Finally cats are useful for something!
A German inventor says he’s found a way to make cheap diesel fuel out of dead cats.
Dr Christian Koch, 55, from Kleinhartmannsdorf, said his method uses old tyres, weeds and animal cadavers.
They are heated up to 300 Celsius to filter out hydrocarbon which is then turned into diesel by a catalytic converter.
He said the resulting “high quality bio-diesel” costs just 15 pence per litre.
Koch said the cadaver of a fully grown cat can produce 2.5 litres of fuel - meaning around 20 cats are needed for a full tank.
He said: “I tank my car with my own diesel mixture and have driven it for 105,000 miles without any problems.”
Annelise Krauss of the Dresden Animal Protection Association blasted Koch’s new diesel though, saying: “This is as bad as experimenting on animals.”
Link
Ford Motor Company has finally announced the new diesel engine for the F-Series Superduty pickups. The engine will be a 6.4L that will run as clean as a gasoline engine. They achieved this using high precision injectors coupled with a particulate filter system that will further rid the exhaust of the black smoke. The low sulfur diesel standard that goes into effect Oct.15 will also help drive down emissions further.
Detroit News Article
So today I picked up my 2002 Volkswagen Jetta GLS TDI Auto. It’s got 65K miles so it should be broken in by now. The greatest thing of all though is the A/C. Some people say VW doesn’t have good A/C systems but mine rocks! Especially coming from a car whose A/C broke at the beginning of summer………in Texas……where there’s been 34 days of over 100 degrees. I plan to see how far I can take this performace wise while still retaining the incredible MPG that diesels are know for. I’ll always update what kind of gas mileage I am getting and what I’m doing to take care of the car so it’ll hopefully last at least 200K more miles.
A car built by JCB Dieselmax has broken the previous land speed record for a diesel powered vehicle! The previous land speed record was set in 1973 at a measly 236mph. I can’t believe it took so long. Anyone know the kinda mileage you get at 328.767? I heard it only took one gallon to do the run but I couldn’t find anything to confirm it.
BBC story on Fastest Diesel
Unfortunately they are testing a Europe only car, but maybe someday it will make it to American shores.
First a few stats:
3.0L inline six turbo
228hp (gas version makes 255hp)
369pound-feet of torque!!! (149ft. lb. more than the gasser!)
0-60mph - 6 seconds (5.6 for the 330i)
1/4 mile time - 14.5 at 97mph (14.4 at 98mph for the 330i)
C&D’s observed city mileage:33.6mpg (24.3mpg for the 330i)
C&D’s observed highway mileage:40.4mpg (26.3mpg for the 330i)
While a mostly postive article they did still side with the gasser, because they are “purists”, they did acknowledge probably everyone else would pick the diesel. There is almost no compromise in performance, and your highway passing power is so much better. The 330d posted a 7.5 second top gear 50-70mph time while the 330i took 9.4 seconds. With the 44% increase in gas mileage I think it would be a no brainer for everyone else.
Link to the article
………and since Audi recently kicked ass at Le Mans here goes:
Audi AG wins the Le Mans 24 Hour race with their V12 diesel powered car. The car puts out 650 horsepower and 1100 newton metres of torque (or about 813ft. pounds for us Americans). It’s one of the fastest most economical cars on the field and it won in arguably the toughest car race in the world. A major part in what helped them win was the mileage that diesels are know for allowed them at one point to set a new record of covering 16 laps with one fuel load. The average distance covered was 14 laps between fuel pittings whereas a regular gasoline engine is considerably less. The Audi team also managed to nab third place with one of their other diesel powered R10’s.
PDF account from Le Mans about the Victory
Audi R10 Technology and Build Video
SpeedTV’s Video of an R10 Vs. a Harrier Jet