Litchfield unveils new dyno facility
Gloucestershire based sports, prestige and supercar tuner Litchfield has released details and pictures of its recently-built Maha dyno cell at its ever-increasing and improving HQ.
The dyno cell has been purpose-built as part of Litchfield’s recent expansion to more than double its workshop space, to increase facilities such as engine and gearbox clean rooms and add all-new customer waiting areas, secure car and parts storage – as well as a retail and boutique area that will follow later in 2015.
The new dyno cell has been engineered from the outset to cope with Litchfield’s supercar clientele, but more pertinently, the company’s own 1200bhp Nissan GT-R builds. With an extensive range of high-output engine conversions for a wide range of marques now within the company’s portfolio, this new dyno will allow empirical testing and replicable development of all new tuning packages, improving lead times and giving Litchfield’s technicians and engineers the ability to immediately test any new ideas. Better yet, each and every road-car tuning package can be finely calibrated on the day of the customer’s visit, with provable ‘before and after’ dyno data to back it all up.
The choice of the Maha MSR500 dyno equipment was carefully considered. This is the same equipment installed by Porsche and BMW, and uses sophisticated electronics to cope with the current generation of intelligent torque-splitting transmissions. Most modern dynos link front and rear rollers directly, whereas the MSR500 can cope with any change in axle torque loading as the car shuffles power fore and aft.
Unusually, and as part of what is believed to be the only such set-up in the UK, the Litchfield dyno also feature twin retarders, meaning it can safely handle well over 1600bhp with ease. A bespoke underground cooling system also feeds brakes, radiators and intercoolers and gives technicians a realistic under-floor airflow characteristics that closely resembles how the car would cut the air on the road. Much attention has been taken throughout the cell itself, not only to manage all aspects of reducing heat soak – but also to create as much mass of air as possible, rather than simply flow - as it is the former that is crucial in tuning!
The dyno also has an additional use for some of Litchfield’s prestige storage clients too. Customers who wish to store rare and valuable cars on site can also opt for a ‘start and run’ schedule during lay-up period, where the car will be gently run through the gears on the dyno, allowing the vehicle effectively to be regularly used and run up to temperature, without the risk of picking up stone-chips – or even needing a valet afterwards!
Commenting on the new facility, eponymous Litchfield founder, Iain Litchfield said, “We’re delighted to have this superb facility in-house now. Not only does it mean that we can lavish even more care and attention on each customer’s car, without having to use external facilities, but it also means that we can add extra layers of development to all of our tuning packages and refine them even further. We’re already fining an invaluable resource for all of our road and track work and are looking forward to sharing the results and benefits of our new R&D programme with our customers going forward.
For more details on Litchfield’s facilities and conversion packages, visit litchfieldmotors.co.uk.
