1965 biodiesel Impala dusts brand new Lamborghini

[flvegan]

First vid of it:
http://news.com.com/1606-2-6174230.html

Incredible...0-60 in 3.5 seconds.

And yeah, it was a Pimp My Ride production
http://www.mtv.com/ontv/dyn/pimp_my_ride/series.jhtml

Even Ah-nold came out for it.

Guess there's no "performance issue" with biodiesel, eh?

[Telly Savalas]

1. Xzibit should run for governor of California on a pro-environmental platform.

I can already see the "Pimp My State" bumperstickers.

[Gregorian]

6. Really.

Haha. The whole state is fucking car crazed. It's a hit!

Bicycles are where it's at. Screw Arnold.

[madrchsod]

2. god only knows how much that engine and trans cost....

pretty dam impressive performance!

[nicknameless]

3. Hilarious!

Some of those old cars had killer engines.

:thumbsup:

[BlooInBloo]

4. (shrug) If you're allowed unlimited mods, then anything can beat anything.

[Blashyrkh]

11. Exactly.

And at least you can walk into a dealer and buy the Lambo.

[flvegan]

13. So?

What's your point?

[Gregorian]

5. Here's a bit of info I found.

The vehicle in question is a modified 1965 Chevrolet Impala, nicknamed the "Bio Rocket," that has been transformed into a biodiesel-powered alt-fuel wonder. The Bio Rocket gets a new PPE supercharged GM Duramax diesel that runs on B-100 biodiesel, said to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 78 percent. Engine power was jacked up from 350 horsepower to 800 hp with 1,400 pound-feet of torque. The Bio Rocket sprints from zero to 60 mph in about 3.5 seconds.



I used to love this kind of stuff. I've got a high performance Porsche in my garage, which I'm not proud of. Now my Ibis Mojo carbon fiber mountain bike I brag about.

This internal combustion stuff is all nothing more than TURD POLISHING.

When we start generating electricity in a smart way, remember, the Tesla does 0-60 in 4.4 seconds. I'm eyeing that thing seriously.

[TomInTib]

10. I'm really interested in the Tesla.

But the Lambo blew the launch.

I had a LP640 (Murcielago) which would punch thru 60 in 3.3 or.4.

Traded it for a Carrera GT (which I am extremely proud of)

[Gregorian]

18. Hold the phone.

You've got a Carrera GT. As in, the new V10?

That's one of the few cars that actually makes me do a bit of drooling. Shame on me. It's just a material object. A very very cool one. I occasionally hang out on the Rennlist forum just to see pictures of what they look like. I think the silicon carbide disc brake upgrade cost more than my 928 GT. Yikes.

[TomInTib]

19. You have a 928 GT? Dream car...

I once had a 928 S (traded a Jensen Interceptor).

Never even got to drive a GT.

Yeah, I have the GT (V10).

Certified smoker.

It is better than I am.

[Gregorian]

21. An 89.

The good year.

Gee, you've had your share of cars. I'd take the 928 over the Jensen, I think.

I got it three years ago and haven't driven it but once or twice. But, that is all changing. I just moved near one of the best roads around.

I used to race cars in the hills on the penninsula back when one could do that. I am no longer fearless. And I don't like doing cartwheels in nice cars. Once is enough. Haha. But I'm prepared to go out and have a ball on this Comptche-Ukiah road.


The guys in the forum have a few supercharger kits. I could get 450hp out of this thing. But I think it's a never ending quest when you start down that road. And stock is good.

GT fun.

[Blue_Tires]

22. wow....how can i be down with you???

!

[Blue_Tires]

25. do you have pics?

:crazy:

[TomInTib]

7. The Lambo blew the launch.

I have drove a Murcielago (LP640) for a while and it will punch 60 in under 3.5, usually 3.4 or.3 in perfect conditions.

After that, it really squirts.

[flvegan]

8. Having built/owned/driven a sub-10 second vette...

I still find this to be quite an example of what we can run on biodiesel.

Blowing a launch...whatever.

[TomInTib]

12. I never use enough words.

While the Lambo driver missed something, the Chevy was awesome.

I would love to own it and race it. I wish I could hear it live.

I would go biodiesel if I could have something that fast.

[BlooInBloo]

16. sub-10 second *what*? 0-60? (not interesting) 1/4? (interesting)

[flvegan]

17. Sub 10 1/4...1320

if you didn't catch that, then you're outside your forum.

