Coffee-powered car in world land speed record claim
- Published
A coffee-powered car driven at 66mph (106km/h) may have set a world land speed record.
The Carpaccino reached the speed at Elvington airfield near York in an attempt at setting a record for vehicles powered by burning waste.
Dried pellets of coffee grounds powered the 35-year-old Rover, driven by Martin Bacon, who runs Teesdale Conservation Volunteers in Barnard Castle.
The record has yet to be confirmed by Guinness World Records.
The coffee-powered car uses a process called gasification which Mr Bacon, from County Durham, said was used in World War II because of the lack of fuel.
'Smells like fire'
He said he needed an old car because the process needs a carburettor.
"The trouble with a lot of modern cars is that they've got far too many sensors on, they're all fuel-injection," he said.
The used coffee granules are made into pellets which are then burned and a flammable gas drawn off.
The car uses this gas as it is produced, although Mr Bacon said the exhaust smells "like a house fire" rather than coffee.
He said the record attempt was partly "a bit of fun" but also intended to make a serious point that waste can produce energy.
In March 2010 Mr Bacon achieved the Guinness World Record for the longest journey by a coffee-powered car, when he drove 210 miles (337km) from London to Manchester in a 1988 Volkswagen Scirocco.