When it comes to engine builders, particularly in the realm of turbocharged performance, Gale Banks is a living legend. He founded Gale Banks Engineering back in 1959 while still in school at Cal Poly Ponoma. A hot rodder by trade, Banks caught the high performance bug when he began modifying the engine in his mom’s car. In 1963 he would set a class record at the Bonneville Salt Flat in a modified ’53 Studebaker, hitting a top speed of 184.2 miles per hour.

His company went on to create championship-winning power boat motors, and in the early 1980s he secured a contract with US Navy to supply them with a durable 535 horsepower twin-turbo marine engine. Later in the decade a Banks-powered Pontiac Firebird would become the world’s fastest passenger car, hitting 277 miles per hour at the Salt Flats.

And while much of Banks’ work has revolved around gasoline engines, he’s no stranger to diesel motors either, as the video above clearly illustrates. Here Banks takes us on a crash course of the fundamentals of diesel design, and how to create more performance without, as Banks says, “putting the engine on kill.”

“You can really do magic tuning these things,” says Banks. He proceeds to squash the negative reputation diesel still has regarding particulates and performance potential. He also goes into the basics about fuel octane and why it’s the limitation of gasoline engines and the life blood of diesel engines.

But that’s just scratching the surface of what Banks covers in this incredibly informative video. Peep the clip above and get schooled.