[jmowreader]

9. There's a "performance issue" with that engine, though

The engine in question is a 6.6 liter GM Duramax diesel that's been jacked up to 800 hp with a new turbocharging setup. (All big diesels have turbochargers on them.)

In English measurements, 6.6 liters is 402 cubic inches--or 2hp per cubic inch. Take what is ALREADY a high-performance diesel and pull 2hp/cubic inch out of it, and it becomes extremely fragile.

It's a neat demonstration, but that Lamborghini is going to be vastly more reliable--and considering just how fragile Lamborghinis are, that's saying something.

[flvegan]

14. Mmmkay...not true, really, but okay

I've seen the Buick 231 (like the GN/GNX) pull 800 hp and be reliable.

Hey, at least replacing the clutch in the Impala will cost less than a couple grand...unlike the Lambo.

How much to swap plugs on a Diablo, again? Better yet...a Countach?

[bullwinkle428]

15. The Audi R10 has proven to be an extremely successful diesel-powered

race car, winning the first four races in which in competed. Victories included the '06 24 Hours of LeMans, and the 12 Hours of Sebring in '06 & '07. The rules-makers tried to take away their supposed "unfair advantage" by making them run with a smaller fuel tank for 2007, but that still didn't stop from defending their title at Sebring.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audi_R10

If you're trying to make the argument that diesels are more fragile in general, that's a laugh - it's not uncommon at all for a Class 8 truck to go 1 million miles these days, and even in cars, it's not hard to find old Mercedes and even VWs that have 300K+ miles on them...

[jmowreader]

20. High-performance diesels change the rules

Yes, you are quite correct that Class 8 trucks get a million miles between overhauls.

Now let's do some math.

The most popular heavy-duty diesel engine on the market today is the Detroit Diesel Series 60. It's a 14-litre engine, which translates to a little over 850 cubic inches. The engine produces up to 515 horsepower--six-tenths of a horsepower per cubic inch. That little engine is just sitting in there loafin' along, not really straining at all. Plus, it weighs 2500 pounds--cast iron equals reliability in a diesel, and the Series 60 has plenty of it.

Same deal with the old Mercedes and the old VWs--those are engines that don't put out a lot of horsepower, so they're never really stressed.

The Duramax Pimp My Ride used is half the displacement of the DD60, probably less than half the weight--can't find it online but I'm guessing 900-1000 lbs for the engine--and is putting out 300 more horsepower. Neat demonstration. Not so good if you actually want to drive it on a regular basis.

This kinda reminds me of an old Smokey Yunick story. Smokey Yunick is a famous mechanic who wrote about half the NASCAR rulebook...or, actually, they wrote about half the rulebook because of shit he pulled. For instance, the reason NASCAR sets the composition, length and diameter of the fuel lines in a stock car is because Smokey connected the carb to the gas tank of one of his cars with fifty feet of two-inch fire hose, which held about two gallons of gas. They specify the dimensions as well as the volume of a gas tank because Smokey built a gas tank with a basketball in it--air it up before tech inspection, deflate it before the race and more gas fits in the car. And the reason they use templates to measure each car is this fucking guy built a 7/8-scale version of a car and raced it. Went like hell and they couldn't figure out why. Anyway, back to the story. Smokey made a bar bet that he could get some ungodly amount of horsepower out of a real small engine--like 500hp out of a Volkswagen Bug engine. Someone took him up on it, and Smokey went off and set up an engine to do it. They went to the dyno, fired up the engine and got the agreed-upon number of horsepower for about three seconds before the engine blew up. His response? "I never said how long I could get it for, did I?"

[bullwinkle428]

23. I can't really counter your argument regarding the hp/liter comparison,

and I did happen to be familiar with the 7/8 scale car story that was built by Smokey Yunick! I didn't know about the extra fuel reserve trick...that was brilliant on his part! I probably should have stated that the low hp numbers typically observed with diesel engines when compared with gassers don't really signify anything detrimental, as the torque generated by the diesel is so much higher. The torque, as I understand, is the more accurate indicator of the "pulling power" of the engine, which in turn allows a relatively low hp engine to produce a more-than-acceptable performance in terms of acceleration.

[aikoaiko]

24. No doubt the Lamborghini was not driven properly, but the impala is still impressive if it

really can do 0-60 in 3.5 sec.