Teenage Aliyyah Koloc breaks European Super Truck 500-meter records
Piloting a 11,000-pound racing semi-truck, Aliyyah Koloc, a 16-year-old from the Czech Republic, has earned not one, but two 500-meter speed records. Her 1900-hp land-speed machine, based on the European Truck Championship’s Super Truck class, powered Aliyyah to 500-meter time of 13.209 seconds at an average speed of 84.6 mph; from a rolling start, she ran 7.303 seconds at a whopping 153.15 mph.
The custom-built Buggyra MK SR20 truck weighs as much as five Mazda Miatas, rolls on a custom chassis, and bangs gears with an electronically shifted six-speed ZF HP600 sequential. Its heart is a CAT-based, 12-liter Gyrtech MK SRC/020-SS engine with a pair of Shwitzer GT-PTS compound turbos. The Freightliner M1 cab and bodywork has been heavily modified to reduce aerodynamic drag, a necessary step in helping the barn-sized race truck cut through the air.
The effort is helmed by Aliyyah’s father, Martin Koloc, a 25-year Super Truck racer with a pair of championships to his name.
Aliyyah’s mission behind the wheel is focused on more than record books, however. She was recently diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, a social disorder that makes it difficult to acclimate to new people and unfamiliar places. However, after donning her helmet and climbing into the cab of the Super Truck her father built—with the help of a team that’s like family to her—she leaves that shyness behind in a cloud of exhaust and tire smoke. Her sister Yasmeen even commands the race radios like a spotter and crew chief, a task that testifies to the high level of trust between the siblings.
“My dad told me back then that we can handle it, and he helped me to find some positives about it,” Aliyyah says. “I’ve understood that it’s difficult in life to have everything. I’ve decided that once I find a way to help children with the same diagnosis, I’ll do it.” Her two land speed records are helping to showcase that purpose; her goal is to establish the Smiling Eyes Foundation to support other people, both young and old, with Asperger’s Syndrome.
“I know that you can’t express everything with words,” she says. “The great things are always written in the eyes. Talking about the Asperger Syndrome is easier than to keep it inside. And that’s what I advise every child and adult with the same diagnosis to do.”
Her sponsors have elected to provide the initial round of funding for the Smiling Eyes Foundation if the YouTube video above can break 2 million views—a high bar, but one that deserves to be reached.
