Posted on 06/18/2009 8:16:39 AM PDT by pikachu
Six years after he got the idea and bought the streamliner, Jesse James has set the world record for hydrogen-powered speed.
Late afternoon on June 16, James flew across the windswept dust of El Mirage dry lake bed in the California desert and tripped the lights at 199.712 mph. That was 14 mph faster than the previous record of 185 mph, set in Germany by BMW in its hydrogen-powered H2H.
"This, I honestly believe, is world-changing," James said of the emissions-free race car. "We can't rely on gasoline forever. I'm paying it forward."
The whole deal was for the season-ending episode of James's TV show, Jesse James is a Dead Man. The episode is set to air at 10 p.m. Eastern on Aug. 9 on the Spike TV network.
The land-speed car also shows that alternative-fuel cars can have a popular appeal, James said.
"We don't have to be dorks to make things environmentally friendly."
But it's not that simple. You can't just strap a bigger blower onto a bigger engine and get speed. The engine itself took three years of development to make power on hydrogen. Converting the 572-cubic-inch Chevrolet crate motor to hydrogen was first attempted by Quantum Technologies, which then handed the project over to Detroit engine deity Kurt Urban. The problem was heat.
"As you make power, you make heat," Urban said.
All engines do that, of course, but with hydrogen, you have significant obstacles to overcome. Urban invented all kinds of ways to deal with the heat.
The biggest and potentially most-lethal problem was that the hydrogen would ignite back into the intake runners. So Urban used longer intake runners that also had a low profile to fit under the hood. The runners he chose are the same ones used on Can-Am race cars back in the day. Then he introduced a means to inject water into the runners as needed to prevent detonation of the fuel there. Water shoots into the twin turbochargers to cool them, too.
A large tank packed with ice and water sits inside the car's nose. When the engine temperature rises above 170 degrees, the ice water flows through the block to cool it down. With runs that last only a minute or two, you have options you wouldn't have on a regular car.
Twenty-four injectors spray fuel into the eight cylinders. A normal V8 would have eight. The car carries three, 5,000-psi tanks of gaseous hydrogen.
"The engineers said it couldn't go over 500 hp," said Urban. "This one makes 740. Sometimes engineers are too smart."
James made a trial run on the abandoned runways of El Toro before coming to El Mirage.
"Just to make sure the transmission and everything worked," said Urban.
It did, but, as any land-speed racer or any racer with a new car will tell you, nothing ever goes right the first time.
James aborted his first run at El Mirage when dust immediately filled the cockpit, blinding him. The crew, led by revered land-speed legend Mike Cook, quickly sealed up the cockpit and any other potential entry point for dust. Instead of anything high-tech, they used cardboard and duct tape. To block a large opening above the parachute tubes, they stuffed in a pillow.
A test run showed that there was still too much dust. So the crew used more cardboard and more duct tape.
Another test run showed that the dust was tolerable, but the engine wasn't making the power. So the Cook family, Cook friends, SCTA members and the heavily tattooed West Coast Chopper team opened up the air intake using tin snips, crescent wrenches, hammers, wooden blocks and, finally, a baseball bat.
As daylight ran out, James flew through the timing lights of the SCTA course at 199 mph.
"Not bad for a bunch of guys with no college degrees, huh?" said James of his West Coast Choppers crew.
And even when two members of the team sheepishly admitted that they indeed had college degrees, it was still quite an accomplishment.
LOL! There's the rub!
LOL
I am a bad a$$ chopper rider/scooter trash...and I like Shakespeare
Im working on my faster then light drive so I can get off this planet and away from these Neo-Luddite green weenies
Well, there is a “g”, “r”, “e”, and “n” in hydrogen. The public education Feel-Good-Even-if-You-are-an-Idiot spelling guide says that “gren” is an acceptable variation for “green” - so, there ya go.
True, and also, if one chooses to show them off in promo shots, one should expect comments and reactions (gag reflexes) from others.
What makes hydrogen “green”?
The exhaust is water vapor
“We have plenty of Gasoline for the next 400 Years”
I suspect that is a very conservative estimate but good post.
Look at all the bitter freepers attacking a self made guy from shop class.
“We can’t rely on gasoline forever..”
Yeah right, hitting the bong too much james. The USA sits on top of # Trillion barrels of oil but it is placed off limits by the Statist Totalitarians in Washington.
Enough oil for 270 years. The guy doesn`t know what he`s talking about.
This guy is a self-promoting moron and you`re right, worse show on SPIKE TV. I tried to watch it once but determined this goofball thought up of a way to be paid to have fun.
Unbearable.
* Sits on top of 3 Trillion barrels of oil
After many aborts of shuttle lift-offs and a small thing like the airship Hindenburg one might like to rethink using hydrogen as fuel. The Hydrogen atom being the smallest in our universe makes it hard to contain.
What about the exahust from the power plant required to make hydrogen?
Wish I could do that! You see something wrong with that?
I tried to watch it once but determined this goofball thought up of a way to be paid to have fun.
“Wish I could do that! You see something wrong with that?”
Why yes I do. It`s insipid and Boring. Added to the fact he`s overexposed.
LMAO, that's a very interesting response. Thanks! If most people agreed with you that is was insipid and boring, than how could he possibly be overexposed? And what does that really mean, overexposed? How could he be overexposed? Isn't that simply a misnomer for "popular"?
Most people, I'm confident, would LOVE to get paid for doeing something they enjoy doing. I don't see how any sane person could find fault in that.
We`ll see.
1 `ll get ya 10 this lame show won`t be back next year
I’d love to be so boring that someone paid me to do something I enjoyed.
Fair enough, but I'll bet you double or nothing Jesse James continues to pull in huge profits from his antics that millions willingly pay to watch, and buy his products, etc.
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