts for the contestants, as did product engineers Tom and John from S&S Cycle.
Although there are many back-up systems in place (computers, printers,cables, fans, etc.), It was simply amazing that metal from the exploded engine could make it's way to the drum sensor. We never would have thought that was possible. But as we found out when we returned to our facility on Monday and completely disassembled the Dyno for detailing, there was still a lot of metal, coolant and oil through-out the unit. It took the better part of a day to completely detail it. Suffice to say, we will now be bringing along a spare sensor at future events. Even with the down time, Kerry Bryant was able to ran every single entry, and even stayed to run a few more only minutes prior to the Awards Presentation at 5pm Sunday afternoon. Kerry actually, lost his lead in the Sportster/Buell category to a last minute entry from Bennett's Performance! Maybe he should have closed the S&S dyno a few minutes earlier? Join them again next year at the S&S Cycle World Record LA Calendar Show Dyno Shootut July 18-19th 2009.
2008 S&S presents the World Record
LA Calendar Motorcycle Show Dyno Horsepower Shootout
Class Winners:
600cc Sportbike: Kelly Bryant - '07 Yamaha R6 - 113.3 hp
750cc Sportbike: Art Haserjian - '05 Suzuki GSXR750 - 121.87 hp
1000cc Sportbike: Kerry Bryant - '04 Kawasaki ZX10 - 161.4 hp
Open Sportbike: Thad Wiltz - '04 Kawasaki Hayabusa - 227.52 hp
Sportbike/Turbo: John Noonan - '03 Hayabusa - 490.63 hp
Sportster/Buell: Bennett's Performance '00 Special Const. S&S - 125.29 hp
V-Twin - 74 - 80": Mark Mignella - '04 Harley-Davidson V-Rod - 101.27 hp
V-Twin - 81 - 88": John Cabral - '08 Harley-Davidson V-Rod - 153.82 hp
V-Twin - 89 - 95": Andrew Demotte - '06 Harley-Davidson FLHX - 103.69 hp
V-Twin - 96 - 113": Patrick Racing - Harley-Davidson Twin Cam - 118.59 hp
V-Twin - 114" Plus: Bennett's Performance '96 Bonneville Bike - 223.00 hp
V-Twin/Turbo: John Cabral - '99 Harley-Davidson FLH Bagger - 233.78 hp