For most of us coffee is the main ‘fuel’ after a long and tiring night. Well, it seems that this life-giving plant can power not only humans, but cars as well. A small team of entrepreneurial engineers from the UK has set a Guinness World Record by breaking the land-speed record in a car powered by… coffee!?
The world record for a vehicle run on gas from organic waste was previously held by a US-based team in their wood-powered Beaver XR7, which managed 47.7mph (76.8km/h). This is not a record anymore because this car (called Coffee Car Mk2) hit an impressive top speed (for a coffee powered car) of 77.5mph (124.7km/h) and an average speed of 66.5mph (107.0km/h) on the return run to officially claim the world record for this sort of vehicles.
The team took a Rover SD1 with a straight-six-cylinder engine and fitted it with a gasifier designed for maximum output of gas as they targeted the highest possible speed and they succeeded taking into account the fact that the gasification system burns coffee at temperatures above 700 degrees Celsius producing a synthetic gas that comprises methane, hydrogen and carbon monoxide. If you have not missed the chemistry classes, then you know that some of these gases are capable of powering the car’s internal combustion engine.
The folks who made this car say that some of the clean gas is also compressed to 150psi and injected directly into the manifold to achieve top speed. In addition to that, the car has a number of draining points for the collection of moisture, while the cooling system comprises an intercooler with two 12-volt fans attached.
In order to make this car as lightweight and faster as possible, the interior was completely stripped, removing about 250kg of dead weight from the cabin.
Considering that its predecessor, the Coffee Car Mk1 holds a Guinness World Record of its own for the longest journey by a coffee-powered car, we’re wondering what’s next. According to the people at Guinness, the converted Volkswagen Scirocco drove 337km from London to Manchester powered by coffee granules, achieving a fuel consumption of one mile per 56 espressos.
The source of inspiration for this unique idea came about when BBC host and inventor Jem Stansfield noticed the large quantities of used coffee granules produced by coffee shops and went about designing a car that would run on waste products.
Source: Car Advice
