Video:
http://videos.streetfire.net/video/G...9.htm?Ref=Blog
Las Vegas, Nevada, November 5, 2008 - - Bristling with its convoluted stainless steel exhaust headers and buttressed with Banks Engineering's signature twin-turbochargers, the new Banks Sidewinder Top Diesel Dragster was presented to the assembled press this morning in the central hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center at the 42nd annual SEMA Show.
Nearly 28 feet long, the tapering, all-out drag racing machine, replete with a leering drawing of a Southwestern desert sidewinder running fully twenty feet down both sides, looked totally menacing just sitting quietly on its haunches in the Banks Power exhibit.
This machine was designed and constructed to regularly exceed 200 miles per hour and get to those speeds in less than 1,320 feet from a standing start. If the engineer's calculations are correct, that whole ¼-mile trip should take something like six and a half seconds or so!
The one word that somehow seems NOT to fit with all that extreme performance just noted above is: "diesel." However, when you link the name "Banks" with the "d-word," the whole world turns upside down and making (and breaking) racing records with a highly-efficient, clean, powerful diesel engine becomes the order of the day for the Banks Engineering team.
And that's exactly what this new machine is destined to do. Probe the outer edges of the diesel performance envelope. It is aimed squarely at making more, bigger, stronger, less fuel-thirsty, more reliable, and more eco-friendly horsepower than anyone else in the business even dares to dream about.
The reason is simple, high-efficiency research and development. R&D that fully and completely stress every component (including the engineers who work on these machines) to squeeze the secrets of speed out of the ensuing struggle.
When the SEMA Show concludes on Friday, this latest weapon in the Banks arsenal will swiftly return to the company's R&D shops in Azusa, California to be readied for its first test runs on the race track.
And, if function follows form, and this machine carries on with the kind of record-setting performance that the Banks Sidewinder S-10 pickup put out this past year, it won't be long until there are more new records in the book under the Banks Power name. Stay Tuned!
BANKS SIDEWINDER TOP DIESEL DRAGSTER:
A FEW BASIC SPECIFICATIONS...
BANKSPEED TWIN-TURBO DURAMAX V-8:
6.6 LITERS - 402 CUBIC INCHES - DIESEL
1,200+ HORSEPOWER
1,200+ LB. FT. TORQUE
BANKS CLEANTUNE™ PERFORMANCE
SPITZER TOP DIESEL DRAGSTER CHASSIS:
CUSTOM CHROME-MOLY SPACE FRAME
276 IN. WHEELBASE
CARBON FIBER BODY & WINGS
CHASSIS NUMBER: 158-2167-08
TRANSMISSION & CLUTCH:
LIBERTY 5-SPEED (SEQUENTIAL) GEARBOX WITH AIR-SHIFTER
MRP CLUTCH (MANUAL/PEDAL)
REAR AXEL/CENTER SECTION:
MARK WILLIAMS HIGH-STRENGTH
BRAKES:
LAMB DUAL CALIPER DISCS (ON REAR AXLE ONLY)
TIRES:
FRONT: HOOSIER 22.0/2.5 -17
REAR: HOOSIER 33.5/16.0 -15
WHEELS:
FRONT & REAR: SPIN WERKS RACING LIGHT ALLOY
ANTICIPATED PERFORMANCE:
200+ MPH QUARTER MILES!
ELAPSED TIMES IN THE SIXES!
