Skip to content

Always the entertainer

Rick Kopp has a need for speed
web1_170512-QCO-skyfest1_1

After going up and down the quarter mile for many years in a variety of race cars, Rick Kopp put aside his competition urges to entertain. The Burlington, Ontario racer now campaigns a jet truck in exhibition drag racing.

And not just any truck, but an International Transtar 4300 powered by a Westinghouse J34-WE-48 Turbojet engine with a flaming afterburner from a T-2 Buckeye.

The engine in this monster has a single spool, 11 stage axial flow compressor and a single stage axial flow turbine. It produces a whooping 12,000 HP with 6,000 lbs of thrust – that’s intense.

It is also equipped with huge flame throwing exhaust stacks that operate on propane and nitrogen propelled diesel. This high-octane combination allows PYRO to boast one of the most impressive fire displays in the world.

PYRO is an attention getter with its Nathan Airchime K5LA off of a locomotive, and that “loco” is for crazy loud. This freight train horn sounds the B major sith chord with its five horns.

PYRO also lights up the night with its strobe system and custom LED lighting.

“I’ve always been an entertainer,” Rick Kopp said.

“This gives me, the team, and the sponsors a great opportunity. There is no one else in Canada”

Known as “Pyro,” the 12,000 hp truck is capable of some over-the-top fire and noise.