Mindsigh

This steam car is not all hot air

Posted by jerry on July 16th, 2008 — Posted in Journal, Steam, Technology

The British Steam Car Challenge aims to break a world steam car record set by a Stanley steamer that has stood for 100 years. But if you thought this is some romantic harking back to an Edwardian world using Victorian technology, think again. This is today’s technology right now. Your plug-in electric car uses it, the internet runs on it and your house is lit by it. The steam turbine lies at the heart of modern electric power stations, whether nuclear or conventionally fueled. And that is a clue.

External combustion engines can use a wider range of fuels than any other technology. So a steam car can run on fossil fuel oils, or biodiesel, or alcohol or old vegetable oil. And the burners run clean. The British steam car challenge car will burn its fuel completely, producing almost no harmful emissions – unlike the internal combustion engine. Its two-stage turbine producing almost 270kw is designed to take this three tonne car to speeds in excess of 270kph powered by LPG.

Eight years in the making, this car is in every way a testament to the dedication of this small team of British enthusiasts. And despite being a purpose-built sprint car, the lessons learnt from demonstrating the practicalities of the steam generators and associated control systems could well be applied in a future steam hybrid car or a worthy successor to the Doble, Stanley and White cars of the past. External combustion could well be one of the green high performance solutions to our current love affair with fossil fuels.

The car will be driven at the Bonneville salt flats during Speed Week this year in August – by Don Wales (grandson of Sir Malcolm Campbell) and Charles Burnett III.

If you stop by their website before 30 July you can donate £1.00 and be part of history in the making, adding your name to the car and contributing to an extraordinary team.

Cheers
Jerry

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