You mean "the turbocharger"?
Naw. Not a turbo. This dude is my hero. His innovations turned Indy and nascar into what they are today. He read the skinny little rule book and did everything he could to outsmart the competition. Quite often they would send him home for a rules violation even when they couldnt explain what he was doing wrong. He was just too fast to be within "the spirit of the rules"
I could go on and on, but here is a quick article recently written about his "Hot Vapor" 51 MPG engine from the 80's.
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The term “adiabatic” is a thermodynamic term that literally means the absence of heat. Smokey’s adiabatic engine uses the heat of the engine itself which is normally discarded to heat the fuel into a vapor. It is at this point that hot rodders will stand up and cry foul, for we have been told for years to cool the fuel mixture. The cooling of the fuel mixture makes it denser, which in turn causes a more potent mixture. This potency results in a boost in power. But in the same breath, not all fuel is used. Some fuel is unburned and expelled during the exhaust stroke. Simply put - most engines today are not that efficient, running at about 25% efficiency. This means that 75% of the fuel is wasted. So what if we burned that fuel instead of wasting it? This is what Smokey’s engine does, but in a different way. By vaporizing the fuel mixture it causes more of the mixture to burn, which results in – yep, power. Interesting how opposite theories have basically the same results.
Smokey’s system created roughly 1.8 hp per cubic inch, and could be applied to virtually any Otto-cycle (standard 4 stroke) engine. Using this formula, it is quite possible to create big block 454 engines getting 817hp. In every case the horsepower was created at 5200 rpm, which makes for a very streetable engine! So now you have some background on the theory of the engine, but what about the components themselves? The engine runs a basic carburetor, sitting on what Smokey calls a “first stage vapor generator”. Hot water exiting from the engine runs through tubes in this vapor generator and heats the fuel mixture to around 200 degrees. The fuel mixture is then passed through what looks like a stock turbo,
however it is not a turbocharged engine. The turbo-like device is actually a homogenizer and the second-stage vapor generator. Exhaust gases surround a turbine, through which the incoming air and fuel are mixed. This mixture is again heated, bringing it to approximately 285 degrees. From there the mixture travels into a custom intake manifold that is surrounded by exhaust gasses, which again heats the mixture to the desired 400~440 degrees. It is at that temperature that the fuel is fully vaporized. As Hot Rod wrote, “The beauty of Smokey’s system is its simplicity, but simplicity is deceptive. Staged heating or the working fluid (air/fuel mixture), homogenization of the working fluid at the proper point in the heating process, and balanced heat management are the keys. Get one thing wrong and the whole thing won’t work. There’s a lot of physics and chemistry involved, and a few of the details contained in the various patents on this design have been intentionally withheld by the Smoke, although the basic principle of operation has been explained here.”
According to urban legend, GM sent Smokey a brand new, white 1984 Fiero 4 speed to play around with. The legend continues that Smokey was never paid for his efforts, although thoughts are that GM was secretly trying to figure a way around Smokey’s patents. As we’ve seen, ole Smokey didn’t include everything in his patents, and as a previous patent holder myself I can tell you that you do not need to produce a working item to be granted a patent! So in true Smokey fashion, the engine was removed and the Fiero shell sent back to Pontiac. The engine was pushed into a corner and remained there, for 23 long years. When Smokey passed away in 2001, his assets were auctioned off (per his request), but a few were given to family members and friends. Enter Tony Allers of Hendersonville, TN.
