The article did state that with a little tuning the power could be bumped up an additional 200 ponies and 400 ft pounds.
all of their competition can do that with ease like skipinrocks said.
pat before you go talkin
about chevy's read up about the hino diesel thats been in production for years (the motor they used). main complaint is that its extremely anemic, has no power. before they can go making claims that "with tweaking we can get another 400ft/lbs of torque" out of that motor they need to do it and see if it actually holds together. the 6.6L duramax will hold together with no reliability or strength upgrades at 1000ft/lbs, just like the 7.3L powerstroke and the 5.9L cummins.
go to a drag strip where there are alot of diesels, expecially in an area where diesels are swapped into the race or sled pulling vehicles. you'll see 7.3L powerstrokes, cummins 6bt's both the 12 and 24 valve, you'll see the 6.6L duramax, a few 8.1L cummins motors that have been swapped in, i saw an old detroit 2 stroke that was put in a reg cab long bed chevy like my old 81 pickup and a few other diesels but those stick out. i've never seen or heard of a hino at either a sled pull or drag race. if you can "easily" get 1,000ft/lbs of torque out if it it shouldnt be hard to get 2,000, or beat just over 2,280ft/lbs of torque at the rear wheels (currently the most for a daily driven truck, duramax LLY 6.6L thats far from stock). so why arent they used in these competitions if they're so powerfull with minor tweaking? bull crap claim of "minor tweaking" on their part? looks and sounds like it. havent heard claims from gm, ford, dodge, audi, that with "minor tweaking" you can reach 1,000ft/lbs of torque. gm can do it, ford can, dodge can, audi's v12 diesel at lamans is right around there(that same motor is going into a few of their vehicles beginning next year).
kinda like their tow rating with the tundra. "the new tundra's brakes will stop a 10,000 pound load faster than any of the competition." take the trailer brakes off (which you cant safely do with an 8k or heavier load without a high risk of jack knifing). anybody that tows that size load or bigger knows that trailer brakes are your main stopping force. i'll take the real life tests over the paper tests and demonstrations.
