This 1896 Salvesen steam cart featured in the London to Brighton rally – I was fortunate enough to get some footage of the cart as it pulled away on the morning of the rally, as well as the day before at the Regent Street concours line-up. There was a great opportunity to chat with the owners of these unique cars!
Cheers – And happy new year!
Jerry
After having some difficulty with getting low light action photos recently, I checked out the photography forums and lens reviews and realised that I needed a brighter lens to capture the action without blurring the subject.
The consensus on the forums was that what I really needed was a ‘nifty fifty’ – a 50mm lens that would open up to f1.8 instead of the f4.0 I was getting on my standard lens.
A quick phone-around saw me head off to Teds main camera store in Canberra’s Civic area and with the exchange of AU$150 I departed with a small box.
The lens fits perfectly on the Canon 1000D DSLR that I bought last year. The first thing I noticed was the plastic mount – this doesn’t look that sturdy, but the fit was fine and smooth. Some have complained at the ‘plastic’ feel to the lens, but the six element glass is optically brilliant, and for my money that suggests Canon put the expense in the right place.
The focus motor is quick and not obtrusive. Again some have suggested that the focus is a bit noisy – it is certainly quieter than the shutter click and I didn’t find it annoying. It is a fixed lens – so it means more moving around to frame the subject if you are used to a zoom, but that is a small issue if it means you actually get the shots you want.
So the big question is how it compares in terms of letting light in? Well, the f1.8 full opening lets in more than three times the amount of light that my standard 18-55mm zoom did, and that makes a big difference to the photo.
Here is a photo at 800 ISO using the 18-55mm/f4.0 lens
And here is the same photo using 800ISO 50mm/f1.8
And the brilliance and detail on a close focus subject shows excellent focus in the centre, with only minor softening at the edge.
Overall, I am very happy with this lens and think it will solve a number of problems shooting in less than optimal light. For a lens that doesn’t have pretensions beyond its key function this is excellent value for money and I would recommend that if you only buy one extra lens for your DSLR this would be the one. I give it 4.5 stars.
Cheers
Jerry
The British Steam Car Challenge team have broken another record. This time for the flying kilometre (or kilometer if you’re American) with a two-way run averaging 148.308mph. This time the car was driven by Don Wales, nephew of renowned speed record breaker Donald Campbell.
Having recorded the new mile record at almost 140mph with driver Charles Burnett III, it was always envisaged that test driver Don Wales would take the kilometre record, and the team pulled out a couple of the limiter valves to squeeze a little more speed from the machine, dubbed the ‘world’s fastest kettle’.
By the end of their runs, the team hope to have five speed records under their belt – the world record for the mile, the world record for teh kilometre, the US record for teh mile, the US record for teh kilometre and the Guinness world record for a steam car.
The team is an insipiration to us all, persevering over countless hurdles for ten years to make this dream a reality. And a true team they are too – not only in agreeing to take turns in the glory, but in the full support team that prepares the car and that performs the refuel and turn-around to ensure that the car can do its second run within the allocated 60 minutes. And the team battled mechanical and electrical problems that arose from just being in a desert salt pan in the middle of the Northern Hemisphere Summer in temperature well in excess of the old (Farenheit) century.
But with ingenuity and determination, the team pulled together to achieve what no-one had successfully done in 103 years – so again congratulations to Don and Charles, and all the support team, fans and financial backers who made it all possible.
Cheers
Jerry
Congratulations to the British Team behind the British Steam Car Challenge with their car ‘Inspiration’. Today they broke the record they set yesterday with a new land steam speed record of 148mph for the measured mile averaged across two runs in opposite directions. For more news see the UK Steam Car Club.
Cheers
Jerry
They’ve done it! British Steam Car Challenge driven by Charles Burnett III has broken the land speed record for a steam car averaging 225.055kph (139.843mph) on two runs over a measured mile.
The car weighs around three tonnes and measures 7.6 metres (25 feet). It is powered by a steam turbine driven from 12 boilers containing around 3.2km (2 miles) of tubing. The car runs on clean-burning propane producing superheated steam at 400C. The steam enters the turbine at more than twice the speed of sound. The aerodynamic body is made from carbon fibre composite and aluminium on a steel space-frame chassis.
While this car won’t translate into the next green steam sports car, the innovation that has gone into the design will spin off into many areas, from autoclaves to pressure systems. That said, it is tempting to wonder how well just one of those boilers might be adapted to drive an updated Stanley or Doble to make a lively quick starting road car.
Charles Burnett III summed up the the run while congratulating the crew, engineers and the whole team that made this possible by saying:
“It was absolutely fantastic I enjoyed every moment of it. We reached nearly 140mph on the first run before I applied the parachute. All systems worked perfectly, it was a really good run. The second run went even better and we clocked a speed in excess of 150 mph. The car really did handle beautifully. The team has worked extremely hard over the last 10 years and overcome numerous problems. It is a privilege to be involved with such a talented crew, what we have achieved today is a true testament to British engineering, good teamwork and perseverance”
The official record has stood since 1906, and while there have been individual runs, such as the 1985 ‘Steamin’ Demon’ the international measuring authority requires two runs in opposite directions within 60 minutes. Previous attempts have only managed one-way runs. Even so, the British team from Lymington achieved 150mph on one of the record-breaking runs.
The team will try to better the record tomorrow. For more information, see the UK Steam Car Club. Once the record attempts are over the car will be placed on permanent display at the UK National Motor Museum at Beaulieu.
Cheers
Jerry
