Track Testing The Bully Dog BDX at Palm Beach International Raceway

Throughout the year we attend a ton of different trade shows. PRI, MPMC, and SEMA, for example. With that, we meet a bunch of performance product companies that tell us about their products and what we can expect, but there is never that actual feel factor when it comes to these products. Well, SCT and Bully Dog changed that as they invited us to Palm Beach International Raceway to have a full day of drag racing while using their products on brand new vehicles.

This trip was very exciting sounding and I couldn’t wait to get down to Florida for a track day. After all, it’s been months since I’ve been on a dragstrip, so no matter what it was, this was going to be fun. Unfortunately, rain was in the forecast, and our track day wasn’t going to happen. It seemed as if mother nature didn’t want us to have any fun, but the SCT/Bully Dog team had a backup plan.

Due to insurance purposes, there was just no possible way we could take trucks down the dragstrip. Luckily for us, PBIR is surrounded by a road course track. Plan B was to do our test driving on the road course instead which made for a just as exciting day with limited traction.

So, what was on the menu? What did we have to try? Well, for vehicles, they had a full lot of trucks and cars, but we were mostly interested in the trucks. Obviously. The new 3.0-liter Power Stroke Ford, a 2018 Ford F-250 with the 6.7-liter Power Stroke, and then the 2018 Dodge Ram 2500 with the 6.7-liter Cummins. We had an opportunity to get full tuning demos from the actual engineers at Bully Dog who program these boxes ran around the world and it was great hearing their ideas for future projects as well as what and why they set their tuners up.

Bully Dog BDX Programmer

We have featured the BDX before here on Diesel Army, but never have we got to test it on a stock truck on a road course. Prior to this event, Bully Dog has tested this programmer on multiple vehicles getting an average horsepower gain for each. With the BDX, you can expect an exponential gain in both horsepower and torque. But you’re gaining more than that as well. You’re improving drivability and increasing your fuel mileage.

The BDX stores up to 20 custom tunes and uses Wi-Fi to deliver and receive tunes. Fortunately for us, the SCT and Bully Dog crew took these vehicles down the strip the day prior just in case it did rain the day we would be testing. That gave us more data proving that these programmers mean serious business.

2018 Ford F-150 3.0-Liter Power Stroke

As you’ve probably already seen in the last few months, we tested the new half-ton truck from Ford, and we were thoroughly impressed with its performance. Now, we’re adding to the already healthy truck. During the track day yesterday, the crew made a ton of passes in each of the vehicles, but the F-150 really did great.

With the BDX on board, the truck picks up 49-horsepower and 108-lb/ft of torque. With that combination, that powered this half-ton Ford down the 1,320-feet of PBIR at a time of 15.157 at 85-MPH. For a truck that looks like your normal run of the mill pick up on the road, it will definitely set you back.

2018 Ford F-250 6.7-Liter Power Stroke

As we all know, the Ford F-250’s have been known as of late to be the peppier of the big three in stock form. After driving all three, even being a little biased, I can confirm that is true. I was excited to see what the difference a BDX would make on an already quick truck. This heavy pickup truck ran a total quarter-mile time of 15.761 at 87-MPH. Think about how much heavier that truck is than the F-150 and it’s not much slower.

Now, we have the times of the truck in stock form, what is this BDX all about? The 60-foot time was 2.45-seconds, the 330-foot time was 6.681, eight-mile time was 10.16-seconds at 70.63-MPH and hit the quarter-mile at 15.761 at 87.50-MPH. These are not bad numbers for a bone stock four-wheel-drive, but we knew it would improve. Our guess? Our guess was a 15.30-15.40-second range in the quarter-mile

After the BDX was installed to the performance setting, the next pass was made. What happened next wasn’t what we were expecting but it was certainly eye-opening. The time slip we see was an enormous improvement. We were expecting some gain, but it already picked up 0.26-seconds just in the first 60-feet. As we scanned the timeslip the times continued to get lower. 2.19-second 60-foot time, 6.16-second 330-foot time, 9.48-second eighth-mile time, 74.88-MPH at the eighth, and a quarter-mile time of 14.709 at 94.74-MPH.

With an extremely affordable performance box for your truck that is extremely simple to use, your truck can pick up a ton of safe and usable power. A BDX offers these 6.7-liter Power Strokes 74-horsepower and 104-lb/ft of torque which increases your quarter mile time by 01.52-seconds.

2018 Dodge Ram 2500 6.7-liter Cummins Turbo Diesel

With an increase of 89-horsepower and 142-ft/lbs of torque, the Cummins-powered Ram impressed just as much as the others. We took the Ram out on the road course to on a stock setting and while the Ram ran okay, it just felt lazy without any assistance. Luckily for us, and this Ram, the BDX packed a bunch that was felt on all angles of the track.

The trucks torque curve was peaking at 2,500 RPM and with that, we could really feel it as it set us back in our seat. Feeling the gains that the BDX offered was more than just a top speed increase. Imagining a trailer behind the truck, we could tell that this truck had the pep to complete virtually any task it was asked to.

We recommend the Bully Dog BDX for everything as it hits all the marks in your daily driven, towing, and performance needs. For more information about Bully Dog and all of their products, be sure and check out their website. Stay tuned to Diesel Army for the latest in the world of diesel performance.

 

 

 

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About the author

Artie Maupin

Artie Maupin is from Southeast Missouri and has an extreme passion for anything diesel. He loves drag racing of all kinds, as well as sled pulling competitions.
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