| Author | Comment | ||
|---|---|---|---|
 thamesweb |
Steam Car Challenge at Bonneville |
Lead | |
|
Posts: 1152 (25/06/08 00:31) |
One of the oldest speed records of 'modern' times is that for steam propulsion, first contested over 100 years ago using steam power. This August a UK
built steam car...
...will be attempting to break the land speed record set 70 years ago by the steam engine, Mallard. More information Good luck to them. |
||
|
deltawings |
Steam Car Challenge At Bonneville | ||
|
Posts: 169 (26/06/08 09:08) |
Oh The Power Of Steam Roger. After looking at this thread, it reminded me of the technique used when launching an Aircraft from an Aircraft Carrier. 
Because of the restricted space a Steam Driven Catapult is used. The pilot runs his engines up to full thrust, the Catapult Mechanism then launches the aircraft in to the air. Immediately the pilot retracts the flaps and landing gear, and if lucky climbs steeply away with full power on. 
At a Concorde lecture I went to, the speaker said thst they programmed the simulator to see if it was possible to land a Concorde aboard an aircraft carrier. Not too sure if he was being serious though. 
|
||
|
ChristiaanJ |
|||
|
Posts: 7076 (26/06/08 12:07) |
deltawings,
"At a Concorde lecture I went to, the speaker said thst they programmed the simulator to see if it was possible to land a Concorde aboard an aircraft carrier. " In reality it was one of the "party tricks" on the Filton sim, once they got the electronic display generator with the big database. The aircraft carrier was located near Hong Kong (Kai Tak in those days). You had to fly the Concorde onto the deck, and on touchdown, the instructor would "freeze" the simulator, so you came to an abrupt stop, as if you had caught a wire. Not sure if they had a neat trick to simulate the catapult launch, though. IIRC they just turned up the headwind to about take-off speed, so the take-off roll was only the length of the deck. It can still be done with the MS flight sim! I'll try and find the screenshots my son sent me some time ago. Or maybe James can give us a demo. |
||
|
Bluebottle |
|||
|
Posts: 526 (26/06/08 13:19) |
Interesting project, I wish them every success!
I'm pleased to see that it's 1) British and 2) Not a railway engine! I'd hate to see Mallard's historic record broken so long after it was set! 
|
||
|
ChristiaanJ |
|||
|
Posts: 7078 (26/06/08 17:17) |
I read some articles about steam cars years ago, and wondered if it could not be done better today.
Seems a few companies tried, because they are much 'cleaner' than internal combustion engines, but nothing came of it, simply because the basic thermal cycle is less efficient. |
||
