A soybean farmer from Oklahoma has set two new speed records at Bonneville Salt Flats, in a diesel F-250 Ford pick-up.
The driver, Brent Hajek is also the owner of Hajek Motorsports, the company that prepared and fielded a flex-fuel Mustang that holds the current speed record for an E85-fuelled car. Hajek didn't drive the Mustang in the two records the car set during 2009 and 2010, but he was the Okie-in-command for the latest record-setting attempt.
“Racing is part of Ford Motor Company’s DNA so it’s only natural for us to build a race vehicle that demonstrates Ford’s leadership in the diesel and biodiesel truck market,” he said after his triumph.
“The F-250 is an excellent truck with amazing capabilities. I’m amazed at how, with very few changes from stock, we were able to accomplish this.”
Starting out with a 6.7-litre V8 diesel F-250, Hajek and his team revised the engine's fuel pump, fuel injectors, turbochargers and compression ratio for the attempt. A five-point harness and a full roll cage were fitted to enhance the vehicle's safety.
Hajek achieved speeds measured at 171.123MPH (275km/h) on standard diesel fuel and 182MPH (293km/h) on B20 biodiesel, which is 20 per cent biofuel by content. The biological component of the fuel is extracted from soybean, the plant that Hajek grows by the acre when he's not putting together race teams or holding on to a steering wheel for dear life as a modified commercial vehicle blitzes across salt flats.
Hajek is now the record-holder for the unlimited biodiesel land speed record and the B Production Diesel Truck land speed record with an average speed of 167.3MPH (269km/h).
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