When I was in school years ago I read a biography of Zebulon Pike, the explorer after whom Pike's Peak is named. When the U.S. bought the territory nicknamed The Louisiana Purchase from France in 1803, Thomas Jefferson inaugurated several expeditions to the West, Southwest and Upper Midwest. Lewis & Clark's expedition across the Rockies to Oregon is probably most famous, but Zeb Pike's exploration of Colorado and the Southwest has left us with a piece of geography as famous as the Bonneville Salt Flats for race fans.
Like Bonneville, there's plenty of prestige associated with Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. Minimizing weight is one key to success on this hill. That's not exactly easy to do with a 1400-horsepower Cummins diesel power plant. Nevertheless, "Old Smokey" showed that a 1949 Ford F1 doesn't have to play by the same rules as everyone else. Super-congrats to Scott Birdsall for showing the world what a diesel can do.
Cenzo's article goes provides details about Litespeed Racing's lightweight forged wheels and the compound turbo setup on the Cummins diesel. "When you can get up the legendary hill in just 11:24.065 for a new world record, you'd also be happy to sacrifice economy," Cenzo writes.
And then there's the black smoke. Or rather, the lack of it. This is a truck running biodiesel and it's up to 90 percent cleaner than traditional diesel, with little to no modifications for a modern diesel engine to run safely.
Here's a video from YouTube to give you an idea of what Scott Birdsall and Old Smokey as all about. Not the sharpest imagery, but you have full camera control, so you can look left, right, up and down. If you've never run Pike's Peak, this might be your best first look. Up, up and away.
https://carbuzz.com/news/70-year-old-truck-with-1400-hp-just-broke-a-pikes-peak-record
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