咖啡動力車打破世界紀錄

Coffee-Powered Car Breaks World Record

咖啡動力車打破世界紀錄

In addition to (除了…還) providing a morning energy boost for millions of undercaffeinated (咖啡因不足) people and reportedly helping lower stroke (中風) risks, it can also be used to fuel a Guinness World Record–breaking car, as a British conservationist (保育人士) discovered.

Martin Bacon, 42, converted (改裝) a Ford pickup truck into Coffee Car Mark 2 — the world’s fastest coffee-powered vehicle. Bacon installed a charcoal (木炭) stove (爐) on the car, which breaks down coffee-bean chaff (咖啡豆的外殼) (a by-product of the roasting process) into carbon monoxide (一氧化碳) and hydrogen (氫氣). The gas is cooled and filtered (過濾過的), and the hydrogen is used to power a modified (修改過的) gasoline engine. The coffee car hit a top speed of 65 m.p.h. in the presence of (在…面前) a Guinness adjudicator (金氏紀錄評判員) at Woodford Airfield in Manchester, England, on Feb. 19.

According to this video on the coffee-car website, starting the machine is no easy task. Instead of simply turning the ignition key (點火、發動鑰匙), Bacon has to load the coffee pellets (咖啡豆) to the boiler and wait for enough pressure to build up (增加). After two test runs on that chilly (冷颼颼的) morning and some tinkering (粗劣的修補、拼拼湊湊) with the machine that generates fluffs (一團) of white smoke when started, he successfully broke a world record.

Bacon has long been fascinated with coffee-powered vehicles. According to BBC, he converted an old Volkswagen Scirocco into Coffee Car Mark 1 and drove it 210 miles from London to Manchester in 2010. The Car-puccino (作者在這裡開個玩笑，把cappuccino拆成讀音相似的Car-puccino；既和車子，也和咖啡有關), which reportedly reached 60 m.p.h., claimed the Guinness World Record of the longest journey by a coffee-powered car.

Now, Bacon and his team are driving the Mark 2 on a tour across the U.K. to promote Co-operative Food, a British fair-trade (公平交易) brand.

Bacon’s coffee car is not the first vehicle powered by food. In 2009, scientists from Warwick University built a Formula 3 racing car boasting a biodiesel (生物柴油) engine that can run on chocolate extract (提煉物), reported the Telegraph (每日電訊報). Unfortunately, the car, which reportedly can hit speeds of up to 145 m.p.h., was banned from the championship (錦標賽) because its rather unusual fuel failed to meet regulations (規定).

在此補充一些和文章相關的內容:

chaff: 植物外層的粗糠、穀殼

biodiesel:

生物柴油（指以動植物油或廢食用油脂，經轉化技術後所產生的酯類，直接使用或混合石化柴油作為燃料）

Telegraph: 《每日電訊報》（英語：The Daily Telegraph），英國大開型報章，成立於1855年6月29日，是英國銷量最高的報紙之一。星期日電訊報是其姊妹刊物。每日電訊報早期政治立場親英國自由黨，近代政治立場則親英國保守黨。 《每日電訊報》中文版由Telegraph授權，譯言提供中文化服務。