We met Mike Ryan a while ago when he was promoting his Pike's Peak freightliner race truck at the 2013 Mid-America Truck Show (link), where he told us he'd be working with Banks Engineering on a completely new type of high-performance powertrain. Several months later we got to see Ryan and Gale Banks do some fine-tuning of the 2,000-horsepower Super-Turbo engine. The 14-liter Detroit Diesel engine has both a supercharger and turbocharger as well as a unique methanol-injection system that comes on in stages, depending on how much power is needed.
The testing seemed to pan out pretty well, with expectations and predictions high for a world-record run on the newly paved course at Pike's Peak. Unfortunately, Ryan’s record run was thwarted with by rain and moisture on the course, so much of the grip he was hoping for on the corners (remember, his truck has 2,000 hp) was gone. Thankfully, he was able to open up the semi-truck racer on every straightaway. In the end, however, he fell just short of setting his desired world record but seemed quite optimistic about coming back next year to get it done. Here are a few photos and a video.
For more on the truck and all the technological master work that had to be done, click here.
