Greenspeed Research Breaks 10-Year World Landspeed Record for Diesel Trucks at the 69th Annual Southern California Timing Association Speed Week Event

(Greenspeed Research) Boise, Idaho Non-Profit organization Greenspeed Research (GsR) breaks landspeed record for diesel trucks at a speed of 219.411mph at the 69th Annual Southern California Timing Association Speed Week in Utah.

On August 18th, 2017, driver Dave Schenker, Patrick Johnston (CTO, GsR), and the rest of the GsR team became the world record holders for fastest diesel truck in their class at 219.411mph. The previous diesel speed record stood for 10 years at 215.091mph. The record was GsR’s second World Record in 6 years, next to their record for the World’s Fastest Vegetable Oil Powered Vehicle and landed Schenker as the newest member of the coveted Bonneville 200mph Club.

Racing among 500 other entrants at the event, the GsR vehicle is a Chevy S10 retrofitted with a high-powered diesel engine. The GsR team has had tremendous industry support over the years in attaining this achievement. GsR would like to thank the many sponsors that have stuck with the team through thick and thin!

Founded as a student club at Boise State University, GsR made the jump to an independent 501(c)3 organization in 2015 with a mission to create learning opportunities for the STEM disciplines and renewable energy. GsR lives this mission through a variety of projects and a growing facility. One of the big hits among younger students is the annual Solar Go-Kart Challenge (SGKC) in Boise, ID. The SGKC competitors convert gasoline powered go-karts to 100% solar power in a design competition in partnership with Boise State University.

What’s next? Schenker says: “This is an important milestone for Greenspeed Research in general, and for Patrick and myself individually. We recently started an engine and chassis design/engineering business and this is a great example of what we are capable of accomplishing. We plan to break this record again, but with vegetable oil.”

Johnston says: “We’ll be back to the salt flats with our vegetable oil engine to beat our petroleum record, and prove once and for all you don’t lose performance while using a plant based, renewable energy source.”
To learn more about Greenspeed Research, visit www.greenspeedredearch.org.