Project
Sidewinder consistently exceeds its objectives as we
continue to drive and test “The Beast”. One
of our stated objectives was to get 20 MPG on the highway
with the modified, high-performance 5.9L Cummins diesel
in our Dakota. By including fuel economy as one of our
objectives, we were further qualifying the Sidewinder
as a functionally streetable diesel sport truck. The
fuel economy test configuration of the Sidewinder was
almost identical to when it arrived at the Bonneville
Salt Flats for its Land Speed Record runs in October.
The only changes included raising the ride height slightly
for additional ground clearance, replacing the racing
air-to-water intercoolers with the street air-to-air
intercooler, and installation of a new 3.33:1 ring-and-pinion
gear set in the quick-change rearend, with 1:1 spur
gears. Everything else was just as the Sidewinder arrived
at Bonneville, except we didn’t pull a trailer
for the mileage test. The
test loop was just over 119 miles in length, beginning
at the Banks Engineering campus in Azusa, California.
The route included a couple of miles on surface streets
to the Interstate highway. The rest of the loop was
all highway driving on I-210, I-30, and I-15, going
north up the Cajon pass (about a 6 percent grade),
and then back again for a total of 119.6 miles. All
highway driving was done at the posted speed limits
of 65 and 70 MPH in sixth gear, which is .73:1 for
a final drive ratio of 2.43:l. That’s 1800 to
1900 RPM. The powerful Cummins diesel was just loafing,
even up the grade. The total fuel consumed was 5.63
gallons, for an average of 21.24 MPG. Not too shabby
for a truck with over 700 HP and 1300 lb.-ft. of torque
on tap! |
