[Quietcars] Maine duo builds car powered by Mentos and soda

[Chip Hailey]

Maine duo builds car powered by Mentos and soda
Mainers Fritz Grobe and Stephen Voltz, who achieved Internet celebrity status in
2006 with their impressive Mentos-and-Diet-Coke fountains, now seek to harness the
sweet combination's explosive power to propel an automobile.
In 2006, Mainers Fritz Grobe and Stephen Voltz attained YouTube stardom after taking
101 bottles of Diet Coke and over 500 Mentos to create a spectacular two minute choreographed
performance. The pair hope to repeat their sticky success, this time with a Mentos-and-soda-powered
automobile.
By
Associated Press
 / May 28, 2010
BUCKFIELD, Maine
The guys from Maine who became online celebrities by creating geysers from Mentos
candies and Diet Coke say they have harnessed that power to create a "rocket car."
The contraption created by Fritz Grobe and Stephen Voltz of Buckfield features a
utility trailer on the back and a modified girl's bike at the front. Grobe, the test
pilot, says it's powered by piston mechanism using hundreds of pieces of Mentos candy
and plastic Coke Zero bottles instead of Diet Coke.
"It's pretty frightening to have captured the power of 108 bottles of Coke Zero and
648 Mentos," Grobe said Friday. "Our thoroughly unscientic measurements suggest it
goes 18 to 20 mph when it comes out of gate."
Grobe and Voltz are offering a teaser of their invention
on their website. The full video directed by Rob Cohen of "The Fast and the Furious" in California
will debut online Tuesday.
Grobe joked that they're calling it "The Fizzy and the Furious."
The two, dressed in lab coats and goggles, became Internet celebrities four years
ago with their "experiments" that created geysers by dropping Mentos candies into
bottles of Diet Coke. They say they prefer Diet Coke and Coke Zero because they seem
to have more carbonation. Also, they're less sticky.
The pair have traveled the world showing off their geysers, which are often set to
music.
And they insist they're not a one-geyser hit.
"We continue to spend countless hours tinkering with ordinary objects trying to find
the extraordinary thigns they can do. So we have a few more surprises up our sleeves,"
Grobe said.
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