"On station somewhere near the three-mile marker you see it long before you hear it. Racing across the pure white horizon, a small red dot speeds crazily toward you, pursued by a pearlescent plume of salt spray. Then, like distant thunder announcing a storm, the primal scream of a turbocharged big-block engine beings to build, brief interruptions signaling the gear changes before it settles into a deep, steadily increasing roar. Turbocharged cars don’t make a lot of noise, but this one delivers an unmistakable vibration through the air. Something awesome is about to happen.
The Bonneville salt flats are about as close as most of us will ever come to standing on another planet. An overwhelming sense of isolation slowly gives way to profound admiration for the pure, majestic beauty of the salt, and the geological forces that caused it. They say it’s the only place on earth where you can actually see the curvature of the earth, and it’s damn sure the only place you’ll see a Pontiac Trans Am rip by you at speeds almost beyond comprehension. The speed limit sign at Bonneville says 1000 mph, and so far there’s never been a single speeding citation handed out. But that doesn’t mean the impossible can’t happen.
The red blur is really moving now, and there’s no mistaking the sleek aerodynamic profile of a 1988 Pontiac Trans Am GTA emerging from one horizon and disappearing over the other one in well under a minute. At nearly 12 seconds per mile, it is unquestionably the world’s fastest street machine. As driver Don Stringfellow climbs out of the car four miles farther down the course, the official speed report confirms a 277-mph average through the third measured mile. The car’s onboard inertial dynamometer indicates an excess of 1600 horsepower being produced as the car exited the final mile at more than 283 mph. Something awesome has just happened!
A Pontiac Firebird has just established an official new land speed record of 268.033 mph for production-based cars. If this were easy, Gale Banks Engineering of Asuza, CA wouldn’t be the only team trying to do it. With sponsorship and technical support from Pontiac Motor Division, the team of Banks, Stringfellow, and Geisler have their sights set on 300 mph in a production-based vehicle, a formidable goal that even experienced Bonneville veterans don’t think is possible. The degree of difficulty is proportionately high, something on the order of a NASA space shot. Every detail has to be absolutely perfect. Last year when Banks obliterated the AA/Gas Coupe record by more than 60 mph, they didn’t think the car’s NASCAR oval track tires would hold up or provide the handling and stability necessary to carry that kind of speed down the salt. Veteran driver Don Stringfellow quickly proved them wrong, pronouncing the Banks Trans Am the most stable, easy-to-drive Bonneville car he has driven.
Yet skepticism remains. While the unprecedented performance established in 1986 put much of it to rest, it’s still a lofty goal, but the kind of staggering technical challenge that Banks thrives on. Ask Banks to launch a Trans Am to the moon, and he’s likely to ask whether you’d like smoking or non-smoking with a window or an aisle.
The rules are rigidly structured, and Banks’ car reflects them perfectly. This is no aerodynamic perfect bullet groomed in a wind tunnel; it’s an unmodified production body running at near-production ride height with the stock factory aero package. Banks horsepower boosts it into the stratosphere of speed and Pontiac’s incredibly aerodynamic production styling provides its astonishing high-speed stability. Of all the cars originally considered for the project, the Pontiac Trans Am GTA rated the highest chance of success based on its aerodynamics alone. The Trans Am is as stable at 280 mph as it is at 60 mph, and t hat represents a major miracle of modern automotive design – the near-perfect shape.
Banks uses a proven 454-cubic-inch version of his awesome twin-turbocharged GM marine big-blocks to make the Trans Am go ballistic. Boosted to 25 pounds for the current record run, it will pack nearly 38 pounds of boost on the 300-mph attempt. Key elements of this essential powerplant are the twin Garrett turbochargers, Banks-fabricated high-flow intercoolers, and Pontiac Motorsports high-port/high-flow aluminum big-block racing cylinder heads. Gale says the engine is good for about 2200 horsepower in full afterburner, but he’s rather modest about the turbocharging expertise that makes this possible.
A third key factor in the car’s phenomenal success is the immaculately prepared Lamb Components chassis. Highly regarded chassis and brake designer Roger Lamb built the chassis and suspension with absolute precision. It’s got brakes equal to the task of stopping a 300-mph freight train, and the modified Lamb strut and 4-link suspension offer all the feel and control a driver would want. Lamb also aided in the initial placement and mounting of the DNE (Doug Nash Engineering) 5-speed transmission and Long overdrive to minimize driveline drag and ensure essential balance and component integrity at unheard of drivetrain speeds.
Backing up this mechanical alliance of high-speed componentry is veteran Bonneville pilot Don Stringfellow, long-standing member of the elite 200-mph club and the current record holder in the AA/GC class. Stringfellow and Banks have a special relationship. He trusts Gale Banks implicitly and Banks values Stringfellow’s safety above all else. Their approach to 300 mph is professional, methodical, and precise. Banks won’t pull the trigger if the bullet’s not safe, and while he frets incessantly about final details before a run, Stringfellow, the "Iceman", has nodded off behind the wheel, trying to catch a few winks before driving the Banks street machine faster than any man alive.
The Banks Trans Am is indeed a street machine in every
sense of the word. It has good idle quality, good drivability, good looks, and
it really hauls. It also has full carpeting and upholstery, factory bucket
seats, full stereo sound system, and power windows. As true hot rodders and
street machiners, we thrive on excess. We love things that really kick tail, and
with Sammy Hagar screaming "I Can’t Drive 55" on the stereo, Stringfellow,
Banks, and Pontiac are kicking tail and taking names in the world’s fastest
street machine."
