The Enid News and Eagle, Enid, OK

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August 18, 2011

Two more records

By Robert Barron, Staff Writer Enid News and Eagle

Hajek Motorsports of Ames has broken two more land-speed records, for diesel and biodiesel trucks, with a Ford F-250 Super Duty.

Brent Hajek, owner of the team, said the record was set Aug. 15 for the regular diesel and Aug. 16 using biodiesel made from soybeans. The Ford F series is known for its power, Hajek said, and that truck was used to break the records at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.

The records were broken using both a diesel- and biodiesel-powered 2011 Ford F-250 Super Duty. Hajek said he broke the records using mostly a stock truck with the new 6.7 liter Power Stroke V8. The team achieved a speed of 171.123 mph on regular diesel and 182 mph on B20 biodiesel, he said.

“Ford just came out with the new Power Stroke diesel engine and we wanted to showcase it powerwise,” Hajek said. “We thought this would be a good way to do it, by setting land-speed records.”

Hajek said there was a two-fold mission. They wanted to break the diesel record, and they also wanted to use the B20 biodiesel. The first run was a warm-up pass, then they tried to break the regular diesel record and accomplished it on the first attempt, then backed it up on the second attempt. The fuel was then drained to switch to biodiesel and set the second record.

“Those two passes used about one gallon of fuel. The fuel is certified and the tanks are sealed. That’s how we knew how much we used,” he said.

The truck broke the B production diesel truck record of 166.850 mph by a Duramax Diesel GMC. The class is designed for stock race vehicles or vehicles using extensive production parts to perform at high speeds. The biodiesel land speed record that was broken was 130.614 mph.

Ford engineers teamed up with Hajek to design and install the modifications to the production-level truck. Changes were made only to the top-end components of the ending, including a high-pressure fuel pump, fuel injectors and turbochargers for more fuel flow. The compression ratio also was modified.

“The engineering that went into the base engine provided us with a rock-solid foundation to start from,” said Paul Niessen, powertrain engineer, “and it worked out great since we increased the output of the engineer by more than 50 percent over production with just a few changes.”

Work on a chassis dynamometer before the attempt proved the engine was able to adapt to biodiesel fuel and deliver both on horsepower and fuel efficiency. It also verified the performance of the production transmission and drivetrain, Niessen said.

Hajek is a soybean farmer near Ames and also owns Hajek Motorsports Museum in Ames. The pickup that broke the land-speed records will be on display Saturday during Ames Day.

“There are a lot of soybean farmers in this area trying to promote soy products and keep some of the diesel money in Oklahoma, where they are grown,” he said.

Two years ago Hajek set a land speed record with a Mustang reaching 254 mph using E-85 ethanol fuel. He has other goals in store for the pickup, too.

“I want to get the cage recertified to go out and really drive it. I feel 200 mph is within reach, a 200 mph biodiesel-powered F-250,” he said.

Hajek drove the pickup himself while setting the records. He said he drove it like a standard truck.

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