For a short period of time in the last century, turbine-driven
cars were all the rage. Manufacturers hawked them, race
engineers played with them, and the public drooled over them. 8W
takes a glimpse into our kerosene-fueled past. —Ed. Turbines:
The Pros and Cons To see why turbine engines caught on quickly
during the sixties and moved over from road cars to racing cars,
it is best to devote some paragraphs to explaining their
internal workings. First, let's start with the quick and dirty
answer. The basis is formed by two turbines, the first of which
is tasked with compressing air and forcing it into an ignition
chamber (or "burner") with added fuel. The exploding mixture of
fuel and air then rapidly expands into a second two-stage
turbine, giving drive to the compressor turbine, which is
rotating on the same shaft (first stage, using 10% of generated
power) and a single-gear transmission that is powering the car
(second stage, using 90% of power). It's as simple as that. It's
no miracle invention, as turbin