Update: Banks Power just posted another video demonstrating more dyno testing on the supercharged Duramax. In a very rare view, the intake throat of the Whipple supercharger is exposed so that flow patterns from the twin water-methanol injectors can be observed. The closeup of the Whipple internals while the engine is running also offers a earful of supercharger whine!

A big V8 diesel with dragster-style supercharger and zoomie headers?

It not only looks cool, it sounds like no other Duramax with those open pipes and blower whine.

This beast comes from Gale Banks performance shop and will power the company’s Sidewinder 276-inch-wheelbase top diesel dragster. The video above shows and early startup and break-in, but it’s just a teaser of the fury yet to come. Banks is looking for 1,500 horsepower at an incredible 6,500 rpm.

The previous Sidewinder engine was a twin-turbo setup that fed the air charge into an imposing Boss Hoss intake manifold. The new 427ci engine is based on a Duramax LML block. Internals include a billet crankshaft, Carrillo rods and Mahle pistons. A 7-stage dry-sump system handles lubrication and scavenging. The LML cylinder head castings received a full Banks CNC port job and are topped by a custom billet intake that supports a 4-liter Whipple twin-screw supercharger. Fuel is fed to the injectors via twin pumps that are belt-driven off the crank. Shots of nitrous and water-methanol are available, as needed.

Note the 7-stage dry-sump pump and the imposing front drive system that turns twin fuel pumps, the oil pump and the supercharger. Supercharger overdrive is about 3:1.

More information about the engine if forthcoming as testing continues and dragster is prepped for Top Diesel competition. But for now you can enjoy a totally different sound from a competition oil burner!

The previous Sidewinder engine was a twin-turbo Duramax.