Diesel Power
For Decades, Fringe Hot Rodders Have Been Predicting a High-Performance Diesel Revolution.
August 31, 2005
Vacation… all I ever wanted? or “Dude, where’s my car?”
(Please note: there is a car story here… really.)
The word “vacation” has never been one that has meant much to me. Growing up time-off from school or work was an opportunity for my loving family to work on the house, an exercise in perpetual futility. Tear down a wall, build it back up. Paint the inside, outside, walls, parakeet and dog. Backyard flat? Hell, the kids can dig that fish pond. Oh, and it needs to be 4-ft. deep. I’m not really complaining… just unlocking the door so you can understand my malfunction. To me a vacation is really just a time to get things done, even if it is work related, and really not to lounge on a deck or vegetate. Not that something like that is wrong mind you… I’m just damaged in my way of thinking compared to most of the human race. Thanks for another thing, Mom and Dad.
August 15, 2005
Gale Banks. A Household Name?!
Hola. Just a little ditty to illustrate how much Banks has been in the media this Summer. It’s been amazing!
It has gotten to the point that we’ve even coined a new term for hot rodding it to the max. We’re going to “Banks it.”
Nice.
In Print…
August 12, 2005
Alpha Booster or H1: Sith Lord
There are certain vehicles that are automatically associated with certain people. Let’s try a few:
Batman
James Bond
Steve McQueen
The Green Hornet
Get the idea? Now tell me what comes to mind when I say Arnold Schwarzenegger? Hmmm…
August 11, 2005
Torque Tough
Banks’ billet torque converter takes on big diesel power The Banks Billet Torque Converter is designed to withstand the stresses of high-torque diesel engines. A detailed eight-page
July 31, 2005
Gale Banks Engineering to Road-Race GM Diesel Pickup
Gale Banks is out to prove diesel engines are capable of high performance, and he’s proving it one racing venue at a time.
July 31, 2005
23.6 MPG from a Truck that Runs 222 MPH!
OK, you haven’t heard from me in a while and I’m going to use the same excuse as everyone else; Power Tour, blah, blah, blah. But since I am doing so, I would like to continue my theme on fuel economy with a report from the Power Tour. As you know, we took five vehicles on the Tour, four trucks with diesels of various flavors and one truck with a twin turbo small block Chevy. One of the trucks that completed the entire 1700+ mile trip was the Banks Sidewinder Dakota. You remember this truck, it holds the world record as the fastest pickup truck at a top speed of 222 mph. The cool thing is, it is completely street drivable and is actually fun to drive.
July 28, 2005
The World’s First Road Racing Pickup Truck
How many of you know that Banks’ Race Shop is building a roadracing truck? Did you know that the truck is going to be diesel powered? That’s right! A diesel powered roadracing truck! And it will be twin-turbocharged!
What’s the big deal you say? Well, diesels have several advantages over gasoline. First is mileage. Diesels generally achieve 20-40% higher mileage than gasoline-powered equivalents. Improving mileage means less fuel stops in an endurance race. This is a huge advantage and one that can shave critical minutes off of a team’s total time.
July 6, 2005
Hopping Up the Turbodiesel
Dispelling the smoke about black, sooty smoke—and how to obtain maximum continuous, useable power from a diesel.
June 30, 2005
Running After the Ice Cream Man, or Picking up the Sidewinder
Remember when you were a kid and you heard that sound? You know, the sound that could motivate the dead to rise and you to drop whatever you were doing and run like hell screaming with whatever coins you could find clinched into your tiny hands? It was a melody that seemed to carry through the air even from miles away and could interrupt anything that was going on in your life at the time making you swing your head it the direction it was coming from. Yeah…
June 30, 2005