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(NAPSI)-Last year, the Bonneville Salt Flats-where land speed marks are regularly set, challenged and broken-saw one long-standing record shattered. But what was more noteworthy than the speed of the car itself was the type of engine it sported.
On August 23, 2006, Andy Green-who, nine years earlier, became the first person to break the sound barrier on land-achieved a speed of 350.092 mph in the JCB Dieselmax, surpassing the existing speed record for diesel-driven land vehicles by 40 percent.
Behind the record is a vehicle driven by two 4.4d-liter JCB diesel engines with a combined output of 1,500 HP-about twice the power of a Formula 1 racing car.
In order to "pacify" the vehicle on the drive side, Voith Turbo Hydrodamps were installed between the engines and transmissions. They effectively dampen torsional vibrations from the engine and consequently make drive systems more comfortable, economical and long lasting.
Why Diesel?
Diesel engines are more efficient than gasoline engines of the same power, resulting in lower fuel consumption. A common margin is 40 percent more miles per gallon for an efficient turbodiesel.
Furthermore, the lack of an electrical ignition system greatly improves the reliability of diesel engines. Diesel engines produce very little carbon monoxide as they burn the fuel in excess air even at full load.
The increased fuel economy of the diesel engine over the gasoline engine means that the diesel produces less carbon dioxide (CO2) per unit distance. Recently, advances in production and changes in the political climate have increased the availability and awareness of biodiesel, an alternative to petroleum-derived diesel fuel with a much lower netsum emission of CO2, due to the absorption of CO2 by plants used to produce the fuel. Biodiesel is a pure diesellike fuel refined from vegetable oil and can be used in nearly all diesel engines.
An important innovation that makes diesel engines still more eco-friendly is the diesel particulate filter, also called DPF, which removes diesel particulate matter or soot from the exhaust gas of a diesel engine. Wall-flow diesel particulate filters usually remove 85 percent or more of the soot. A diesel-powered vehicle equipped with a functioning filter will emit no visible smoke form its exhaust pipe.
To learn more about the JCB Dieselmax and Voith Turbo Hydrodamps, visit www.voith turbo.com.