I was reading an article in Racecar Engineering and thought I'd pass along the clever idea that I read. One of the racecar engineers (speaking about a prototype Ricardo diesel engine) mentioned the idea of using a Stirling engine to power some accessories instead of wasting all that heat with a radiator. The key thing about the idea was that the intent was to decrease aerodynamic drag.
I thought this was a clever bit. First, you'd get an immediate gain from blocking the grill and then you'd get a secondary efficiency gain by recovering wasted energy to power to run accessories like an electric water pump, alternator, etc.
The only thing that I'd add to the idea is a water jacketed turbo. If you want lots of heat...that's a good place to find it!
