Blowing off some steam
From a friend of a friend, I bring you this video of the British Steam Car undergoing static testing:
Based on the copious amount of steam coming out the back, you might assume that it’s powered by a reaction motor. You’d be wrong.
The British Steam Car Challenge is an attempt to wrest the land speed record for steam-powered vehicles away from the Stanley Steamer factory team record of 127 miles an hour and change, set back more than 100 years ago. The BSCC has their sights set on 170, and has been working on the project since mid-1999. Currently, they’re wrapping up the last stages of testing in the UK, and preparing to ship the car to the United States for the record attempt. Unfortunately, delays caused the team to miss Bonneville Speed Week, and as I write this, it looks like World of Speed towards the end of September is out of reach as well. I am told that the current ‘plan c’ is to “put it on an Antonov” and fly over for a solo shot at the record sometime in October, location to be announced.
Power is provided by a two-stage turbine engine producing 360 horsepower, while 12 modular boilers fired by liquid petroleum gas (LPG) produce enough heat to boil 23 cups of tea per second (CT/S is the official Imperial unit of measure for steam production, by the way). More than 3000 meters of boiler tubing are involved, and the system is “total loss” - all the water goes overboard in the form of steam exhaust after spinning the turbines. The car carries 140 liters of distilled water, which it consumes at a rate of 1000 liters in 25 minutes.
Popular Mechanics has some additional photos and details.
