The supercar that ran out of steam
It produces enough heat to boil 1,500 kettles but all that seemed like hot air when a team trying to break the land speed record for a steam-powered car failed to get off the starting blocks.
Yesterday was supposed to be the last round of testing before the 360-horsepower car, which uses a ton of water every 20 minutes, is shipped from Portsmouth dockyard to California next month.
But in the build-up to the first test run at an MoD airstrip in Thorney Island, an electronic safety sensor cut power to the engine.
Test driver Don Wales – nephew of speed king Donald Campbell, who died in an accident during a world water speed record attempt in 1967 – said: 'It's littered throughout land speed history that there is always one thing or another.
'While its frustrating for everyone, it's just one of those things.'
Engineers had hoped to do two 50mph runs in the vehicle.
But after hours of trying to get the car on the move, disappointed project manager Matt Candy called time on testing for the day.
He said the fault lay with one of the 130 electronic safety sensors, which cut power to the car immediately if they read something was not right. It takes only one minor fault to put the running of the car on hold.
Despite yesterday's disappointment, the team behind the British Steam Car, which has top speeds of 170mph, said they still hoped to smash the current land speed record for a steam-powered car of 128mph in America this August.
Engineer Christopher Lack said: 'Unfortunately, one problem with the car is its unreliability.
'In America we've got a few days, there is not just one day when we can do it.
'Two out of 10 runs works fine with no problem so we will get those two and definitely do it.'
LAST OFFICIAL ATTEMPT WAS IN 1906
In the record attempt, the car will be driven by Charles Burnett III – nephew of Lord Montagu of Beaulieu.
The last official steam-powered record attempt took place in 1906, when Fred Marriott drove a Stanley Steamer at 127.659mph at Daytona Beach, Florida.
The three-ton British Steam Car was built in a home project in Lymington, Hampshire, and is funded by major players in the car industry and private donations.
Water is 'super-heated' to 400 celsius in 12 state-of-the-art micro boilers with 3km of tubing, which is then pumped into a turbine at twice the speed of sound to power the car.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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