THE MPW Performance Dyno Cell has almost been blown apart as Adam Rogash and his team try to settle whether turbochargers or superchargers are the kings of horsepower. The forced induction firefight sees Maurice Fabietti’s AC Delco CV8 Monaro Pro Doorslammer taking on Dale Heiler’s Castle Hill Performance VT Commodore.

Running on a separate, 3000hp-rated Mainline hub dyno there are two runs a-piece during a break in the Haltech Horsepower Heroes competition. Both cars punch 540ci pushrod V8 motors, with Dale’s VT using a pair of Garrett GTX55 turbos compared to the ‘Slammer’s big PSI screw supercharger.

“It’ll make what it’ll make but I’d be happy with anything over 2600hp,” says Dale. “It’s running the same boost that we race it at, which would be around 38psi at this altitude.”

Mark Hinchelwood, the driver of the AC Delco Monaro, has a little more compressed air entering his Noonan-headed Hemi, “We’re running around 50psi, which is what we’d race the car at,” says Mark. “The Monaro has done a 5.84@252mph with me behind the wheel, although the car has gone 5.76@252mph.”

Happy to run first, the Castle Hill Performance Commodore managed to put down a brutal 2604hp run at the hubs on Friday, besting the Doorslammer’s 2563hp to take the first round.

“That was great and the car made the horsepower I hoped it would,” says Dale after the finish of the Friday battle.

The next battle to settle whether blowers or turbochargers rule will happen on Saturday in the MPW Performance Dyno Cell at 1pm.