When you work with a piece of equipment every day for years, it is easy to grow attached. For the team at FuelTech USA, the retirement of their trusted hub dyno feels like losing a long-term partner. The shop recently uploaded a video to YouTube on Thursday, reminiscing about the best times with its outgoing Mainline ProHub 5000, which has been a staple of their operations for eight years.
A Legacy of High-Horsepower Testing
Over its eight-year tenure, the machine completed more than 5,000 runs. While the team is upgrading to a Mainline ProHub 6000 to keep pace with increasingly powerful modern builds, the previous model was far from a light-duty tool. In fact, FuelTech dyno’d not one, not two, not three, but four cars over 5,000 horsepower with the machine.
- The dyno facilitated a world record run when Szabolics Marchese’s twin-turbo Pro Mod Camaro hit 5,395 hp.
- The machine even handled a triple-turbo pulling tractor that surpassed 6,000 hp.
- FuelTech’s Chief Operating Officer, Luis de Leon, spent an hour recounting stories of the dyno’s history, including Formula Drift builds and a V12 Ferrari equipped with both nitrous and a turbo.
- The shop hosted performance gurus who made the pilgrimage from Brazil, and even a 1930s truck with a boosted overhead-valve inline-six laid down impressive numbers on the old ProHub 5000.
Watching the tribute feels like sitting through a eulogy for a machine that was deeply cared for by the staff. The team will certainly never forget the lessons learned, including the time the dyno taught them to securely fasten equipment to the floor.
While the transition to the ProHub 6000 is necessary for future growth, the team remains reflective about the past. I imagine the ProHub 6000 will be all they need and more, but in the meantime, it’s nice to remember the good old days with a tool that served them exceptionally well. More fast cars will undoubtedly arrive at the shop, but the legacy of the ProHub 5000 remains a testament to the shop’s history of pushing boundaries in performance.