What kind of horsepower can you get out of Triumph GT6 engines

Kas Kastner writes:
The last engines I did for the GT-6 in 1972 made 187 bhp at 8000. This is with the stock crank, rods, valves, 1.5" Stromberg's and all the other stock stuff. It was 12.7 C.R and used 100 octane gas and the special velocity stacks I made which I see you have on your car.

This was a very reliable engine and I think the Group 44 car probably made about the same power as they were privy to everything we did and had. Brian Fuersteneau and Don Devendorf were having a ding dong trade the lead every lap race at the runoffs in 1972 and no advantage on the chutes. Don took my car off the road after coming under the bridge and that was that, but it seemed to me the cars were dead even in power. This is of course several years after your car. I would say in the 1969 time frame 170+ bhp is pretty accurate, the same power you are quoting.

My dyno's were used by Champion for spark plug work and they supplied me with their engineering plugs for experimenting and detailed reports. The same dynos were used also by the natural gas company as we were the only people that could supply TRUE numbers in repeats and from day to day.

There is only one horsepower number if the system is accurate and the operators are not fudging. I mention that because, my 170+ bhp GT-6 could pull a certain Datsun 2 liter supposed 190 bhp car right down the chute at Riverside. We always referred to my horsepower as horses having big feet with hair hanging around and they pulled beer wagons.

Geoff Byrne writes:
I raced a GT6 in the 70s with a "Kastner motor" built to his specs and with his S5 cam and valve gear . With tripple 42mm Webers (worked better than the 45s) 12:1 cpmpression on avgas it had a very reliable 200hp confirmed on a reliable dyno . The only problem i had was breaking gear boxes and rear axles which was fixed by installing a TR6 box and axles. Conclusion is the 2litre motor is capable of producing a reliable 200hp if built properly.

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