Ive worked in the specialist metal finishing industry for years and I have to agree with mondariz. When we first did something it was an interesting technical challenge. When you got used to doing it,we might as have been stamping out licence plates. We did microwave telecoms gear for satellites,and after the first couple, when we figured out how to put silver down the bore of a waveguide it got dull. Mind you, being able to say that we exported stuff to Jupiter was a thrill

At Woodford once a long long time ago.
A touch and go over the end of the runway/crowd. grass charring, internals vibrating

I would always use charcoal. Ive done lots of cooking in fields-bike rallies, festivals , big parties etc,and its charcoal every time
I once had to use the organisers supplied gas thing, the cheapest piece of crap gas grill that HSS do, and it only had two settings, volcano or off. Charcoal can be set up with a temperature gradient,hottest to fairly cool. I usually have the hottest on the left,trailing down as you go across. The gas ones had random,fluctuating hot spots,made consistancy impossible to achieve

I saw the Napier Bentley racing at Prescott a couple of years ago. I was with a deaf girl at the time, she was asleep under a tree and it woke her up. Noise regs have made a silencer necessary too. The theme that year was aeroengined cars, there was some incredible stuff. How about a 1910 Mohrs with a Zeppelin engine that will out drag modern Porsches at traffic lights

heres one thats for sale today.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Bristol-Centaurus-173-Aero-Engine_W0QQitemZ380026971752QQihZ025QQcategoryZ2983QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Apart from acetone most effective solvents are not available at all any more,not green enough. If you do get hold of anything effective, the H&S bumf that comes with it will frighten most people off. Use all of it in a well ventillated area,as all petroleum based solvents are toxic and mnore or less narcotic-its all right nodding off due to tiredness,but falling down due to solvent abuse is harder to explain.