‘Bahn Burner: 200+mph Syclone

Popular Hot Rodding

Syclone

Imagine you’re running the German Autobahn at 170 mph in your Porsche, when suddenly your mirrors are filled with the upright, square black grille of a little American pickup truck. Do you: A) pull to the right and let him by; B) floor it and hope to outrun him; or C) never again have a Bratwarst lunch before a banza run. The answer is “A,” because that’s Dee’s GMC Syclone and it’s filled with the latest power parts from Kenne Bell.

According to Jim Bell, owner of Kenne Bell Performance Products, the story goes like this: “One day I get a call from Germany. Dee says his Syclone engine let go again on the Autobahn during a top-speed blast. Dee loves to race up and down the German autobahn. He would like to send us his truck for a 600hp bulletproof engine. We tell Dee that we don’t work on customers’ vehicles at Kenne Bell, but we could send all the parts to Jim Stokes in Michigan and Jim would build the engine.”

After a trip around the world for horsepower, the truck now runs the quarter in the low 10s on stock tires and it’s heading for the nines. And on the Autobahn, 5100 in overdrive calculates to over 200 mph. (5100 in third gear–1:1 ratio–would be 164 mph).