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Pupils get to the core of fuel work
A GROUP of pupils have used fuel brewed from apples to get a bike to reach speeds of nearly 160mph.
The A-Level chemistry students from Prince William School in Oundle joined bike expert Rupert Paul at the Bruntingthorpe Proving Ground airfield yesterday to test the fuel they spent more than four months making.
Mr Paul raced the bike along the main straight of the circuit – reaching speeds of almost 160mph.
He said: "The project has been fantastic. To race that fast on fuel from apples is amazing.
"This all started off with me thinking it would be good fun to make my own fuel and set a world speed record.
"I bought a book on how to make your own bio-ethanol and contacted my local school to see if they would help me do it."
Mr Paul, who works for Bike Magazine, went into the school last year and made a presentation to the pupils before working with a team of them.
He said: "We set out trying to find out how to make fuel, which was brilliant fun.
"The whole chemistry lab now smells of apples.
"I'm really impressed with how they've stuck at it.
"There's a lot of water in the fuel as we're limited in what we can do with the bio-ethanol, but it's more powerful than petrol."
Mr Paul did two runs on the bike at the Leicestershire site to reach the highest speed possible.
On the first run he reached 157.64mph and the second attempt hit 158.7mph.
The pupils and Mr Paul had hoped to reach 160mph but were still pleased with getting so close to their target speed.
Head of chemistry at Prince William School, Anton McAleese, said the students had spent their lunch times collecting apples before crushing, fermenting and distilling them.
He said: "Rupert called us and said he was interested in making fuel from cider and needed a lab.
"It sounded an excellent project and the students were really enthusiastic about it.
"We study fuels as part of A-level chemistry and we wanted to find out more about the possible fuels of the future."
The modified Triumph bike was also given a new look courtesy of a paint job from some of the pupils from the school.
Year 12 pupil Tom Laxton, 16, said: "I helped with the crushing of the apples and making the fuel.
"It's amazing that it even runs, given that it started as apples.
"It's been great fun, especially to see the bike go so fast."
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Sunday 27 May 2012
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