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11-Year-Old Pilots 1,325 MPG Concept Car
MikeChino writes "Hypermiling vehicles depend on ultra-efficient engines and low weight to go the distance, so Cambridge Design Partnership selected 11-year-old Cambreshire student Kitty Foster as the pilot their new 1,325 MPG car. The vehicle incorporates a highly modified lightweight oxygen concentrator that was originally developed for the Ministry of Defense to treat injured soldiers."
Passengers? Just one, the driver
Doors? None
Power Windows? Nope, no windows at all
Wheels? Just three
It's great to see something get this kind of fuel economy, to see where we can take the technology, but it might not be entirely honest to call it a "car".
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
Still really cool, but my original reality was much more awesome. I would have loved to break the sound barrier when I was 11.
It's on a closed track. It's less risky than a go-kart.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mallory_Park
>putz around
>putz as a verb
I don't think it means what you think it means.
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BMO
An 11 year old is pretty light, but since the point clearly has nothing to do with designing a vehicle to move people around, why not just replace the entire machine with a two-pound computer?
The Challenge is held on a closed track, so it's not like anybody would get hurt. With the driver removed, we could ratchet the number up to 10,000 miles, I'm sure.
Why would you want to? I have no idea, but then, I have no idea what the point of this demonstration is in the first place except to print "large numbers of miles per gallon" in a newspaper. So why not just take it to its logical conclusion?
You don't need a license to drive.
You need a license to drive on public roads.
What private citizens do with their private vehicles in their private race tracks is none of the government's business.
When I was in high school our school participated in these events. The competition was held up at Brainerd International Raceway and there were 2 categories, modified and unmodified. In the unmodified class you couldn't make any engine modifications but everything else was open. The engine you got was some small 4 stroke Briggs & Stratton. The team would then build the chassis and body around the engine. The goal being to create as light and aerodynamic vehicle as possible while reducing rolling resistance. Cars in the this call would typically get several hundred MPG. In the modified category you could also modify the engine, and modify was a pretty loose term given some of the mods that I had seen where about the only original parts were the block and pull string. Cars in this category would be up near or above 1000 MPG.
Now when actually competing you went and did one full trip on the track if your car passed inspection. You got a metered amount of fuel (I think it was about 1 quart of ethanol) and would roll the car out to the starting line. You would then be given the go ahead and the driver would use the pull string to start the engine (there was no clutch) so they would actually start to pull the vehicle up to speed. Once the engine started the car would reach speed at which point the engine is stopped and the vehicle coasts to a stop and then they cycle begins again until you complete your single lap. Once completed the remaining fuel is measured and you MPG is calculated.
Also female drivers are very common for these types of cars because they are smaller and lighter than guys. Typically our driver would be one of the team members girlfriend who was a gymnast or on the dance line. The passenger compartment would be built for them to drive it so as to cut down on as much weight as possible.
Time to offend someone
The average adult American is not obese.
No. It's a Trike. Equivelent road-legal vehicle would be classed a motorcycle in the majority of jurasdictions on the planet. The reverse trike configuration is used by other notable high-mpg vehicles such as the Aptera.
I could sure use one in my daily commute. I get 23mpg in my Nissan Maxima. My inherited 40-year-old Mini Cooper got 50mpg with 1960s technology and 100,000 miles on the clock. How far we've (not) come!
After logging in slashdot still does not take you back to the page you were on. It's been that way for 20 years.
>While that is true, something has to be said about the security of the child and the responsibility of guardianship. While traffic regulations does not apply on private ground, social service does.
You seriously think that a school sponsored event runs aground of child safety laws? You really do?
You are what is wrong with society.
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BMO
Roughly 25% equates to average? We shouldn't let facts get in the way of your slander though. Sure, it's a lot of people. No, it's not the average.
Sig not found.
60% of adult Americans are obese.
My son has been driving my truck, offroad, since he was 6. I like the idea that if I'm injured and incapable of driving, my son will be able to get the two of us out to the nearest road... He's almost 10 now so having him drive me closer to civilization in an extreme emergency is not inconceivable..
He's also been helping to fix my truck since he was 4 and rebuilt the entire front axle of my 4x4 when he was 8.. Not because I think he should, but because he wanted to. Been teaching him how to weld, also.
The CDC begs to differ: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db01.pdf
"You need a license to drive on public roads." Since when did you become a Constitutional attorney? In the USA, only commercial drivers and those who have been tricked into agreeing they are commercial drivers need a license to drive on public roads. The rest of us exercise our right to travel in personal automobiles. The right has been upheld by the federal Supreme Court. You may want to listen to Rule Of Law Radio during their Monday "traffic night" call-in show. The hosts understand how to travel without a license. http://ruleoflawradio.com/index.html Right To Travel reading: http://www.apfn.org/apfn/travel.htm http://www.usconstitution.net/constnot.html#travel http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/cases/topics/tog_right_to_travel.html
Exactly! Boobies are hardly something for little kids!
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.