Project Salt Shaker

Clocking more than 267 mph, Banks Twin-Turbo Trans Am breaks Banks’ own 1981 record for World’s Fastest Passenger Car

1986 Banks Pontiac Trans Am World Record 260.212 mph. Clocking more than 267 mph (one-way), Banks Twin-Turbo Trans Am breaks Banks’ own 1981 record for World’s Fastest Passenger Car

Powered by a Gale Banks 1,400 horsepowered, twin-turbocharged 456 ci big block engine, and using Banks reverse deflector turbo pistons, camshaft and turbo valves, the Trans Am recorded an average speed of 260.212 mph. Still sporting stock power windows, tilt steering and functioning stereo, the Trans Am recorded a one-way blast of more than 267 mph – approaching an incredible 390 feet per second. The Banks Trans Am was the world’s fastest, stock-bodied passenger car on gasoline, eclipsing the 1968 Kehoe-McKinney-Banks Sundowner Corvette record by nearly 20 mph.

The Studebaker era ended for good at Bonneville with the Banks Firebird’s stunning 267 mph clocking. This is the first brutally fast passenger car record at the salt and the third in a row for Banks’ team.

Project Photo Gallery

Firebird 250 Salt Race

Firebird 250 Group

Firebird 1986

Firebird Salt 1986

Firebird exploded

Firebird underhood firsttime

Popular Mechanics Feb1987 cover

Popular Mechanics Feb1987 p78-79

Popular Mechanics Feb1987 p129

Firebird 250

Mas Rapido Project 250

Firebird - Pontiac Tradeshow

Latest News

1987 Banks’ Bonneville Trans Am displayed at GM Assembly Plant

The record-breaking Banks Trans Am GTA had made a few annual trips to the Bonneville Salt Flats, each time coming back to base victoriously with a new record and a higher speed than imagined. Fresh from salt, Banks took this awesome powerhouse of speed to GM’s Camaro and Firebird assembly in Van Nuys (California) so ...

Banks teams up with Pontiac and Popular Mechanics to build a Trans Am that would be powered by a Gale Banks 1,500 horsepower, inter-cooled twin-turbocharged 456 ci big block engine which used Banks developed reverse deflector turbo pistons, camshaft and turbo valves. The project, having been in development for three years, was conceived to challenge a record ...