Running without oil... No Audi

[Gross Scruggs <GScruggs@wposmtp.nps.navy.mil>]

The recent thread regarding Prolong prompts me to comment on this kind of
demonstration and ask for experiences of others.

The TV demonstrations of running without oil and hosing water onto/into an
oil-less running engine are, to me, not compelling.  In these demos the engines
are not 'working' and therefore not really generating much heat.  An engine just
idling or crusing around a track is producing very little power/heat and it
doesn't really matter what you don't run in it as this is a very benign
condition.

I'm reminded of an automotive event that was run at Brumos Porsche years back
called "The Brick-in."  Bring your car of choice, drain the oil pan and
radiator, cut the exhaust pipe just aft of the engine, remove the throttle
return spring, put a brick on the go pedal and start it up.  The car that takes
the longest to seize is the winner.  Restarts are permitted.  The winner that
particular year was, as I recall, an AMC Hornet which ran at an estimated 6-7k
rpm for nearly twenty minutes.  Upon seizing it was restarted and ran for
another several minutes sounding like the worlds largest bee hive.  There were a
total of maybe six cars all of which ran for remarkable times under those
conditions.  Event organizers said it was the only automotive event ever held
for which crowd control was not a problem.  

Had those same cars been required to pull a trailer uphill under the same
conditions I venture they wouldn't have lasted two minutes and would not have
restarted.  In this case the work produced would have generated sufficient heat
to cook everything.  Having cooked two cars that developed coolant leaks at
highway speeds many years ago I can attest that it takes very little time when
an engine is under load.  

Anyone have similar experiences... opinions?

Regards, Gross