One of the things that I like doing sometime during the workweek is to wander through the Banks Race Shop. It is really an amazing place. I can’t think of any other place in the world where I could find high-flow intake manifolds for diesel engines being developed, turbochargers being mounted on a V-12 tank engine and a one-of-a-kind diesel road race truck being built from the ground up… oh and by the way, just a few feet away is the world’s fastest pickup truck powered by a Cummins ISB engine.
Don’t think of it like a NASCAR race shop where you would see a half dozen or more cars being prepped for specific tasks. A lot of people refer to it as a toy shop, but it is really much more than that. It is a research and development facility of the highest order. There is a lot of talent working in the room too. The other day I was looking as some custom aluminum manifolds with welds that looked like they were done by a robot. They were actually done by Michael Markowitz, one of our newest fabricators. As far as I know he is fully human. He clearly has more metal working capability in his little finger than I will ever have.
I guess one of the reasons that I love it so much is because I love racing. What better way to develop new ideas and expand automotive concepts? That is really what racing is all about. And on top of that, its fun.
Tags: Banks Race Shop






![[BlogBookmark]](http://www.banksblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/blogbookmark.png)
![[Bloglines]](http://www.banksblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/bloglines.png)
![[BlogMarks]](http://www.banksblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/blogmarks.png)
![[del.icio.us]](http://www.banksblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/delicious.png)
![[Digg]](http://www.banksblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/digg.png)
![[Facebook]](http://www.banksblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/facebook.png)
![[Google]](http://www.banksblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/google.png)
![[LinkedIn]](http://www.banksblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/linkedin.png)
![[MumbleAbout]](http://www.banksblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/mumbleabout.png)
![[MySpace]](http://www.banksblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/myspace.png)
![[Squidoo]](http://www.banksblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/squidoo.png)
![[StumbleUpon]](http://www.banksblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/stumbleupon.png)
![[Technorati]](http://www.banksblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/technorati.png)
![[Yahoo!]](http://www.banksblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/yahoo.png)
![[Email]](http://www.banksblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/email.png)



