Trying to get gas at reasonable prices is becoming one of the world’s major problems these days, so it seemed only natural that people would look for alternative sources to power their vehicles. There has been an onslaught of hybrid and full electric vehicles introduced to the market as of late, but there have also been unconventional methods as well, like that whiskey-powered model over in Scotland. It is the unconventional that has just broken the land speed record for vehicles running on organic waste. Engineer, Martin Bacon, and a group of volunteers from Teesdale Conservation in England have managed to make a car run on coffee.
Their project is based on a modified Rover SD1 which managed to hit a top speed of 77.5 mph and an average speed of 66.5 mph after many modifications, all with the help of the sole reason I get up in the morning. This java-powered rocket broke the previous speed record in this category of 47.7 mph, set by the wood-burning Beaver XR7 in 2010.
In this coffee-powered car, the fuel is sent to the V6 engine through an on board wood gas generator (gasification) system, which in this case burns wood and coffee grounds at a high temperature (more than 1292 F). The result is carbon monoxide, hydrogen, and methane, or the exact gas an internal combustion engine needs.
"Some of the clean gas is also being compressed to 150 PSI and injected directly into the manifold to achieve top speed. The cooling system is configured using an intercooler with two 12-volt fans attached."
Hyundai is on a roll these days, having just launched the wildly successful Sonata midsize sedan and the Elantra compact. Both cars are selling at record volumes, and Hyundai has ramped up production at their Montgomery, Alabama plant (where both cars are built) to meet demand. The line is running three shifts per day, but that’s still not enough to meet demand, so Hyundai is importing additional cars from Korea.
For any automaker, such success would be a tough act to follow. For Hyundai, it’s just business as usual, and their newly-launched Accent subcompact is about to change the market in the same way its bigger brothers did. Forget everything you may know about the outgoing Hyundai Accent, which was inexpensive and designed to compete on price alone. The new car is better styled (carrying on Hyunda’s “fluidic sculpture” exterior design theme), roomier, more comfortable, and much safer, thanks to the addition of electronic stability control, traction control, and even electronic brakeforce distribution. You can read our full review of the 2012 Hyundai Accent here.
Just as the 2011 Hyundai Elantra set the bar for compact cars, the 2011 Hyundai Accent will cause consumers to rethink what’s possible from an entry-level subcompact. All Accents come powered by Hyundai’s 1.6-liter Gamma engine, which somehow manages to produce both class-leading horsepower and highway fuel economy of 40 mpg. With 138 horsepower, driving a car that weighs just 2,400 pounds, acceleration is surprisingly brisk. The Accent pulls away from a stop noticeably harder than the competition, and it never manages to feel like an economy car.
If you use an electric toothbrush, chances are good that you don’t have to plug it in to recharge it. Instead, you simply place it on a post in the base of the charging stand, and the toothbrush tops itself off via electromagnetic inductive charging. If that works to recharge a toothbrush, or a cell phone, why can’t the same idea be applied to electric cars?
This is the exact question being raised by HaloIPT, a British firm that will demonstrate electromagnetic inductive charging for electric cars at the upcoming Frankfurt Motor Show. The concept is relatively simple: the driver of an electric car equipped with Halo IPT’s system parks his car atop a rubber charging mat, which is plugged into a charging station nearby. The mat and the car communicate via Bluetooth to test the connection and ensure the car is parked properly. Once the hand-off is given, charging begins with no additional action required on the part of the driver.
We love going fast and we love pushing the limits to see what our vehicles are capable of. The Bonneville Salt Flats provide a perfect setting for speed junkies of all kind to come and find out what they are capable of achieving. This dry lake bed has been dominated in recent times by the internal combustion engine and even jet power, but an older form of powering four wheels is about to take center stage once again.
The U.S. Land Steam Record Team will be attempting to beat the current record in their newest steam powered vehicle. In 2009, Team Inspiration from Great Britain broke the 1985 steam record by hitting 148.308 mph. The previous official FIA record of 127mph was set in 1906 by American, Fred Marriott, driving a Stanley steamer at Daytona Beach.
Driver and car designer, Chuk Williams, in conjunction with Cyclone Power Technologies will be the latest steam pioneers when they attempt the record breaking run in August 2011. The state of the art streamline design is projected to hit a top speed north of 200 mph, which would undoubtedly seal its position in the history books. We look forward to reporting more on the attempt once the team makes it to Bonneville.
Hit the jump for more details on the U.S. Land Steam Record Team
After successfully building the world’s fastest street-legal supercar - the Maxximus G-Force - back in 2009, partners Marlon Kirby and David McMahan are back in action. However, this time, they have gone very green with the new Maxximus LNG 2000.
Not many details have been released for the LNG 2000 as of yet, but we do know that it is breaking the walls set up by petrol engines by running on compressed natural gas and liquid natural gas. That’s right supercar owners; no more getting ripped off at the pump! We still don’t know what kind of performance it will provide, but it is being pegged as the second generation G-Force which clobbered the 0-60mph sprint in 2.1 seconds. The G-Force was by no means green, though. It was powered by a 1,600-horsepower, 7.0-liter engine sourced from Chevrolet which boasted if additional performance times of 0-100 mph in 4.5 seconds and 0-100-0 mph in 8.8 seconds.
Development for the LNG 2000 is still ongoing, but the company was kind enough to reveal the first image of the "green" vehicle for us to ogle. They are also currently working on another model model - dubbed the Prodigy - which will come with 2,000 horsepower and a $1,000,000 price tag. Considering the G-Force costs $3,000,000, the Prodigy will actually be a steal! No pricing information for the LNG 2000 has been revealed as of yet.
Stay tuned! We’ll be following this development of the LNG 2000 closely!
