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New Speed Record Set For Wind-Powered Vehicles
Hugh Pickens writes "Richard Jenkins reached 126.1mph in his Greenbird car on the dry plains of Ivanpah Lake in Nevada, setting a new world land speed record for a wind-powered vehicle. 'It's great; it's one of those things that you spend so long trying to do and when it actually happens, it's almost too easy,' says Jenkins. The Greenbird is a carbon fiber composite vehicle that uses wind (and nothing else) for power. The designers describe it as a 'very high performance sailboat,' but one that uses a solid wing, rather than a sail, to generate movement. Due to the shape of the craft, especially at such high speeds, the wings also provide lift; a useful trait for an aircraft, but very hazardous for a car. To compensate for this, the designers have added small wings to 'stick' the car to the ground, in the same way Formula 1 cars do. 'Greenbird weighs 600kg when it's standing still,' says Jenkins. 'But at speed, the effect of the wings make her weigh just over a ton.' Jenkins has also built a wind-powered craft that travels on ice, rather than land. 'Now that we've broken the record, I'm going back on to the ice craft. There's still some debate as to whether traveling on ice or land will be faster.'"
Obviously, they've never seen Aunt Flo's old Desoto with the busted crankshaft flying down the street during hurricane season ...
I've always thought that this sort of thing is pretty interesting. It would be nice to have a wind-powered car of my own!
I hate breaking out the calculator to compare 600kg to a ton. Relative increase, I guess.
The cost of that cleanup, of course, will be borne by taxpayers, not industry.
I doubt they're going fast enough for relativistic effects to increase their effective mass by 400 kg.
That article is really light on the details. Where is the article that actually is news for nerds?
At a minimum I want to know what kind of wind speed they needed to set the record.
Must have been a windy day on planet Earth!
http://www.sail-world.com/USA/New-World-Speed-Record---Macquarie-Innovation-breaks-50--hits-54-knots/55222
--jmike
This craft reminds me of the early Michael Moorcock SF story The Ice Schooner:
--
make install -not war
"Richaaaaaaaaaaaaaaard!"
Tsunami -- You can't bring a good wave down!
growing up, we used to race a DN class iceboat. IceMice could do over 70 mph in a 30 mph wind. This is another 50 mph faster. Tip the craft on dirt, and you will know it.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
Interesting, but totally useless for cars. The wing is way too tall for traffic. But for ships, its a different story. Question is: If it takes a 40 foot high wing to move a 1 ton car, how big of a wing would you need to move a 50,000 ton container ship? The heaviest sailing vessel yet constructed is the Star Clipper: Star Clipper, which is 5000 tons and traditionally rigged with about 50,000 square feet of sail handled by 20 crewman.
This is my sig.
The physics that allows one to sail faster than the wind aren't completely obvious. Terence Tao wrote a very good explanation of the basics http://terrytao.wordpress.com/2009/03/23/sailing-into-the-wind-or-faster-than-the-wind/ where he also shows a nice theoretical construction that allows one to accelerate to any speedy (assuming that the universe is Newtonian).
Did they take the average of two timed runs in opposite directions in order to compensate for, you know... wind speed?
Set your phasers on "funky"!
Anyone else thinking how much this car blows??
zing!
There's still some debate as to whether traveling on ice or land will be faster.
I think if it weighs a ton, I could probably answer this question...
The exact same size of wing...
After all, you said nothing about the speed. Wait long enough and the ship itself will move in the wind.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
I had an Arrow class iceboat and regularly got over 70 mph. These speeds are pedestrian for iceboats. The DN class and Arrow class really don't take aerodynamics very far having completely open cockpits. Now the Skeeter class takes aerodynamics quite seriously having an almost enclosed cockpit and many other aerodynamic features. Its drag is quite low.
Actually, an iceboat was clocked at 143 mph and this was many years ago. The potential for impressive speeds on ice is pretty big.
For more information go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_boat
What, like land speed records for bigwheels?
The Internet is generally stupid
What is a mile? Mille Passuum, one thousand double paces marched by the Roman army. In other words, each foot touches the ground 1,000 times per mile marched. btw, the wiki article neglected to include the rod: 5-1/2 yards per rod, four rods per chain. These units are named for the tools surveyors once used to measure them.
Yeah, because a supersonic land-sailing car is realistic.
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
Actually there is some debate on that one. While it could refer to the weather it is just as likely due to the politicians (all the hot air). I will refer you to wikipedia.
Shouldn't they use the metric unit of force for weight? (I mean give the weight in newtons, not kilograms. Yeah, I know just take KG and multiply by 9.8 to get newtons.)
Did you know 80 to 90% of the moderators on slashdot wouldn't recognize a troll even if one dragged them under a bridge.
Who cares if it's realistic? 200 years ago going faster than 60mph was unrealistic. As was going to the moon. Or breathing underwater.
Here's a link to the youtube video of the actual run. It's quite interesting to see the difference between the ice version and the land speed record version of the craft. Apparently there are some incredible downforces being generated as well.
'The tyrant will always find pretext for his tyranny.' - Aesop's Fables
The point is that yes sure we can do a lot of things, but when you put limits in place it precludes certain results. You still can't break 60mph or reach the moon if the only vehicle you allow is a horse..
which is totally what she said
The CHP clocked me @ 47mph on a Big Wheel. It was downhill, however, and definitely not the record. One of my friends was clocked @ 55 going down Corral Hollow road towards Carnegie. The guy in the car couldn't keep up once they got into the twisties. Its a miracle that we survived our childhoods.
The cost of that cleanup, of course, will be borne by taxpayers, not industry.
Such a great achievement. The boundaries are pushed in so many areas such that there is little left one can push as an individual and get the "fastest" mark.
Most of Slashdot is discussing the relativistic merits of the added mass !!!
Is this the Richard Jenkins that played the mortician in "Six Feet Under"?
I thought his wind-powered car got hit by a bus.
???
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- aqk
F U