A British-built steam car is trying to break a top speed record.

The previous record (127 mph) is over 100 years old and held by a Stanley Steamer!

~More Info~

I guess all LBC's smoke some eh?

seriously, cool!

Nicknamed the World's Fastest Kettle means that after the run is done, they can have "a nice cuppa tea and a good sit down".

I just hope the spark igniter isn't by Lucas........

"Rationin' has been imposed, and all that that entails."

"Never you mind, my dear," I said to her. "You put on the kettle. We'll 'ave a nice cuppa boilin' 'ot water."

Nice, John.

Somehow runnin' a land speed record on steam seems to me to be shootin' ducks in a barrel... I mean, WHO since the Stanley has even built a steam power'd car?


I'm just sayin' I think they "over tech'd" this a wee bit. Three TONS?!?!

A steam engine is like a D.C. motor: it will rev 'til it grenades itself (or runs out of 'fuel'). I'd be for approaching it as a Chapman devotee: LIGHTER is better... biggest 'expense' is the water weight. Can't see a steam turbine as efficient use of all that available energy to spin tires. I'd be for a Sterling type solution rather than thrust propulsion.

This is just a gut reaction, never approached steam as a viable automotive power source.

Good "target" tho: a 1906 speed record.

or

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_aircraft

I'm going back a bit, but I think Bill Lear was interested in building a new steam car. Think it either didn't work or he died before he got very far along.

Didn't he have a steam bus that used "Learium"? And Learium turned out to be water?

Amazing that this ol' thing held the speed record for so long. And it's a fraction the size of the modern challenger!

Wouldn't it be great if the old one could be found, reconditioned, and then outrun the new one?

I'd go see that race.....

doesn't exist - as this article states - but, explains the shape (and maybe why the builder could have gone on to build Morgans if you catch my drift )

http://www.steamcar.net/stanley/fastest.pdf

Interestingly, if you view the video here, and compare it to the pickup truck, it doesn't seem so big as when it stands alone

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/hampshire/8209288.stm

The 2009 vehicle physically went faster but let's look at the bigger picture:

The 1906 vehicle’s construction:
*The body was 16 feet long and 3 feet wide at the widest
part.
*The total weight of the machine was 1,675 pounds.
*1 boiler producing 30 horsepower.
Every step was taken to avoid unnecessary additional weight. It was a Spartan craft, completely devoid of safety equipment, except a pair of inadequate brakes.
Record speed: 127.66 Mph

The 2009 vehicle's construction:
*25-foot-long
*three-tonne (6,000lbs)
*It is fitted with 12 boilers (horsepower unknown) containing nearly two miles of tubing.
It is made from a mixture of lightweight carbon-fibre composite and aluminium wrapped around a steel space frame chassis.
Record speed: 139.84 Mph

The Stanleys recognized a fundamental engineering principle called the power-to-weight ratio. Heavy vehicles require big, heavy engines, which make the vehicles heavier still, requiring still more power. The Stanley Brothers reasoned that a lightweight vehicle with a lightweight engine should be able to accelerate faster and achieve greater speed despite having less total horsepower. The Stanleys’ insight into the importance of the power-to-weight ratio and aerodynamics paid off well.

The two vehicles aren't even close:

The 2009 vehicle is 56% longer, 258% heavier, has 1100% more boilers and is exponentially more expensive to go 9.5% faster.

I say the Stanley's record is the better one.

and it looks better

Doc I'm in your camp steam makes tons of power torque from zero why would you use it as a thrust type -rocket engine? Heck I bet that Domler that Leno has would do 130 and it has a bolier the size of a dorm refrigerator seems like a big waste of tons of power.
Or is there more to this?