Steam car races toward record

A British team is looking to beat a 103-year-old speed record with their steam powered car. Reuters Stuart McDill reports.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Reuters
• environment
• cars
• technology

[eelpieandmash]

Ok,so the new record is 170 mph?

& the Stanley Steamer was doing 150+ mph before it crashed in 1907.

Well considering the huge improvement in engineering technology over the past100 years,this aint exactly much to write home about!

[LunaticQuutamo]

Only a brit wan't to drive a car which sounds like a teakettle...

[jwserge]

И ядерный реактор, чтоб как следует нагреть бочонок

Well, and a nuke reactor to properly boil the barrel )))))))

[freeman8128]

The first fuel ever used by motor vehicles was not propane, it was coal.

[ufoengines]

Very Cool!

[AgrivatedKillah]

Hank Hill would love this car

[Inigo93]

@peckerwood57, just a guess, but turbines are generally very powerful for their weight. So.... If you're going for max efficiency? Yeah, use a piston engine. But if you're going for max speed - where weight is important - it might be advantageous to forget efficiency and just brute force it.

[demonofrazgriz333]

@BinkieMcFartnuggets i am so confused by that statment...

[peckerwood57]

As others have mentioned, why not use a traditional steam piston engine rather than a turbine? Steam locomotives have massive torque. I would think a steam piston engine would also use much less steam/water and therefore less fuel. Look at the massive steam coming out of this thing. Plus that cool locomotive sound can't be beat!

[rlt94]

@ToolofSociety the sterling engine is not steam based, it is a closed system that contained a compressed gas (usually nitrogen) that is caused to circulate between a heat source and a heat sink, moving through a set of pistons along the way. the design that interests me the most is the low temperture differential engine who's bottom plate cal collect and use the heat od a human hand

[ToolofSociety]

@benjorgensen1 I must profess that I am not even remotely close to being a steam expert. The sterling engine is one of a couple designs that seem interesting. Unfortunately I cannot remember the specific names at this moment :(

[benjorgensen1]

@ToolofSociety yea, i guess you could even run it on hydrogen or natural gas or some other very low emision feul. is there posability for higher power engines that can have high rpms and torque or are steam engines inherently slugish? what do you think about sterling engines?