There is no doubt that a driver who can hash their way through an autocross course with very few penalties and a decent time has skill, but do it in a dually pickup truck and you, my friend, are downright incredible. As difficult of a feat as that may sound, that’s exactly what Bret Voelkel did last weekend at the Goodguys All American Get Together in Pleasanton, California. Leave it to the president of RideTech to put half the competition to shame while hitting mid-range course times in the ‘06 1-ton Chevy Duramax Diesel shop truck. Check out the video of Voelkel strutting his stuff on the autocross course above.
As you know by now, the C3500HD Chevrolet Duramax with an Allison automatic transmission is not usually the vehicle RideTech showcases at events, but bet Voelkel that he won’t put the 1-ton pickup through the ringer on the autocross course, and you’ve got another thing coming. As a stunt that started out as a lark, the dually autocross attempt turned surprising for a lot of people very quickly.
While we’re used to seeing the RideTech 48 Hour Camaro competing at events like the Goodguys Autocross, watching the 6,500lb. 22-foot long truck dart through cones is rather impressive. After all, this is the truck that has towed the RideTech display trailer for the last 200,000 miles.
“All I did to prep it [the truck] for the autocross was unhook the trailer and empty the luggage out of it,” Voelkel told us in an email conversation.
So what’s the secret behind the dually’s incredible autocross skills? A complete RideTech bolt-on dually air suspension system. This system includes a bolt-in C notch and 4-link/lanyard bar in the rear and the companies ½ ton torsion bars, dropped spindles and ShockWave system in the front. The truck is also lowered by 14 inches in the rear and 9 inches in the front.
Obviously this is a winning combination when it comes to thrashing through cones. Voelkel was able to complete the course in 36.9 seconds, finishing in about the middle of the competition. Not surprisingly, sales of RideTech’s dully air suspension components doubled immediately. Congratulations goes out to Voelkel for being able to surprise so many people on the competitiveness of the Chevy dually in autocross competition. We were certainly impressed.