It’s one of those stories that local prime-time TV news presenters absolutely love, because it allows them to use words like “Poo” and “Farts”, causing much giggling among infant viewers. It’s also just about awesome enough to warrant coverage here.
CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) powered buses are nothing even remotely new, but over the years alternatives have been sought for that dinosaur gas. One source currently finding favour is total bullshit. It’s BioMethane, distilled from essence of cow excreta and general farm waste. The entire process is claimed to be carbon neutral, but frankly none of the above is headline stuff, is it? The awesome bit comes from how its operator, Reading Buses of Hampshire, UK, have chosen to publicise their fleet of 34 BioMethane buses.
By setting a Service Bus Land Speed Record.
Admittedly we’re not talking about enormous numbers. The target was 80mph, a speed that most current production cars could probably achieve on the starter motor alone. But considering that the usual service speed of this bus would be a limited 56mph, it’s a solid figure. It’s also impressive considering that this bus, aside from a couple of safety-obligated modifications required to enable the speed record attempt, is exactly the same as when carrying passengers around every day.
The bus is an ADL Enviro 300 with a Scania KUB 18 tonne chassis. It’s running a 5 Cylinder Scania OG9 diesel engine, which when running in CNG configuration can produce 270hp. For the record attempt Scania have raised the rev limit beyond 1900rpm, and the speed limiter has been disabled. Also a set of new Michelins capable of high-speed running have been fitted.
The banked circuit at Millbrook Proving Ground in Bedfordshire played host to the attempt which was performed, and succeeded, yesterday. It has been confirmed that 80.78mph was reached, the driver remarking that it was achieved quite comfortably. I get the feeling that, having achieved 80, Reading Buses are downplaying any thought of going still faster. Bus and Coach Buyer magazine opined:
“There has been some concern expressed at the headline concept of setting a speed record, however the project as a whole is much wider in concept and the speed record almost a side output”.
Bus services are typically marketed on the strengths of efficiency, convenience and safety. Outright speed on a banked circuit is not really on-message for the pro-public-transport brigade. However, there seems little doubt that the headline of “Fastest Service Bus In The World” puts a positive spin on BioMethane as a credible fuel for buses. It certainly feels a long way removed from the noisy, lumbering Leylands which heaved themselves around while spewing thick black hydrocarbon clouds when I was growing up. I would be glad to board a clean, efficient bus which I know had been doing 80 last week. That’s the most Hoontastic thing a bus can do.
(Images courtesy of Bus and Coach buyer and the Reading Buses #projectvroom twitter feed)
By RoadworkUK
RoadworkUK is the online persona of Gianni Hirsch, a tall, awkward gentleman with a home office full of gently decomposing paper and a garage full of worthless scrap metal. He lives in the village of Moistly, which is a safe distance from London and is surrounded by enough water and scenery to be interesting. In another life, he has designed, sold, worked on and written about cars in exchange for small quantities of money.
Jeff Glucker
A long time ago I saw on TV news a segment where some farmer in England was able to run his old Hillman on chicken droppings. Here’s a link:
http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_library/methane_bate.html
So he drove a chickenshit car…
Sandra Bullock was the driver, I hope.
One of the more pleasant byproducts of the waste oil diesel movement is driving behind an old diesel Merc and smelling delicious french fries*. I can see this having a less than pleasant byproduct, though it could make city dwellers feel as if they are in the country.
*Except during Lent when the smell may be more fishy.
So how much for 54 Recaro seats?
“Bus and Coach Buyer magazine opined:”
But then they would, naturally.
I drove CNG powered buses last year for 6 months from Thomas of NC. The John Deere motors constantly fouled or burned up plugs, and the smell of methane when fueling is unpleasant. The Cummins motors are far superior, but still slow.
They are a bit quieter than diesel and more comfortable and they’ll get up to 80 mph, probably, but man does it take a long time. They do not like climbing mountains, at all; the engines overheat and go into limp home mode and then we typically had to drive them like that until end of shift. As I said before, unpleasant.
This image reminds me, if I ever win a giant lottery, I’m shipping our coach and toad to Yurrup, and driving the Nordschliefe with them, if they’ll let me.
http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp29/mckellyb/P1000755_zpsf19b7b1c.jpg
Slowest. Ring. Time. Ever.