Hybrid Tune praises MAHA MSR 500 four-wheel drive performance dynamometer

The owner of engine management specialist, Hybrid Tune, has hailed MAHA’s MSR 500 as the “benchmark” following the installation of the four-wheel drive performance dynamometer in his new workshop in Suffolk.

Previously, Sam Weller and his team put cars through their paces on a two-wheel drive dynamometer; however, once he discovered the impact of MAHA’s four-wheel drive equivalent during a no-obligation demonstration in 2019, he was quickly persuaded to make the investment and upgrade.

Throughout 2020, in conjunction with Covid-19 safety protocols, MAHA’s team of engineers installed recessed twin-scissor lifts (Twin-F 3.5U), a DUO CM wheel alignment lift, control systems and, finally, the dynamometer itself. Fully calibrated and tested, it is now fully-operational.

Louis Tunmore, MAHA’s dynamometer specialist and who conducts comprehensive how-to training sessions following installations, explained: “Hybrid Tune was able to run some four-wheel-drive cars on its two-wheel drive dynamometer by disabling the four-wheel drive system, but there are a lot of four-wheel drive cars where that’s not possible.”

Weller echoed Tunmore’s comments: “Some modern two-wheel drive vehicles will not dyno properly without the undriven wheels being turned, but, obviously, we can now run all four-wheel drive vehicles without the complication of disconnecting systems, such as X-Drive and HALDEX, which are becoming increasingly commonplace.”

Both MAHA and Hybrid Tune have strong and long-standing reputations to uphold, both in terms of customers that use their cars on the road and on the race circuit. As such, the MSR 500 needs to be churning out results both accurately and repeatedly.

As Sam Weller said: “If there is a situation where I’m tuning a car, it goes out on track, and is subsequently tested on a dynamometer which measures a result that is 50bhp different to our own equipment, it doesn’t reflect favourably on us. We want our dyno to be repeatable and reflect what the manufacturers tell us – the MAHA MSR 500 does exactly that!”

Simplicity and ease of use are two other factors, but the pivotal influence was traction, he added: “Our old dynamometer would, effectively, be sat on two rollers per wheel, so if there was wheel spin, for example, that would skew the figures. The MAHA MSR 500, though, has a single roller per wheel set-up; therefore, there’s far more traction available.”