By Jack, 8th Grader

I’ve been going fast since my feet could touch the pedals.

Since I started to drive, I’ve been working on engines in 4 wheelers, lawnmowers, and cars. Going fast is an obsession that never slows down. Speed wears an engine down, so I will continue to fix the engines I break as long as I’m breaking them. I’ve learned a lot about engines and learned some math at the same time.

Cubic inch engines and liter engines are two ways of measuring the same thing, engine displacement.

Engine displacement is the total volume of air that the pistons can move in one cycle of the engine. The more air an engine can displace, the more fuel it can burn and the more power it can produce.

Cubic inches are a unit of volume based on the imperial system we usually use in the U.S., while liters are a unit of volume based on the metric system.

One liter equals about 61 cubic inches, so a 350 cubic inch engine is about 5.7 liters. Cubic inches are more commonly used for older engines, while liters are more commonly used for newer engines.

Math is so special that it can control the power of your car and also determine the volume of your water bottle.

“If you’re not first, you’re last.”~ Ricky Bobby in the movie, Talladega Nights.