Diesels are Coming Fast, and Gale Banks Wants to Lead the Charge
By Mark Williams
There’s a revolution going on out there, and whether or not you’re a truck guy who understands all the aspects of diesel power, change is coming. It’s no surprise that the company leading the charge is one of the aftermarket’s loudest proponents of diesel strength and versatility, Banks Engineering.
Long a maker and seller of performance parts for
diesel and gasoline engines, Banks Engineering has put together
several diesel truck projects to reap the benefits of torque
in venues from Baja desert racing to dry-lakebed top-speed record-breaking.
The latest incarnation of diesel muscle and prowess is among
the most powerful and fuel-efficient road-racing pickup trucks
ever made. The Banks Sidewinder D-Max Type-R is one of Gale Banks’ pet
projects, specifically designed to get attention wherever it
goes and clean up on the road-racing circuit at the same time.
For gearheads deep into high-performance racing,
the Audi R10 racing team has been making road-racing history
with a pair of state-of-the-art V-12 twin-turbo diesel race cars.
During the most recent 24 Hours of Le Mans, one of the R10s traveled
over 3200 miles on the 8.5-mile closed road course, averaging
133.9 mph. Both cars achieved better fuel-economy numbers than
anything else on the track, which means drivers made fewer fuel
stops. In addition, Audi drivers reported they had to get used
to how quite their new race cars are and how careful they had
to be with so much available torque. Of course, it’s no
coincidence that Audi (and parent company VW) want to show the
world how powerful and useful diesels are on the racetrack.
Both will be ramping up production and development
of more diesels to sell in the U.S.—their current mantra
could be “Win on Saturday and Sunday, sell a diesel on
Monday.” At a minimum, changing minds on the racetrack
could get people thinking about diesels in other
areas as well. In fact, that’s exactly what Gale Banks
has in mind. He’ll be the first to tell you there was no
collaboration between his team putting together his road-racing
diesel pickup and Audi’s team designing the new R10, but
clearly they’re doing their projects for the same reasons.
Great minds think alike, but no doubt Audi’s pockets are
a bit deeper than Gale’s.
“Everybody has a sense
that diesel engines can pull stumps,” says Gale Banks, “but
most people don’t understand that we haven’t even
begun to scratch the surface of what diesels can do.” A
prime example of that is his custom tube-chassis GMC Sierra
road racer equipped with a modified 6.6-liter twin-turbo Duramax
diesel. The vehicle is limited to 650 horsepower and 800 pound-feet
of torque right now, but Banks says there’s no reason
why the block couldn’t put out 20 percent more if tuned
differently. For now, he’s content to keep it down and
take it to the track. Not sure we’ll ever see it run
against the R10 or pulling a fifth wheel, but this could
open a whole new frontier as diesels make their way into
the hearts and minds of more than your average hard-core
truck guy.
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