The First Ever RB-Powered Summernats Horsepower Hero (VIDEO)

Summernats 36 was a record-busting event for a myriad reasons, however the feats inside the MPW Performance Dyno Cell simply cannot be overstated.

In the early 2000s, the Summernats Dyno Comp’ was very nearly bigger than the burnouts - competition was fierce and the engineering in the vehicles was legendary. It made household names of dozens of street machiners, and turned tuners and engine builders into legends. For this reason, we’re absolutely ecstatic that it’s returned as a cornerstone of the event, and that friendly rivalry is once again returning to the rollers!

Internet personality and vodka cranberry enthusiast Brenden ‘Bubba’ Medlyn is partly to blame for the dyno cell receiving a shot in the arm, and since Summernats 32 his twin turbo Holden V8-powered VH Commodore was the duck’s guts in the dyno cell, making 2483hp.

The following year was the third time a Barra had taken home the tinware, with Maria Passos’ BA Falcon printing off an eye watering 2202hp dyno graph, paving the way for another Ford straight six to take it out at Summernats 34, with Henry Winters’ 1257hp FG Falcon claiming honours in 2022.

The pendulum swung back towards big boosted V8s in 2023, with Cody Hunt’s twin turbo, 427-cube VE wagon claiming the crown at Summernats 35, and while there’ve been plenty of builds pop up in the 12 months since that could have rattled the Haltech Horsepower Heroes dyno cell (including dyno operator Adam Rogash’s insane twin turbo big block Capri), the Summernats 36 champion arrived in the form of a rather unassuming looking VL Commodore.

“The Canberra climate presented us with some real challenges,” begins Maatouks Racing head honcho Anthony Maatouk. “Normally this package will happily make 85 pounds of boost, but over the weekend we struggled to make much more than 78-79psi,” he explains, making the win all the more impressive.

“I hadn’t been to the Summernats for years and we had some time until racing starts back up again, so we thought we’d make the trip,” he laughs of the team’s casual approach to the Dyno Comp’. Asked if he’ll consider returning to defend his title, Anth’ responds with a nonchalant “you never know,” said through a giant grin!

This year’s champion runs a 3.2L Maatouks Racing RB engine package, using a billet block and a cylinder head specially prepped by the team. It boasts a host of Aussie made goodies like the Hypertune intake manifold, the Plazmaman intercooler and a suite of Turbosmart and Haltech hardware.