The MPW Dyno Cell was back in full swing at Street Machine Summernats 35, with a Barra versus LS battle for the top spot and plenty of variety in the entrants fronting up for their chance at glory in the Haltech Horsepower Heroes.

Cody Hunt’s 2009 VE Clubsport wagon ended up as the star of the show, throwing down a peak of 1643hp at the hubs during the finals on Sunday to win both the overall Haltech Horsepower Heroes top gong and the Eight Cylinder Forced Induction award.

The VE was built by ASG Motorsports and features a 427-cube Dart LS, a pair of Precision 88mm turbos and full Haltech Nexus engine management and switches to methanol juice in full kill mode. The car has made over 2000rwhp before, but with air quality issues the 1643hp it pumped out during the final was the highest of the weekend.

Cody’s VE pipped local Canberra man Andrew Copley and his 2010 FVP F6, with the turbo Barra combo hitting a peak of 1438hp. It features a fully renovated Atomic Barra with a Precision 83/86 turbo and a Barra Haltech Elite Pro Plug In ECU.

Andrew says the turbo is pretty well maxxed out at this power level, but it was till more than enough to get second overall and first place in the Six Cylinder Forced Induction class.

Finishing second in class was Andrew Hawkins’s R32 GT-R, clocking 1103hp from the CRD-built twin cam RB30.

Winning the Eight Cylinder Aspirated class was Mark Biffin’s 1969 HK Holden Premier, which pumped out an awesome 627hp from the 423ci carby small-block Chevy. It was the Queenslander’s first time at the ‘Nats, and he was super stoked to walk away with the top spot.

The Six Cylinder Aspirated class was taken out by Canberra local Tony Spasenoski and his 1976 Chrysler Centura. The Mopar is running a 245 Hemi six stroked out to 320-cubes, originally built by Chris Mirabito from Mirabito Performance. It’s the first 320-cube Hemi six in the world and still uses the standard block, head, oil pump, a Faraone Engines roller cam and triple Weber 50mm carbies.

The angry Hemi laid out a super impressive 442hp, taking the win ahead of Zane Heath’s stroked 4.2-litre Barra EF Fairmont that peaked at 370rwhp in the finals.

While there was no four cylinder or rotary class this year, that didn’t stop one little four-cylinder Datsun from breaking records and taking home two trophies.

Michael Silk’s Datsun 1200 wagon is a regular in the Queensland drag racing scene, and at Summernats the little 2.0-litre Nissan SR20VE-powered machine had its eyes set on the dyno.

Until this weekend we’d never seen a four cylinder crack four digits on the Summernats dyno, so Michael wanted to be the first. On Friday’s first qualifying run he completely stunned the capacity crowd with a sensational pull topping out at 1056hp!

Not only was power figure truly mamoth for a factory crank and block, but thanks to the Nissan Neo VVL head and a G42 1450 turbo the little Datsun made that power at 10,350rpm on 49psi.

Michael came back in Sunday’s final to back up those results, inching higher with his PBs with 1077hp, 10,500rpm and 50psi. Those final two figures landed Michael the Rev Monster and Boost Demon awards for the highest RPM and boost seen on the dyno over the weekend.

FULL RESULTS – HALTECH HORSEPOWER HEROES SUMMERNATS 35 2022

Overall Winner

Cody Hunt, 2009 HSV VE Clubsport wagon – 1643hp

Eight Cylinder Forced Induction

1st Cody Hunt, 2009 HSV VE Clubsport wagon – 1643hp

2nd Ryan Shloes, HSV VY Senator – 816hp

Six Cylinder Forced Induction

1st Andrew Copley, 2010 FPV F6 FG – 1438hp

2nd Andrew Hawkins, Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R – 1103hp

Eight Cylinder Aspirated

1st Mark Biffin, 1969 HK Premier – 627hp

2nd Richard, Holden Commodore VF SS – 464hp

Six Cylinder Aspirated

1st Tony Spasenoski, 1976 Chrysler Centura – 442hp

2nd Zane Heath, 1995 Ford Fairmont EF – 370hp

Rev Monster

Michael Silk, Datsun 1200 wagon – 10,500rpm

Boost Demon

Michael Silk, Datsun 1200 wagon – 50psi