VIDEO: 3,000 HP Greasel falls flat on record run

John Neff — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 13:27:00 EST

This 3,000-horsepower peanut oil-powered pickup was supposed to make a record speed run for grease-powered vehicles of between 160 and 200 mph. That was what we were told at SEMA where the twin-turbo '87 Chevy Silverado, nicknamed Greasel, was unveiled. The truck made its record run at the El Mirage Dry Lake Bed in California over the weekend and the results were less than impressive. On its first attempt, Greasel and its driver reached a face-melting speed of 82 mph (Please, sense the sarcasm). On subsequent runs the press release reveals it reached a top speed of "Almost 100 miles per hour!" Whoa there, PR people. I personally know at least three people who have WVO Jettas that can break triple digits on surfaces other than compacted salt. But it seems that since the Sourthern California Timing Association was on hand to officially record the runs, the Greasel goes down as the fastest grease-powered vehicle on earth. Clearly something went wrong, as were told the initial runs would be at least be above 160 mph, with subsequent tinkering hopefully pushing the Greasel past 200 mph, even potentially reaching 240 mph. The only press release we could find, however, seems written by a uneducated PR lacky who isn't aware that 3,000 horsepower and a top speed of "Almost 100 miles per hour!" don't belong in the same sentence together.

[Source: Marketwire]

VIDEO: 3,000 HP Greasel falls flat on record run originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 13 Nov 2006 13:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In the Autoblog Driveway: 2003 VW Jetta SVO (Straight Vegetable Oil)

John Neff — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 12:13:00 EST

Filed under: Car Buying, Trends, Hybrid, Etc., Green, Volkswagen

One lesser-known movement in green car technology is converting diesels to run on SVO, or Straight Vegetable Oil. Unlike biodiesel, which is produced by chemically modifying vegetable oil so that it can be used in a diesel vehicle with no modifications, SVO requires a second fuel system for the vegetable oil in addition to the standard diesel fuel system. Also, one doesn't operate and fill up an SVO vehicle like a normal petrol or diesel car. It sounds like a lot of work, so why are more and more people kicking up the veggie quotient of their diesels' diet? We decided to look into it.

No automaker offers an SVO-powered vehicle in its line-up, so tapping a press fleet for a quick evaluation was out of the question. Fortunately we stumbled upon Chuck and Tom Norton, a pair of sibs who run Turtle Plastics, an eco-friendly plastics business in Lorain, OH. The Norton boys recently had a 2003 Volkswagen Jetta TDi converted to run on SVO. Though Tom's the primary driver, Chuck was happy to hand over the keys to their "Vega Jet" for a spin last week and helped us understand what it's like to own and operate a vehicle that eats out of a dumpster. Let us explain...

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In the Autoblog Driveway: 2003 VW Jetta SVO (Straight Vegetable Oil) originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 04 Apr 2006 12:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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