Rob Dahm’s 1,000-HP, Quad-Rotor RX-7 Spits Monster Flames On the Dyno
The quad-rotor, all-wheel drive Mazda is almost ready to hit the streets.
YouTuber Rob Dahm is nearing the end of his multi-year, multi-thousand dollar, quad-rotor, all-wheel drive RX-7 project, and we're finally starting to see the fruits of his labors. In a couple of recent videos, Dahm showed off two days worth of dyno tests for the car, which ended up cresting the 1,000-horsepower mark on its final runs. The runs are so violent that the Mazda looks like it's going to rip itself off the platform, as it spits fire when the throttle is lifted.
Rob and his team have been working on the car since the project was announced in 2016, and as of our last check-in back in January, they’d just gotten it rolling under its own power. Though the Mazda’s appearance hasn’t changed all that much since our last story—it’s still kind of a stripped-down roller right now—the powertrain and tuning appear to be on point. The videos above and below, which should be watched at low volume or with headphones to avoid scaring anyone within earshot, shows Dahm and his team making repeated runs on the dyno to nail down the car’s tuning. The RX-7’s engine had to be rebuilt after aluminum entered the block and caused lost compression, so the first few runs in the video are done without turbo.
Rob says it’s the first time the car had run properly on boost, but the setup quickly maxed out the capability of the fuel injectors. The next day, the team heads back to the dyno for more runs with a fixed-up car and the real fun begins. Once the boost is cranked up and the AWD system is on, the Mazda turns into a fire-breathing dragon on the dyno.
Several runs and plenty of noise later, the results came in: 1,014 horsepower. Dahm is near tears as he reads the results, and for good reason. He has spent the last four years building the FD RX-7 and had been told by everyone along the way that he was going to fail. Not only did he not fail, the repeated runs on the dyno just helped "break the car in". Rob says his goal is to get the car up to 1,600 horsepower, so the sky's the limit with this build.
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