We keep mentioning the performance possibilities of diesel and specifically, biodiesel so I thought you might find this interesting. I came across a biodiesel dragster:
This dragster is powered by twin turbo, 24 valve, P7100 mechanical fuel pump, 5.9 liter Cummins Diesel engine. Same basic engine as a Dodge Ram truck. This is a pure stock short block with 35,000 street miles! We are just out there trying to see how fast and quick we can go.
The engine has two stage Holset turbos providing the boost. It uses a modified HX-35 / 40 hybrid and a HX-55 / 60 hybrid on it, and develops 80 PSI of boost. We are also running a little Nitrous Oxide for “smoke control”. The pump and injectors we are using now are built by John Russin of Buddha Power.
the fuel that we are running is Biodiesel, supplied from BlueSun of Colorado. This fuel is made from virgin agricultural based products, not from petroleum. We have found that this fuel has a higher cetane rating, and performs very well. In addition, it is a alternative fuel, a renewable resource.
So if you’re wondering about the real performance potential of a diesel motorcycle, examples like this should get you thinking. They’re still getting the bugs out and have so far clocked an 8.96 pass at 163mph. Of course, we haven’t even mentioned Gale Banks.