There used to be a guy out here who used to run an old RX3 with a insane rotary. The little fucker was louder than a broken chainsaw, and you'd practically have to cover your ears when it went by, but he used to run 6's in the 8th mile with it. It was a nasty little car. I've heard you can get a 4 rotor race motor directly from Mazda for like 7 grand that makes 700 horses or something. If that's true, that's a hell of a lot of power for the money. A friend of mine from high school is on Mazda's race team. Glad someone's living the dream.
The Tech in Concord, NH raced in the Tour-de-Sol race for ~10 years, I had a hand in the team as an advisor. It was like the early days of any racing endeavor. A whole lot of fun. The Solectria team, w/founder and inventor James Worden developed highly competitive electric vehicles, and the Sunrise was a carbon fiber bodied Ni-M-H battery powered beast. It flew compared to the earlier developed Ni-Cad or lead acid based cars. The article also mentions Bob Stremple, he was a pioneering engineer who headed GM for a time. Enjoy: http://www.evdl.org/pages/boston_ny.html
most electrical power plants run on coal. If we all drove electric cars you would be driving in complete friggin darkness at noon due to polution. eat it HIPPIES. I wana see nuclear. 1.21 jigga watts baby. run our cars on plutionum. ya buddy
I appreciate that you posted this- I find it interesting. Captain Obvious said something to the effect of , "Arguments are everywhere". Thanks, Kurt
Here was my idea back in 2005. I got a good old kick in the A$$ then http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=69918 Get a wrecked Toyota Prius (might not fall under the traditional hot rods) Build a Roadster around the drive system that the Prius uses. Strip all the hybrid parts out to put in a roadster. Put batteries in the enclosed engine compartment and the engine in the trunk of the roadster. This would make it rear wheel drive ‘I hope’ Get 60 to 250 MPG in a good looking roadster
The thing about an electric hotrod is the electricitly can be generated in many different (some 'eco' friendly') ways. Sun, wind, river, steam... Remember, I would not consider myself an eco-warrior. I'm just trying to stay one ot two steps ahed of the nazis in this respect because I love my hot rods. Good read Pitman. Thanks, r Uh, P.S. Thanks Tingler. I typed too slow... r
Electric cars would generally be charged at night when "excess" electrical capacity is avialable. Plus, there are none (as far as I know) coal powerplants in California. The noon darkness would occur elsewhere. hee, hee, hee... I'm with ya on nuclear. Mike
ha ha Sunlight is FREE and it still costs more to make electricity from it than from buying coal But one of these days things will change....I'm doing my part to make it happen sooner, by burning as much gas today as I can
used to own a TON of rx7's (back in my auto-x days) never had to "re-ring" one. Apex seals are mounted on springs and generally cause little damage to the walls.
I'm glad this thread came up. I have been looking into doing a rotary hooked to a Porsche 944 transaxle in my 65 Corvair. this mid-engine setup would allow for a back seat...add a turbo....AND, it would be about 150 lbs less than the flat 6 and transaxle setup. Now I know I am not the only one thinking about this !!
yes electricity can be produced by solar, hydroelectric, nuclear and wind. But mostly by COAL. and thats because its cheap and the infastructure is already there. like stated if we were all driving electric cars, the USA would be more poluted than CHINA. now Im the hippy.
Before I expire one day, I'd love to build a small bellytanker like the "Old Crow" and have it electric powered to race at the flats. I think what Ohio State did with the Buckeye Bullet (I and II) is pretty inspiring.
If it was a tubbed, black RX3, I saw him do a wheelie down the 4 lane road that went behind St. Petersburg Jr. College - Clearwater campus... at 4 in the afternoon on a Thursday a looooong time ago. I thought it was a sportbike until I looked over and saw the nose of a car above the traffic.
"soon, Neil Young will be shipping him a 1960 Lincoln Continental to transform into a biodiesel--electric hybrid. His target for Young's car? One hundred miles per gallon." uh, yeah. That I'd love to see. Sucks being an engineer and knowing what's possible and what isn't.
I wonder the same considering my thread about boxless HOT ROD pickups was shitcanned. lol Electric cars from this era are definitely cool though. People were a lot more advanced then than we give them credit for.
We had 4 seperate Threads going on Alternative Powerplants. ( which is a bit much...) So I merged them all into one.
Raven, great topic you brought up, and Tingler, I'm with ya on this! What I most value here, in HAMB land, are the wisdom, historic tales and creative efforts of most contributors. We see many cars pictured, some clearly traditional and many others, shown because we might appreciate some "original" (or unusual) aspect of it. Early planes, bicycles, by and large if it has wheels, it helps us out in our design and dream stages. Not to single someone out, but this place would be far less interesting without Plowboy, without Metalshapes, many of us have a greater love of all-things-auto-based! We are going to have different opinions...and all to the good. It does seem that where ever you set your Tradition time-fence, includes some, and leaves out others.
How about a 850 cubic inch 32 cylinder motor that weights only a couple hundred pounds and makes gobs of power. Probably the most interesting concept I have seen in a long time. Put one of these in your roadster! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqSIq39TMNM
Tingler, no way am I saying coal is the best man. Most folks dont know that while they at home watching FRIENDS reruns and eating micrwave poopincorn that those are being provided by coal. HEll man I hate whats been done to appalachia. Its sucks, I am from pittsburgh, and knows alittle about coal mining and polution. I am with you all the way on solar, trying to do some right now, but man they are spendy.
The Mighty Engine concept is intriguing. Mr Squirrel, what do you think of this guy? The claim that IC engines are only 20% efficient is lowball. And the claim of 60% for Mr. Mighty is opportune, the system reminds me of a wankel, but certainly it deserves close inpection, there are masses (pistons) that start and stop, and rings that scrape, so friction and Newton are still with us.
I think that's cool, good read. It would also give the rat rodders a purpous to put a tractor grill on their ride if it had a deisel in it!
I'm going to record gas/nitro engines at various rpms to MP3's and sell 'em to all the "electric" hotrodders as "hot rod sounds".......... Would that be considered "patina"???? Or just fake? I work on electric construction equipment everyday (JLG's Genie's, etc...), so I see the problems with electric$$.......motor contollers, ECM's, etc....
The infrastructure for distributing solar power is already here, the only thing missing is solar panels and inverters that cost less to make then the value of the electricity they produce. Go ahead, start up your own solar power company, even with the tax breaks you'll still go broke trying to sell power you get for free from the sun. And if you don't go broke...you might get rich...what are you waiting for?
Do we have to have a conversation about how it's not all the car... the driver does have something to do with racing, right? This Vette couldn't hook up all night, didn't know how to clutch it. They were grudge racing all night.
The Jalopy Journal
