Banks and Ryan ready for Pikes Peak

Gale Banks, part-time stunt driver Mike Ryan and the diesel wizards from Gale Banks Engineering will return to Pikes Peak this year with the Freightliner Cascadia that finished ninth in 2012. Competing in the Pikes Peak Open class, the team has been furiously working on the truck at the Banks Performance home base in Azusa, Calif.

To get the semi tractor up the 12.4 mile road, Banks is installing its Super-Turbo setup on the 14.7-liter, Detroit Diesel-equipped truck. That's an 8.3-liter supercharger feeding air to a 110-millimeter turbocharger. Banks says this combination can produce 180 psi at sea level.

A water-injection system, which includes multiple pumps, nozzle arrays and solenoids, increases the density of the air, which only carries about half of the oxygen that it does at sea level. An altitude-compensating Ram-Air intake with three air filters helps keep the air cool and clean.

Check out the blog of the full build over at bankspower.com/pikespeak.

By Jake Lingeman