ALTERNATIVE FUEL FUN AT WWW.FORDBOLDMOVES.COM

Ford Motor Company's short video documentaries posted at www.fordboldmoves.com have moved on from promoting the upcoming GT500 into the complex morass of fuel and environmental policy.

Expectedly, E85 and hydrogen take center stage. True believers in hybrids seem disappointed.

Speedzzter, of course, has previously opined in this blog and elsewhere that emphasizing E85 as a high-performance fuel and creating flex-fueled vehicles which obtain better performance on E85 than on unleaded gasoline is a market-based approach to bootstrapping demand in important, opinion-leading enthusiast segements.

Jawboning NASCAR's France family dictatorship into adopting E85 as an alternative to leaded gasoline in its major touring divisions (Nextel Cup, Busch, Craftsman Truck) is another small step in building momentum for alternative fuels.

HCCI ENGINES AND HOT VAPOR?

Automotive News has taken note of dramatically increased research on HOMOGENEOUS CHARGE COMPRESSION IGNITION ("HCCI") gasoline and diesel engines by Ford Motor Company and others.

Predicitons are that HCCI is five years away. Developing sufficient computerized control systems is the reported delay. HCCI in its current form uses direct injection, variable valve timing and preheated air to ignite a lean, homogenized air/fuel charge almost spontaneously through compression. Gasoline HCCI research engines typically are unthrottled, similar to conventional "stratified charge" diesel-cycle engines.

HCCI promises to increase part-throttle fuel efficiency and reduce NOx emissions.

Because HCCI works better in steady-state operations, spark ignition Otto-cycle combustion is retained in many research engines for high-demand acceleration situations.

Of course all of this talk of preheated, homogenized fuel mixtures and criticism of throttling losses reminds Speedzzter of racing legend Smokey Yunick's "Hot Vapor Cycle" engine. Twenty years ago, Smokey made waves with a three-cylinder Buick Skylark and an Iron Duke-powered Fiero, both converted to his proprietary "Hot Vapor Cycle" (See http://www.uspto.gov, patent numbers 4,503,833; 4,592,329; 4,637,385; 4,862,859; see also http://truckpower.com/tech_coolair.cfm)

The automotive intelligencia at the time dismissed Yunick's invention as a conunterintuitive hoax (remember, Smokey built his reputation, in part, on being a NASCAR and Trans-Am series "cheater," with such brilliant stuff as nitrous oxide-injected Hudson Hornet "stock cars" and various "7/8" scale models of "stock" Chevrolets.)

Yunick's patents reportedly were also tied up for years in litigation. In the end, no OEM bet on the Hot Vapor Engine as viable in an age of declining gasoline prices.

Of course, Smokey's "Hot Vapor" engine didn't have the "modern" benefits of direct injection, variable valve timing or high-speed computer technology. He relied on a simple draw-through carbureted turbo "homogenizer" and exhaust heat to vaporize the "working fluid" consumed in the Hot Vapor Cycle.

If Smokey were still around, Speedzzter suspects he'd be right in the thick of the current HCCI research craze, reminding everyone who would listen of his pioneering contributions to the concept.