Monday 15th April 2002

Fuel for Thought

Will innovation be stifled by taxation?

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[Fatboy]

Another top piece, do like the idea of firing up a jet engine in my back garden though

Dead right about F1 - who wouldn't love to watch a no holds barred race series - Real life Wacky Races anyone?

[grahambell]

Got it wrong about The Fast and The Furious there Robert. They used NOS, alias Nitrous Oxide, better known as laughing gas.

The cars still run on petrol, it's just that squirting Nitrous Oxide into the induction system, along with extra petrol (to avoid running lean and buring the pistons)gets a lot more air/fuel mixture into the cylinders, meaning more power.

Old drag racers trick. With big engines and big Nitrous boosts you can get an extra 1,000 bhp at the touch of a button. Enough to make any Pistonhead laugh...

[pjg]

NOx is the correct term for Nitrous Oxide... "NOS" is a bastardised term used by bolt-on boys.

Bring back the ethos of Can Am racing... only with a modern twist - that'll give us something entertaining to watch!

[ellingtj]

NOS isn't quite a bastardised term - NOS is a company which makes nitrous oxide kits for road going cars - Nitrous Oxide Systems (NOS), I believe they are part of Holley - the well known carb manufacturer.
Tim.

[grahambell]

Believe that the nomenclature NOS as used in The Fast and The Furious actually comes from Nitrous Oxide Systems, so yes, it is a bastardised name.

Also believe that the correct term for Nitrous Oxide is actually N2O because it's two parts Nitrogen to one part Oxygen. Any chemists out there care to comment?

[Fatboy]

Yep, formula of nitrous oxide is N2O - can give you a load of very sad facts on it if you want.
try:
www.chm.bris.ac.uk/motm/n2o/n2oc.htm

[ellingtj]

Nitrous Oxide Systems refer to themselves as NOS - the writers of the fast and the furious didn't come up with the acronym 'NOS'.
Nevermind, want to know more look at:
www.holley.com/HiOctn/ProdLine/NOS.html

[CarZee]

In any case, had the acronym been dreamed up specifically for Fast & Furious, it would definitely have been NOBS, not NOS..

[mike355]

Haha great piece of writing. What a race series that would be, something out of Junk Yard wars where strapping a turbine jet to a shopping cart is legal. If our automotive technology is to advance, there needs to be an incentive of some sort to provoke competition. "On the starting grid, Mika driving an A class compact with a warp drive propultion unit. Next to him Michael in the Fiat Uno powered by Titan solid fuel rocket booster...". What fun that would be.

[ATG]

Might do something for ejector seat development too

[superflid]

If anyone is serious, try this
www.nitrous.info

Just a thought, if the Hindenburg had been full of petrol instead of hydrogen it would probably still be burning now. Might not have flown so well though.

[nubbin]

It wasn't the hydrogen in the Hindenburg that burnt so well - it was the metallised cotton material used for covering. A lot of research has been done on it, and scientists found that by replicating the conditions of the air through which it flew, combined with static electricity and moisture, the canopy became a bomb, efectively. The hydrogen didn't help, obviously, but it wasn't the prime combustion material. See here :- www.hydrogenus.com/advocate/ad22zepp.htm

So, if your Elise catches fire, GET OUT FAST!! (Not that you'd sit there to keep warm!)

>> Edited by nubbin on Saturday 20th April 09:01

[Nacnud]

Love the link.

Though me thinks the Hydrogen spin doctors have been sniffing NOS again.

quote:
It wasn't the hydrogen in the Hindenburg that burnt so well - it was the metallised cotton material used for covering.
...
www.hydrogenus.com/advocate/ad22zepp.htm

>> Edited by Nacnud on Saturday 20th April 09:35

[nmlowe]

Just out of interest, what types of alternative fuel are in development at present?
I once heard about the japs designing a water powered car (probably split the oxygen and hydrogen and used the seperate components as the fuel I.E when you put a match into a test tube of hydrogen, it pops and water condensatioin is formed on the inside of the tube).
Can we expect to see cars powered by anything other than petrolium derivatives in the near future?

Have the oil companies got a deal going with the car companies regarding phasing out the internal combustion engine?