Bacon-powered motorbike, smells delicious

Automologist MAC combines some of his favourite topics in this article - motorbikes, alternative fuel and....bacon.

Fresh from the chilled section of your local supermarket is a story we picked up from social media that may well have just put a whole new meaning to the phrase Road Hog. American food conglomerate, Hormel, has announced that they have created a motorcycle that runs on bacon grease and are touting it as the world’s first bacon-fueled motorcycle. 

If you are a bacon eater, then you will appreciate that bacon makes everything, well, taste that much better; everything - from ice cream to steaks and even vegetables - grow in stature with the addition of bacon. Now the same concept has been applied to everyday transport and if you believe some of the reports, then Pork-Torque may well be the alternative renewable eco fuel of the future.

Using animal fat as fuel is not a new thing but ‘Driven-By-Bacon’, as the bike is known, is an example of some of the quirky ways in which we may satisfy future fuel needs. Hormel teamed up with a bio-diesel manufacturer to create the fuel for the bike for what is an advertising stunt and not a real attempt to create a serious alternative-energy mode of conveyance. According to information on the Driven-by-Bacon website, it takes a pound of bacon grease to produce one gallon of fuel which can then cover up to 100 miles (half a kilo to 160 kilometres), and don’t worry if you think that this is a terrible waste of perfectly good bacon - the grease it uses is waste grease that would have otherwise been discarded. 

The bike in the pictures started life as an EVA Track T800CDI, a diesel-powered bike from Holland, and with the aid of a bacon-grease conversion performed by CSE Engineering, made a tour of the western half of the USA from Austin Minnesota, the home of Hormel, to San Diego, California, in time for the International Bacon Film Festival (no, I am not kidding. There really is one). Apparently the bike wafts down the road leaving a faint smell of bacon in its wake, making me want to mount my Hog and ride.

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Now, let’s talk chocolate…

So if powering your favourite ride with waste animal products is not your thing, then how about using hydrogen produced from the waste generated whilst manufacturing chocolate and nougat. A few years ago, researchers at Warwick University discovered a way to produce hydrogen by feeding sugar-munching bacteria into waste from the local Cadbury factory.

The researchers have already powered a Formula Three car that ran on ‘chocolate’ and are now looking at developing an energy-generating system that can be used in food factories to help reduce the need for manufacturers to ‘buy’ electricity from more conventional sources.

Powered by chocolate, steered by carrots, has bodywork made from potatoes, and can still do 125mph around corners.

images: drivenbybacon.com, warwick.ac.uk, wallchan.com