The UK’s land speed record for a regular service bus has officially been broken by a poop-powered bus. No, it’s not bullpoop: It’s cow manure.
Reaching a top speed of 123.57 kilometers per hour (76.8 miles per hour), the bus tore around the track at the Millbrook Proving Ground in Bedfordshire for the record, which was confirmed by the UK Timing Association.
Painted black and white in the patchwork style of a Friesian cow, the vehicle named “Bus Hound” (after the British Bloodhound supersonic car) runs on biomethane produced by the anaerobic, or without-oxygen, digestion of cow waste, which takes place inside a bioreactor. Compressed and liquefied, the biomethane is stored in seven tanks attached to the roof of the bus for a rather strange but efficient fuel.
But why the poop? Chief engineer John Bickerton said the real reason behind the land speed challenge was to highlight the sustainability and value of buses powered by cow poo.
"Most importantly we wanted to get the image of bus transport away from being dirty, smelly, and slow. We're modern, fast, and at the cutting edge of innovation,” said Bickerton to the BBC. “It was an impressive sight as it swept by on the track. It sounded like a Vulcan bomber.”
While the record is impressive, the bus needs to reach a top speed of 241 kilometers per hour (150 miles per hour) to be recognized as a Guinness World Record. Check out the video from Reading Buses below of the fast feces-fueled bus.
[H/T BBC]
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