Category: Banks Race Shop

Smile, You’re on Candid Camera or You Tubed

Some of you nice folks have been asking me “why the heck haven’t you written anything lately?”. The answer: aside from the massive amount of things I have to do on a daily basis… I’ve had writer’s block. I mean I have plenty of ideas for cleaver, witty and informative blogs, but getting the time to write is almost impossible. Whenever I do get a chance to get in front of a keyboard to input my tails of wonder I get a blank stare and frozen finger syndrome. It’s kinda like vapor-lock of the brain. But, with the help of ancient medicine, leeches, voodoo and vitamins I’m on the road to recovery. So here it goes…

March 31, 2007

Road-Racing Diesels

Diesels are coming fast, and Gale Banks wants to lead the charge

November 1, 2006

Boomerang Effect or Strange Bedfellows

I may have mentioned this in an earlier blog, and then again maybe I didn’t. Things have been pretty wild for me at GBE lately and I’ve had to increase my doses of Ginkgo Biloba. Ok… here it is: folks, we are finally getting back into the engine business. Back in the past we were pretty well known for our high performance marine and street machine engines, but like I said… that was in the past. Now I know we have our mighty twin turbo small-block, but we haven’t really been pushing that as well as we could/should. The rest of this stuff that’s coming will make real waves quite literally.

September 25, 2006

FAST

Wheelspin! That’s the everlasting, first impression of diesel forever burned into my personal bio hard drive.

August 31, 2006

Customer Q&A #2 (with Peter Treydte, Banks’ Director of Technical Communication)

QUESTION #2:
My situation is that I don’t have a problem with my power output once the engine downshifts and the RPM’s go up, but I want more power low down (1750 RPM) so that the engine does not have to down shift as often (and use more fuel). (One thing that I have noticed is that it downshifts when the turbo boost reaches 20 psi., is there any way to raise that figure?) This is why I am looking for figures in that range, apples and apples you know, which I understand you are unable to provide. I guess the factory figures that show lower power curves must be done on an engine dyno, instead of a chassis dyno. Speaking of the figures with a manual transmission, at least that would provide a reference point. Right now I am in the “dark”, so to speak…

August 23, 2006

So did they win? When we last left our heroes…

It’s been a while (again), but here’s my latest entry. I’ve got about four more in the can, only it’s just that they’re only half done each. Since the last time I wrote I’ve been to pulled over, went to visit a guy we’re selling engines to, went on vacation, went to Indy for the big race, and met with GM a few times. Although those “adventures” are something to write about… I bet your wondering how we did with the truck this weekend?

June 20, 2006

Sidewinder Type-R: Ready to Race! or Ready to Race?

Some of you might know (and most of you didn’t have a clue) that we actually went out and put some miles on our little red pick-up a couple of weeks ago. “What, you went out and raced without telling me?” you say. Well, the answer is “yes”, I guess. We didn’t really want to make it a big production since she was going into combat for the first time, and in all reality we are still in the testing phase of this grand experiment. I mean we all like being in the spotlight, but who wants to get burnt? I’d kind of say it was like being a great singer and going to a Karaoke contest at a local club, rather than going on American Idol and bombing out on national TV while getting crushed by Simon (not that I ever watch the show… I hear things about it. Really).

May 2, 2006

Jane, Stop This Crazy Thing!

Good golly Miss Molly! I realized that I’ve been lax on getting my Blog entries in as of late, but I honestly didn’t think I was that over due! Sorry guys and gals (Umm… and Gale especially!). I looked at the site the other morning and saw the date of my last Blog. Shameful… just plain shameful.

So what have I been doing all this time? What’s my excuse for being so tardy? Well, a bunch of stuff has been going on, and as always I’ve got my hands in every cookie jar. Things have been way too busy lately, which is both good and bad. See, aside from writing for the Blog (which we all know I haven’t done in way too long, so don’t bring that up) I work with the Race Shop, Engineering, Marketing, P.R. and just about any other departments that reside under our roof. Yep, I’m a John of all trades

April 23, 2006

Suburban Gorilla

One of the most popular project vehicles from Xtreme 4×4 is the “Suburban Gorilla,” which features a Banks Twin-Turbo Duramax diesel power plant derived from our Sidewinder

March 5, 2006

Stoddard Valley Cleanup

I myself was amazed at the turnout and at the amount of fun that I had. Gale Banks Engineering supported the event by sending out a support trailer, a vehicle to participate in the cleanup, and just for fun we had the Banks Power #36 Trophy Truck on hand for some testing for the upcoming Best In The Desert Blue Water Casino Parker 425. The participants in the cleanup filled 4 full-size dumpsters to overflowing with all manner of garbage…

February 1, 2006