Coffee-fueled car may have set world land speed record - Car Rental News
Coffee-fueled car may have set world land speed record
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Car Rental News - 15/09/2011
A car that runs on coffee may now hold a land speed record.
A car dubbed the ‘Carpaccino’ may be the fastest waste-powered car in the world. The vehicle, which runs on coffee, hit a top speed of 106kph, potentially making it the latest holder of a land speed record for vehicles running on waste.
The Carpaccino, an old Rover five-door saloon is fuelled by dried pellets made from coffee grounds. It reached the potential world-record velocity at Elvington airfield near the northern city of York.
The car, which is nearly four decades old, was driven by Martin Bacon. Mr Bacon runs the Teesdale Conservation Volunteers group in Barnard Castle.
Guinness World Records still has to confirm whether Mr Bacon’s Carpaccino is indeed the newest holder of the title of the world’s fastest garbage-fueled vehicle. The Carpaccino is powered using a process originally used during World War II.
Known as gasification, the process helped make up for a lack of fuel during the war. Mr Bacon had to use an old car because gasification only works with a carburettor, whereas all modern cars use fuel injection.
The Carpaccino’s fuel consists of little fuel pellets produced from used coffee granules. The pellets are burned and the flammable gas they produce is collected and routed to the engine via the carburettor.
Despite old coffee going in, the smell that comes out of the office is unlikely to perk anybody up. Mr Bacon says the Carpaccino’s exhaust smells more like a house fire.
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