Paul Dallenbach teams up with Banks Power to tackle Pike's Peak

Last year, at the 2010 Pike's Peak International Hill Climb, our very own Drew Phillips ascended the mountain to chat with some of the race's drivers. The most exciting class is arguably the Unlimited group, which run insanely powerful machines driven by mad men looking to break the elusive 10-minute mark. In 2010, only three men strapped into Unlimited-class racers, and one of them goes by the name of Paul Dallenbach.

Phillips captured the following quote from Dallenbach's mouth:

"My car is good on hard surfaces... but I really need to come back with some factory help on an engine. That's my big thing that's hurting me right now. I'm running the same engines I've had for ten years. They're great engines, and they have great torque, but I really need something that's more reliable."

Well, Dallenbach has a helping hand for the 2011 race. Two of them, in fact, and they've been provided by Banks Power. Banks has teamed up with the Dallenbach Racing Team, and the two are sharing a wealth of turbocharging and engine-tuning knowledge. As a result of the twin-turbocharged shove, power has been pushed from 745-horsepower and 650 pound-feet of torque up to 1,307-horsepower and 1,206 pound-feet of torque.

That's a healthy dose of added scoot.

Paul Dallenbach and the Banks Power team now believe they have a record-breaking machine on their hands. Rhys Millen and Nobuhiro Tajima are equally confident in their own machines. Should the weather cooperate, this looks like the year we see a sub-10-minute ascension of Pike's Peak. We will be in Colorado to capture the action, but in the meantime we have video of the Dallench Racing Team car taking a few shakedown runs. Click past the jump to get an idea of how quickly that much power can push a car around.