Wild twin-turbo HQ Holden wins Haltech Horsepower Heroes with 3697hp

A record-breaking year to remember in the Haltech Horsepower Heroes has come to a close, with Darren Portelli’s HQ Holden romping home to victory with a best run in the finals today of 3697hp.

It backs up his 3513hp effort during Thursday’s qualifying, which had already obliterated the previous record of 2504hp – set at ’Nats 36 by the Maatouks Racing MAKDDY VL Commodore – by more than 1000hp!

“I didn’t expect it; it made nearly 3700hp!” said Darren. “I’m stoked! I suppose [the weather] cooled down a bit.”

The mega run from the twin 88mm turbo, Dart-blocked Chev fatty handed Darren both the overall prize and first in the Eight-Cylinder Forced Induction class. Fellow Dandy Engines customer Daniel Szabolics did make a record-breaking run yesterday with 3786hp, but unfortunately, a suspected issue with the car forced him to pull out before today’s finals.

Second place overall went to Anthony Meskos’s FPV FG ute, which reset the Barra record at Haltech Horsepower Heroes with a 2330hp pull from the de-stroked 3.8-litre mill. He also earned top honours in the Six-Cylinder Forced Induction class, and the Boost Demon award for clocking 65psi!

MORE Video: Darren Portelli shatters the dyno record one day one of Summernats 38!

Third overall and second in the Eight-Cylinder Forced Induction class was last year’s Haltech Horsepower Hero, Lee and Anna Povey’s JKLHYD VL Calais. The twin-turbo, 427-cube Dart LS combo bettered its 2025 winning run of 2109hp with a 2117hp effort this year.

MORE Video: Horsepower Heroes dyno record shattered!

James Whitfield’s HQ One Tonner came second in Six-Cylinder Forced Induction. Formerly a Drag Challenge class winner in the hands of Stephen Micallef, when it ran a big-block Chev, the big Quey is now powered by a 3.3-litre, Dart-blocked stroker 2JZ! After a 1647hp qualifying run, it came to the finals and spat out 1602hp.

Eight-Cylinder Aspirated was another class where the records were toppled. Michael Saad’s Mk1 Ford Capri thumped out a smidge over 1100hp in qualifying from its BK Engines-built big-block Ford, and in the finals, 1097hp was more than enough to seal the class win and confirm its stature in the Summernats dyno hall of fame.

MORE Video: Daniel Szabolics HQ resets Summernats dyno record AGAIN with 3786hp

The final category of Six-Cylinder Aspirated was knocked out by Steve Pembrey’s 1985 Toyota Corolla KE70, which rocks a 3.5-litre 2GR V6 swap from an Aurion! “I just got it from a $2000 wreck, and the rear-wheel-drive Celica W57 gearbox bolts straight up,” Steve said. It made a peak of 285hp, almost 100hp more than second-placed Rick Yates in his Aussie six-powered LJ Torana.

The Rev Monster plate was once again given to Ellis ‘Spike’ Dickson’s aspirated 13B rotary-swapped Suzuki Mighty Boy, which clocked 11,000rpm during his qualifying run.

MPW’s Adam Rogash always chooses his favourite dyno combatant from the weekend, and this year he picked Jamie Seears’s Nissan Silvia S15. The Silvia still uses a 2.0-litre SR20 but with a VE head, so it screams to 10,000rpm while sucking down 35psi, and it knocked out 803hp!

All in all, it was an exceptionally good showing in the Haltech Horsepower Heroes for 2026, with Adam singing the praises of all who took part. “It has been a phenomenal year; who would’ve thought we’d see so many records tumble in the same year?” he said. “Three cars made over 3000hp, and we broke records for GT-Rs, Barras and aspirated cars, so a big shout-out to everyone, and my crew for working so hard to put on a show. It was standing room only all weekend.”