ATI Takes Product Development Seriously With Its New Hub Dyno

Product development can be a costly process for a high-performance company since it’s difficult to simulate the environment a part is used in. Companies have always looked for tools to make the development process easier, and a hub dyno is one of those they can use. ATI Performance Products acquired a Dynocom TriPod hub dyno to make testing and creating products easier.

J.C. Beattie Jr. is a hardcore racer and believes that a time slip is the ultimate proof of what parts are capable of. That being said, Beattie sees the value in using a dyno when you are trying to bring something new to the market.

“What a hub dyno is good for is being able to eliminate variables like tire spin and putting down all of the power you have available. I can do a crankshaft damper test a lot easier on the dyno and get all the data I need without any issues. Going with the big TriPod dyno from Dynocom means I can do a long pull with a slower ramp rate to collect all the data I need at a high resolution.”

In the past, when ATI was testing products like a new TH400 valve body for the COPO Camaro it would have to do trial and error testing in the company’s parking lot. That meant putting the car on the transbrake, looking at data and video, swapping valve bodies while the transmission was still scorching hot, and do it all over again for each valve body. The TriPod dyno that ATI has is rated at 5,500 hp and 10,000 ft-lb of torque, so they can now go through this process while collecting accurate data with less effort.

So, how can a dyno deal with this kind of abuse and still provide accurate readings? Allison Blackstein from Dynocom provides some details about the TriPod dyno that ATI uses.

“ATI required a hub dyno that was capable of measuring over 5,500 hp steady-state (i.e. holding), and also required a dyno that could perform launched off the transbrake, or from a dead stop. Dynocom’s TriPod dyno uses massive internal gearboxes to amplify the torque of the multiple eddy current brakes that we use in our design. Dynocom does not use automotive CV joints that simply cannot handle the torque levels of these high powered vehicles in a steady-state or from a launch.”

Beattie and the team at ATI have some big plans for the dyno, plus ATI customers will have a chance to shakedown new vehicles before they head to the track.

“On the transmission side, I can hit a button and make a car act like it weighs more to see what the transmission and torque converter will do. I can also see what parts are going to fail on the dyno rather than at the track. It’s a great tool for us to break in race cars, and for our customers in the area that want to get a baseline tune before they go to the track. For the development of products, it gives us the ability to do R&D, fine-tuning, and testing before anything gets released,” Beattie says.

Make sure you check out ATI’s website right here to see all the different products the company offers.

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Brian Wagner

Spending his childhood at different race tracks around Ohio with his family’s 1967 Nova, Brian developed a true love for drag racing. Brian enjoys anything loud, fast, and fun.
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