A bunch of crazy, tea-drinking northern Brits have set a new land speed record for a gasification-powered vehicle, fueled only by coffee beans. The car, which you can see in the image above alongside its engineer Martin Bacon and with the most awesome license plate in the world, is called — you guessed it — The Coffee Car, and it was created by the Teesdale Conservation Volunteers of Durham, England.
The previous gasification-powered speed record — held by some wussy Americans called “Beaver Energy” — was a mere 47mph, fueled by wood pellets. The Coffee Car averaged no less than 66.5mph and was granted a Guinness World Record in return.
But what is gasification? Good question. By introducing a controlled amount of oxygen (or steam) to the coffee beans (or any organic, carbon-based material), and by increasing the temperature of the fuel to temperatures above 700C (1292F), a fuel called syngas (synthetic gas) is produced. Syngas consists of carbon monoxide, hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and methane, and can be burned using a normal internal combustion engine — or used in fuel cells.
http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/97287-british-coffee-powered-car-breaks-world-record
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