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Wind-Powered "Greenbird" Seeks Land-Speed Record

Posted by timothy on from the beautiful-pictures-too dept.

Mike writes with this tantalizing excerpt: "Dale Vince of Ecotricity and engineer Richard Jenkins are setting up on the salt flats at Lake LeFroy in Western Australia, hoping to catch the right breeze and break the wind-powered landspeed record of 116.7 mph in their sleek wind-powered vehicle, the Greenbird."

4 of 38 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Faster than the wind? by haeger · · Score: 3, Informative

    I hate to do this but...
    http://justfuckinggoogleit.com/search.pl?query=sailing%20faster%20than%20wind%20speed

    >;-)

    .haeger

    --
    You are not entitled to your opinion. You are entitled to your informed opinion. -- Harlan Ellison
  2. Re:How does it go? by gyrogeerloose · · Score: 3, Informative

    Really stupid ;-)

    Just kidding, of course. The thing does have a sail, but it might not be obvious to the uninitiated. It's that thing that looks like a vertical airplane wing. As you may be aware, the sail on a modern sailboat functions much like the wing of an airplane. The rigid sail on this landsailer is actually much more efficient than a cloth sail.

    --
    This ain't rocket surgery.
  3. Re:3-5 times actual wind speed? by Tenebrousedge · · Score: 3, Informative

    For more information, people can go to the Greenbird web page or to the relevant wikipedia page.

    --
    Those who advocate genocide deserve every protection afforded by law, and none afforded by common human decency.
  4. Re:How does it go? by etnoy · · Score: 3, Informative

    I wonder why that design hasn't become more popular. I suspect it was made illegal for racing.

    Rigid sails are extremely inflexible compared to their soft counterparts. Every wind needs its own sail shape; different wind speeds, directions, wave heights, etc. all require different shapes. There is no rule against rigid sails, it's just too hard to bring dozens of huge metal foils on a boat.

    --
    Quantum hacker.