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Ron Patrick's Street-Legal Jet Powered Volkswagen Beetle (2006)

ronpatrickstuff.com

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Re: Ron Patrick's Street-Legal Jet Powered Volkswagen Beetle (2006)

#111

Post by defrost »

jamiek88 wrote: post #108
gafferongames wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an Australian-American living in the US I can confirm that the Australian concept of law (aka Nanny State) would ensure that this modification is illegal by default. Think of the children.

I was shocked as a Brit American living in the US how nanny state Aust is. Even more than Britain. Certainly when it comes to cars and driving. The whole ‘anti hoon’ thing seems shocking to me with my now mostly American sensibilities. But I guess that’s why we both live here rather than blighty or down under.

Australia's just fine with adding jet engines to cars and designing|building one million round per minute guns.

It's the mixing up of such things with the general unconsenting public that raises an eyebrow.

Hoon's can hoon - just out of earshot of people that want a quiet life and off the community car parks and roadways - there's no shortage of private land and designated drag strips | raceways.

https://aussieinvader.com/the-people/rosco-mcglashan-oam/

https://thewest.com.au/lifestyle/motoring/wa-built-1600kmh-j...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_Storm

Re: Ron Patrick's Street-Legal Jet Powered Volkswagen Beetle (2006)

#112

Post by jgable »

hrichards wrote: post #40

Seems like a good time to ask this question that has been bugging me forever, since all the HN jet nerds will be drawn to this thread: Why hasn't anyone made a hybrid car that uses a gasoline-powered turbine generator to charge its batteries instead of a piston engine? I'd imagine that hooking up such an engine directly to the drivetrain like in a Prius would be difficult, but surely a small turbine with one hell of…

Wrightspeed did this a while (10 years?) ago. It looks like they have since pivoted to fully electric powertrains for buses, but when they first started they were doing range-extending hybrid powertrains for heavy trucks. I found an article the describes the system at the time:

  https://www.e-hike.net/tr/content/wrightspeed-unveils-new-turbine-range-extender-medium-and-heavy-duty-electric-powertrains-30
With a range-extender hybrid system, you can keep the turbine closer to its peak-efficiency operating point, since it only has to handle steady-state load while the battery takes up the spikes. Not sure how it would do up a long grade, but I imagine they designed for that.

Re: Ron Patrick's Street-Legal Jet Powered Volkswagen Beetle (2006)

#114

Post by lmm »

btilly wrote: post #71
cortesoft wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In California, you have to register your car and have it pass a smog test. How would this pass that?

Just drive on the gasoline engine.

Doesn't the smog test require you to run your car at the peak power it can do, or something like that?

Re: Ron Patrick's Street-Legal Jet Powered Volkswagen Beetle (2006)

#115

Post by Animats »

hrichards wrote: post #40

Seems like a good time to ask this question that has been bugging me forever, since all the HN jet nerds will be drawn to this thread: Why hasn't anyone made a hybrid car that uses a gasoline-powered turbine generator to charge its batteries instead of a piston engine? I'd imagine that hooking up such an engine directly to the drivetrain like in a Prius would be difficult, but surely a small turbine with one hell of…

It's been done a few times, as listed here.

One not mentioned was someone in Southern California who got an old aircraft APU (probably a Solar T-62[1] or similar) and made an electric hybrid back in the 1980s. The APU charged the battery, and shut down when the battery was full. Worked OK, apparently.

The trouble with turbine engines is that, below bizjet size, they don't seem to get any cheaper. Not for lack of trying in the 1990s. NASA, Williams International, and Eclipse tried hard. There were a few prototype planes, but no commercial success. There are today what are called "very light jets", but this means 4-6 people and and a price around $2 million.

General aviation is still mostly piston-powered. There are tiny jet engines for R/C planes, but they have very short operating lives.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_T62

Re: Ron Patrick's Street-Legal Jet Powered Volkswagen Beetle (2006)

#116

Post by lmm »

samtho wrote: post #28
Aurornis wrote: post #24

Awesome project, but are there any actual videos of it running the jet engine? He says the jet engine moves 11,000 CFM of air, but that air can only come through the windows and the sunroof. Pulling 183 cubic feet of air per second through those little openings while sitting in the drivers seat isn't going to work. Just try to do the math on how fast that air would have to be moving through those windows. Cool show p…

This not a typical low-bypass, cigar-type turbofan jet engine you see on airplanes, rather, it’s a modified turboshaft jet engine used for helicopters, intended to provide longitudinal rotational energy. The air it moves from the intake is a fraction of what it produces as the combustion process itself results in gasses being chemically formed. There is no propeller or fan on this engine - it’s closer to a rocket tha…

> it’s a modified turboshaft jet engine used for helicopters, intended to provide longitudinal rotational energy. The air it moves from the intake is a fraction of what it produces as the combustion process itself results in gasses being chemically formed.

It's not a turbofan no but it's a jet engine burning fuel the regular way (using air), like the ones on a B-52 or Concorde. Very different from a rocket engine that carries its own oxidiser.

Re: Ron Patrick's Street-Legal Jet Powered Volkswagen Beetle (2006)

#117

Post by aidenn0 »

brucethemoose2 wrote: post #102
aidenn0 wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IIRC someone put a turbocharged 7L smallblock V8 in the back of a Lotus Exige, though they had to lengthen the chassis to make it fit.

That is probably the Henessy Venom GT. My favorite is the Ariel Atom V8, which swapped the Honda Civic engine for a hilarious 483hp 3L NA V8. In a 1300lb car.

The Venom GT was indeed what I was thinking of. 1451hp in a 2800lb car.

Re: Ron Patrick's Street-Legal Jet Powered Volkswagen Beetle (2006)

#118

Post by btilly »

lmm wrote: post #114
btilly wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just drive on the gasoline engine.

Doesn't the smog test require you to run your car at the peak power it can do, or something like that?

Floor the accelerator, yes.

Find a toggle for an unrelated afterburner? Not so much.

Re: Ron Patrick's Street-Legal Jet Powered Volkswagen Beetle (2006)

#119

Post by mhb »

cortesoft wrote: post #62
mindslight wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We live in a society where things are legal by default. Why would adding a jet engine to a car be a priori illegal? If he harms somebody or otherwise causes damage, that itself is what's illegal and he'd be liable regardless of motor vehicle regulations. If this mod became a larger trend, especially consumer-available, then regulations would be implemented to head it off. But for a few lone instances it's not particu…

In California, you have to register your car and have it pass a smog test. How would this pass that?

Aren't "inspections" nowadays done only by plugging into the OBD port? So, no problem?
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