The real point here is simple: if you want a serious engine package to respond hard everywhere, you have to think beyond the long block. We’re working hybrid assist into our turnkey engine program because a motor-generator can deliver 536 horsepower on its own, and that gives you torque fill where turbo systems are naturally soft—right out of the hole and during throttle transients. That changes how the whole package behaves. The same thinking applies to the exhaust side. Turbo headers are not just plumbing. Exhaust density, mass flow, and the speed of sound in the tube all change with temperature, pressure, and altitude, so the tuning changes with them. That matters even more on a build aimed at Pikes Peak, where elevation swings hard and the engine has to keep making power all the way up the mountain. For the upcoming L5P-based Duramax race engine and crate-engine program, the goal is clear: build the system as a system, because that’s how you get response, power, and control under real load.
Banks explains that part of winning engine-program business is not necessarily maximizing profit on each individual build, but creating enough value and capability to make the overall program viable at volume. Within that broader turnkey engine effort, the company is expanding beyond conventional crate-engine offerings and moving into hybrid packages as well.
The hybrid motor-generator currently under development is said to produce 536 horsepower on its own. That output would be added to the engine's power, creating a combination with extremely high total performance. Gale frames the electric contribution not as a novelty, but as a functional answer to transient response. Rather than describing it as turbo lag reduction, he calls it torque fill: immediate supplemental torque available off the line or during throttle transitions, when the engine and turbo system have not yet fully responded. In practical terms, the concept is to use the motor-generator to supply a very large amount of instant torque exactly where drivability and acceleration benefit most.
The discussion then shifts to fabrication capability, particularly headers. Banks notes that the company has built many sets over the years, generally from jigs, for applications ranging from Jeeps to Chevrolet 5.3-liter swaps and numerous other projects. The point is not simply that headers have been made before, but that the shop already has experienced fabricators and a history of producing custom exhaust hardware across different platforms.
Even so, Gale emphasizes that skilled outside help on a demanding header project is valuable. He describes header design as something that still begins with spatial visualization: looking at the engine bay, mentally routing tubes, and understanding how the pieces must occupy three-dimensional space before fabrication starts. Modern tools can assist with mockup and layout, but his perspective comes from decades of doing the work by eye and experience. That background informs how Banks approaches custom exhaust systems for unusual or high-performance applications.
From there, the conversation becomes more technical. Gale argues that many turbo headers in the aftermarket may look impressive, but are not necessarily optimized around the actual physics of the exhaust system. Traditional naturally aspirated header thinking does not transfer directly once the exhaust stream is compressed, hotter, denser, and feeding a turbocharger rather than discharging to atmosphere.
He points out that tuning depends on gas density and the speed of sound within the tube, both of which change with operating conditions. Altitude affects those relationships, and so does pressure. He uses the example of going underground into a mine, where air pressure rises, to illustrate that the medium itself changes and therefore the tuning behavior changes with it. In a turbocharged engine, if horsepower is dramatically increased, exhaust mass flow rises accordingly. That means the wave behavior, density, and flow conditions inside the header are different enough that simply following conventional header practice may leave performance on the table. His conclusion is that turbo header design should be treated as a tunable scientific problem, not just a packaging or appearance exercise.
Banks references one of the first header sets the company designed in CAD: a Freightliner powered by a Detroit Diesel that was built for Pikes Peak competition. In that case, the headers were designed specifically to feed the turbocharger, and the exercise reinforced how different turbo exhaust tuning can be from more familiar naturally aspirated layouts.
That project helped establish the engineering mindset being discussed here. When exhaust density is higher and temperature changes the speed of sound in the tube, the timing and behavior of pressure waves change as well. Those effects matter at altitude and under boost, especially in a racing environment where every part of the system is being pushed. Gale presents this as the kind of topic that can easily turn into a long technical discussion, complete with sketches and theory, because the interaction between pressure, density, temperature, and turbocharger behavior is more complex than most builders account for.
The conversation then returns to Banks' crate-engine roadmap. Lockjaw is described as the introductory vehicle for the Banks Duramax crate-engine program. Its role is to showcase what the company considers its Stage 1 engine package, a supercharged diesel combination.
That establishes the baseline for the broader program: Banks is not treating these engines as isolated one-off builds, but as staged offerings with increasing capability. Stage 1 introduces the concept through a supercharged diesel package, while later stages are intended to push much further in terms of power, application complexity, and motorsports relevance.
Looking ahead only a few months, Banks says the company is preparing its Stage 3 crate engine for a return to Pikes Peak. The course starts at 9,400 feet, runs 12.8 miles, includes 156 turns, and climbs nearly 5,000 feet to a finish at 14,110 feet. Those numbers matter because the event begins at substantial altitude and then continues into even thinner air, making engine response, airflow strategy, and turbo system behavior central engineering concerns.
Banks has previous Pikes Peak experience. The team has competed there three times: once with a diesel and twice with a 440-inch SB2 straight-methanol engine in an open-wheel car described as Indy-car-like in layout. With that setup, they qualified number one two years in a row. However, the results did not match the qualifying pace. One year ended immediately after twisting off an axle half-shaft at the start, and another ended with the car going into the trees. Despite those setbacks, the company is committed to returning.
For the new effort, Banks plans to use its Type R race truck. The existing engine, which has been in the truck for quite some time, will be removed and replaced with an L5P-based Duramax. The exact induction strategy is still under debate. The possibilities mentioned include super-turbo, twin-turbo, or a compounded arrangement. No final configuration is announced here, but the expectation is clear: whatever system is chosen, it will be an aggressive, high-output package intended to make substantial power.
That power level will require highly specialized headers, which ties directly back to the earlier discussion about custom fabrication and turbo-specific exhaust tuning. The goal is not only to chase the diesel record at Pikes Peak, but also to post a genuinely competitive overall performance. Banks points to prior track results at Buttonwillow, where the company ran a pickup truck within about a second of open-wheel gasoline-powered cars. The truck is not a conventional street pickup; it is largely carbon fiber and built as a serious race vehicle. Still, the point is that the diesel platform is being developed to run at a level that demands respect beyond novelty or class-specific expectations.
The broader significance of the Pikes Peak project is that Banks is actively getting back into racing in a more visible way. Gale notes that many of the company's historic race vehicles have effectively become museum pieces, with some associated with the NHRA Museum and others stored nearby. The renewed competition effort signals a shift from preserving past race hardware to developing new programs again.
That return to motorsports is presented as the fun part of the business: the place where engineering ideas, fabrication skill, and performance testing all come together. The upcoming Pikes Peak truck is positioned as one of the clearest examples of that renewed focus, and it is expected to become a major feature of Banks Built season two.
The conversation closes with a brief overview of the Banks facility footprint. In addition to the main operation, the company owns industrial units on the next street over, and its distribution warehouse is moving there as well. Another large building on Gladstone houses warehousing, fulfillment, training, and the corporate library. The description makes clear that the operation now spans multiple buildings and functions as a sizable campus rather than a single shop.
That scale supports the kind of work being discussed throughout the segment: crate-engine programs, hybrid development, race-truck preparation, fabrication, warehousing, and media production all happening within the same organization. The immediate near-term focus, however, is on seeing more of the Pikes Peak truck project as it develops and as Banks Built season two moves forward.