Engine Punk

This Land Rover looked normal but smelt different. It sounded like any V8 ought to. I was in Wales recently and experienced probably the wettest weather on holiday that I've ever known. However, the Abergavenny Show still went ahead and sheltering under the trees next to the traction engines I found this wood burning Land Rover 101. In the back is a slow wood burning stove designed to produce a steady supply of syngas, a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen that can then used for combustion in a conventional petrol engine. This vehicle is a work in progress under continuous development. I spoke briefly to the owner who explained the general principles and pointed me to wood gas resources on the internet . It seems that many people in the US are exploring gasifiers as their - er - gas prices go up and in a land where pickups are common the bulk of the gas generating equipment isn't such a problem. This is a close up of the gasifier in the back of the Land Rover. ...

Look closely and every car has been vandalised Also on my travels in Wales I found this garage. There were row upon row of Jags many of which had suffered fire damage. The front row all had smashed windscreens. I'm no forensic expert but Jags don't just go up in flames like this without some encouragement. Or break their windscreens by themselves. I found this very sad. Here was once a successful business. Now it's a graveyard of missed opportunities to get a few Coventry cats back to life. Some of them could yet be saved, especially the undamaged ones but probably by the time you read this they will all have gone the same way. Among the Jags was this Ferrari 308GT4. That at least surely should be saved. Even if its a dark brown one. They say this colour is coming back in. On Google Earth the place looks a bit livelier and the cars more loved. The sign in the picture above of the Ferrari reads Swffryd Fish Bar Another smoked cat. Not so long ago this wa...