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The World's Fastest Schoolbus?
Fark linked up news of a car designed to break the long-standing land speed record for diesel power. Built by (what I think is) British excavator builder JCB, the vehicle is powered by two turbodiesel engines pumping out 1500 horsepower each. It aquitted itself quite well during last week's Bonneville Flats America's National Speed Week (wherein an Alfa Romeo Spider broke a class record), and is expected to smash the diesel record if all things go well.
While 4 mpg is not much in the street car world, that's actually very good mileage for a race car, most of which generally return 2.5 mpg, if that.
Well, that's the Theory of Relativity for you. The faster you go, the more energy you need to crank your speed even higher. More energy means more fuel consumption.
That's why I wouldn't be buying a Lamborghini or Porsche or even getting a turbocharger, even if I did have the money, at least until gas prices drop again. My rice burner couldn't reach 90 mph if you dropped it from the Space Shuttle, but I can drive it for two months on a single ten-gallon tank of gas.
I tried to post the link to the page, but the filter won't let me post a php address. Looks like going to www.jcb.com, choose Europe, then UK&Ireland. From there, click on the banner at the top of the page to get to the actual website.
Posted by: ron on August 22, 2006 01:32 PM