The catch phrase in the headline, written by Ilf and Petrov in that time, when the car really was a luxury available to few. It took only a few decades, and now, three hundred million cars speeding on the roads and terrain of the planet.
Long passed are the days when the gasoline bought in pharmacies and hardware stores. The car has gradually become the main consumer of gasoline, and with the transition of aviation gas turbine engines — and almost the only.
Of course, the modern gas turbine liner “burns” within three hours of the flight as much fuel as a passenger car will be enough to three times to travel around the globe, and for regular visits — for the rest of his life. But the machine is “born” every year several million!
Twenty-five years ago began the race to build the capacity of engines, led to the appearance of monsters with four hundred horses hidden under the hood. Now, however, the prestige of the company is determined not so much by engine power, as its economy. This turn caused the outbreak of West ka fuel crisis or legal restrictions on fuel consumption. Currently, in some countries, particularly in USA, is considering a bill about the taxation of the owners depending on the amount of fuel consumed by their cars.
In this regard, abroad becoming more and more popular the competition for the economical use of gasoline.
In one of the last competitions of this kind of car Mazda with a rotary-piston engine, performed together with three BMW cars. At the distance of 840 km were distributed in the following way. First place with a fuel consumption of 9.04 l/100 km took the car Mazda Capella Coupe, equipped with a two-piece rotary-piston engine, 125 HP, weight of car is 1,100 kg. In second place (9,24 litres/100 km) was the car BMW 525 engine capacity of 145 HP, vehicle weight — 1350 kg. the Following places have got a more powerful and heavy cars: BMW 52В (power 165 HP, weight 1385 kg) spent of 10.28 l/100 km, but BMW and 3.0 (180 HP, 1440 kg), slightly more of 10.51 l/100 km.
But the most unusual classes in which the main prize was meant for the party whose car will spend 1000 miles in just one gallon of fuel is equivalent to the consumption of 282.5 g of gasoline is CA 100 km.
Distance competition — 10 miles (16 km), the participants had to go through in 1 hour. Machine could be any design, if only it had at least three wheels and a gasoline engine that is different from the serial. In the competition participated in various technical schools, universities, bike companies, a number of automotive firms (Ford, Jaguar) and oil company shell.
Some machines were fitted with bodies (the lower tab). Most interesting were three designs that became leaders (in the tab above). Machine shell And had a frame of triangular shape, made of steel pipes with a cross section of 3,226 cm2, and the body. Ruled shell And with a single front wheel; the drive was carried out on the rear wheels with a torsion bar is made to protect ratchet with frequent starts of the engine. The result was the best: 217,5 g of gasoline per 100 km.
The creators of the other car has also focused on the aerodynamics of their offspring. Material for chassis type monocoque was Fiberglas. The driver had to watch the road through the transparent front part of the body. However, the Sunny day has made its corrections: in the transparent nose of the machine began to play “bunnies”, and the driver had to stick his head, thus reducing the flow, and hence the results: 258 g per 100 km (1097 miles per gallon). Both the first and the second design used a 50-boiler engines of the company “Honda”.
The greatest interest of the audience was caused by the car from Finland (the left). Its frame was used… half a racing bike. The drive was carried out from the engine with a working volume of 44 cm3, a rebuilt engine DEMM-50 Italian production. A feature of this car was extra… the steam engine, To produce steam around the exhaust pipe of a gasoline engine mounted special boiler. Steam engine, double acting Teflon (PTFE) piston connected to the wheel, engage in the work after turning off the internal combustion engine. The Finnish crew took third place: the consumption of gasoline 339,1 g/100 km (833 miles per gallon). In the fourth place firm Ford — 371 g/100 km and on the fifth or firm of “Lucas” — 380 g/100 km. All participants in these competitions seriously preparing a new machine for the next competition.
I. ZINOVIEV, engineer
