ParaNet BBS/lazar1a
From KB42
ParaNet BBS/lazar1a
| File Name: | lazar1a.txt |
|---|---|
| Author: | Unknown |
| Date: | Unknown |
| Posting BBS: | Unknown |
| BBS Main Page: | ParaNet Main Page |
| Key Words: | ParaNet, UFO, Ufology |
*****************************************************************
I M P O R T A N T N O T I C E
concerning the following text file
*****************************************************************
ParaNet makes no endorsement of this material and the views
expressed herein are not necessarily the views of ParaNet. This
information is provided as a public service only.
This file is SHARETEXT material. This means that you are free to
distribute it to anyone you like, as long as it is not used for
commercial purposes, you do not charge for it, you do not remove
this header, or change the contents in anyway. Additionally, we
ask that you contribute to ParaNet, if possible, to assure a
continuation of this valuable, educational SHARETEXT service.
The suggested contribution is $75.00 and entitles you to full
access to our comprehensive library and our network of electronic
affiliates all over the world. Other services are available.
Mail your contribution to:
ParaNet Information Service
P.O. Box 172
Wheat Ridge, CO 80034-0172
ParaNet(sm): Freedom of Information for a better world!
(C) 1991 ParaNet(sm) Information Service. All Rights Reserved.
****************************************************************
ParaNet File Number: 00160
DATE OF ARTICLE: June 27, 1982
SOURCE OF ARTICLE: Los Alamos Monitor
LOCATION: Los Alamos, New Mexico
BYLINE: Terry England
========================================================
Lazar: Jet Car Coverage in Los Alamos Monitor
Los Alamos Monitor, Los Alamos, New Mexico, Sunday, 6/27/82,
Front Page "LA [Los Alamos] Man Joins the Jet Set -- at 200 Miles
an Hour" By Terry England, Monitor staff writer
4 photos by Al Gibes
The custom California license plate says "JET-U-BET." This isn't
an idle boast, unlike so many other California license plates
that proclaim a car a jet.
This car, a Honda, has a real jet engine in it. And the jet
engine can move that car: up to 200 mph.
The car already was in the family, and it had room to hold the
engine. So, with a little modification and a little outside
help, a Honda became a jet car.
Why?
"There's no real reason, except for going fast," said Bob Lazar,
builder of the engine. "It's going through various transitions,
and it's always half-done."
It's not the car so much that's important. To Lazar, a physicist
at the Los Alamos Meson Physics Facility, the important thing is
the jet engine. It's something he's been working on for years.
It started "awhile ago" when working with another researcher in
NASA on the technology. Lazar modified the original design "and
put out more power."
His first jet-powered device was a bicycle, on which he hit 100
mph. "The cops saw that and put a stop to it for fear of
safety," he said.
The engine, the second for the Honda, is made of stainless steel
and titanium and burns liquid propane. The jet is capable of
putting out 1,600 pounds of thrust (although it has been cut back
to 800 pounds for various reasons). The first jet engine was
smaller, and the exhaust was right behind the license plate
holder. When the jet was to be fired, the holder was moved out
of the way. One time, someone forgot, and the metal plate was
shattered by the force. The Lazars keep a piece as a souvenir.
The waste products are water vapor and carbon dioxide. An after-
burner that uses kerosene increases the jet's efficiency 50
percent, he said.
In tests at a dry lake bed near Los Angeles, the car hit over 200
mph, he said. The standard gasoline engine still works and is
used to get the car going to about 90 mph. The engine then is
put into neutral, and the jet engine is kicked in for 30 to 60
seconds.
When the car hit 200 mph, the driver, a friend of the Lazars,
came back "as white as a sheet."
The Honda isn't made for high-speed driving. Indeed, the total
thrust, slightly above 1,600 pounds, is about the same as the car
weighs.
"Theoretically, the car should become airborne if the thrust
exceeds the weight," he said. "If you hit a rock, you're in
trouble. That's one reason he cut down the thrust."
Besides the rear-area modifications, Lazar said he had to put in
two steel beams in the floor of the car because Hondas do not
have frames. Fiberglass was used to remold the body so air
scoops could be added to the roof and sides.
A firewall protects the driver and passenger from the heat of the
engine. The temperature in the engine compartment reaches 200
degrees, the limit because of the air flow. Parts of the engine
will glow white hot.
At one point, the Lazars were almost out of money, and the car
was unfinished.
"That's when the commercial firms helped out," he said. Word was
getting around California about the car, and offers began to come
in.
"I went to a tire dealer and asked for some tires for the car,"
he said. "The man asked, 'Is that your jet car parked out
there?' I said yes and he said, 'Goodrich has been trying to get
ahold of you. I've got four tires here they want to give you.'
They cost $100 apiece," he said.
So it went: the car received a custom paint job, new tires, new
seats and new tire rims (which Lazar never picked up), all free
"as long as we put their names on the car."
The jet cannot get the car going from a dead stop, which enables
Lazar and his wife, Carol, to demonstrate the engine to
reporters. The car was driven (in the usual manner) to the
Pueblo High School parking lot Saturday where Lazar started the
engine about four times.
One of the oddest sights is this little foreign car sitting in an
empty lot making noise like a jet plane. Lazar explained that
the sound waves in the intake are synchronized with the sound
waves from the exhaust, adding to the din. The waves travel in a
V from the exhaust, and moving around the rear of the car
subjects one's ears to a real cacophonous assault.
The noise level in the passenger compartment isn't as bad, Lazar
said. That may be, but the sound carries far and wide; a
gentleman later told Lazar he heard the noise from the "topmost
street" above Urban Park.
The police are familiar with the vehicle, too. During the
demonstration, a county policeman drove up and asked, "Have you
been firing that thing?" He didn't ask what was going on, he
seemed to know. When Lazar said yes, the policeman said not to
do it any more because complaints had been received about the
noise.
"The police have been cooperative," Lazar said. "They've been
interested in the car, and sometimes we've seen them come by and
look at it."
Unlike most jet engines, Lazar's design does not need the huge
bulky compressors. This is because the fuel already is
compressed, he said, making it the most efficient jet engine
available. A standard jet uses six pounds of fuel for every
pound of thrust; Lazar said he uses 1.3 pounds of fuel for a
pound of thrust.
New projects for the jet include an ultra-light aircraft powered
by a smaller version, then possibly a race car with a larger
version.
"This will be strictly a race car," he said. "The car will be
designed around the engine, instead of one being placed in an
existing car."
The jet-powered Honda attracts a lot of attention for the Lazars,
who moved to Los Alamos about a month ago from California.
Neighbors will gather around and look at it, sometimes in the
middle of the night.
Most of the local people are interested in the technology, which
is a change from California, said Mrs. Lazar.
"People looked at it and said 'a jet powered car,' then tried to
damage it," she said. "A lot of people are frightened by it. I
was at first."
She has driven the car to 135 mph because, she said, "I like the
speed."
Photo captions:
Bob Lazar (above) attempts to examine the jet exhaust while it's
running, and as a result he is buffeted by the warm air. At that
distance, he said, the heat isn't that great. While he wears ear
muffs, his wife Carol holds her hands over her ears in the
background. A tiny button near the rim of the steering wheel
(top right) starts the jet. Two gauges on the control panel in
the background give the pressure and fuel amount. The jet
(bottom right) is the horizontal tube; the dark tank in the
corner holds the liquid propane fuel. The vertical portion is an
air scoop. The car itself is a Honda, modified only slightly to
accept the jet engine, including installing a firewall behind the
front seats and air scoops on the top and sides of the vehicle.
The standard gasoline engine still works; the car can be driven
normally.
=================================================================
1/90
