Steam-Powered Car Breaks Century-Old Speed Record

mcgrew writes "New Scientist reports that a steam-powered car has broken the 1906 record of 204 km/hr (127 mph) for the fastest steam-powered automobile, the Stanley Steamer. The Inspiration made a top speed of 225 kilometres per hour (140 miles per hour) on August 26. 'The car's engine burns liquid petroleum gas to heat water in 12 suitcase-sized boilers, creating steam heated to 400C. The steam then drives a two-stage turbine that spins at 13,000 revolutions per minute to power its wheels.The FIA requires two 1.6-km-long runs to be performed in opposite directions — to cancel out any effect from wind — within 60 minutes.'"

Comments

Check that off the obscure to-do list

[swanzilla]

Next up...ridiculously large front-wheeled bicycle speed record.

Re:Check that off the obscure to-do list

[ev0l]

The name of the bike you are, presumably, referring to is called a penny farthing. They worked by direct drive. The cranks were tied directly into the front hub. You would generally get the largest wheel your legs would allow so that you could travel as fast as possible. The bigger diameter of the front wheel the further you would go with one rotation.

Interestingly the first geared bicycles, that resemble the ones we ride now, were called safety bicycles. Presumably this was because you were closer to the ground and had less distance to fall. However the invention of gearing on the safety bicycle allowed a rider to travel much faster than would of even been possible on a penny farthing. Bicycles today are far more dangerous than a penny farthing. Even going downhill, the penny farthing rider is limited to how fast they can pedal (the cranks never stop spinning) but todays bicycles employ multiple gearing ratios and free wheels/hubs that allow for extremely fast speeds. As I understand it penny farthings quickly died out after the invention of the safety bicycle.

-Will

 

Re:Check that off the obscure to-do list

[beav007]

Even going downhill, the penny farthing rider is limited to how fast they can pedal

Until the bike picks up enough speed to throw your feet off the pedals. Then there is no hope of stopping without losing skin until you reach the flat again.

And slope

[seifried]

"to cancel out any effect from wind" - and any slope, otherwise we'd have people dropping cars off cliffs claiming speed records like nobody's business =).

Re:All oficial times

[couchslug]

The Stanley Steamer record is vastly more impressive. Tires, brakes, and suspension in 1906 were primitive, materials were not nearly as reliable, and design was done on a drawing board.

"That smashes the previous official record of 204 km/hr (127 mph) set in 1906 by Fred Marriott of the US in a modified version of the then-popular steam car known as the Stanley Steamer."

Sorry, but only going thirteen (13) miles an hour faster than a record more than a _century_ old is shit. He might have done better by using a replica Stanley engine made from modern materials (to allow heat increase without a boiler explosion) instead.

Slow down..

[pablo_max]

Slow Down you damn Steam Punks! And stay the hell off my lawn.

Re:All oficial times

[DJRumpy]

If it was that easy, it would have been broken before now. You belittle the achievement without understanding the challenges involved.

Another thing to consider is that during speed runs, brakes, and suspension are not really a factor. The car is driven in a straight line at maximum speed. It's not taken on a touring expedition to test is comfort and handling performance. The tires need only be capable of not blowing at high speeds.

Re:All oficial times

[Kral_Blbec]

Is there really anything scientific or technological that we cant do vastly better now that 1906? Its like the captain of the senior football team boasting about stealing lunch money from a 7th grader.

hybrid

[Eil]

'The car's engine burns liquid petroleum gas to heat water in 12 suitcase-sized boilers, creating steam heated to 400C. The steam then drives a two-stage turbine that spins at 13,000 revolutions per minute to power its wheels.

Cool, a hybrid! Where can I get the government coupon to purchase one?

Re:did anyone else besides me

[camperdave]

although i'd be REALLY impressed if someone invents a steam powered aircraft/ helicopter

Apparently both airplanes and helicopters have been powered by steam.

Re:All oficial times

[Michael Woodhams]

I was thinking the same: 100 years of technology and only 10% faster? However, at the end the article says "... the team is planning another run on Wednesday, to try to get even closer to the car's theoretical top speed of 274 km/hr (170 mph)." My interpretation is that they didn't want to go flat-out right away so that any engineering problems could show up at lower speed first. So they are doing progressively faster runs, and this just happened to be the first that was faster than the old record.

Re:More details would be nice

[RandomJoe]

Sure the temperature means something. You don't get steam above 212F without increasing the pressure. So the temp tells you roughly the pressure. I did a quick search for a chart, and it says 400 degrees would be around 235 PSIG. In comparison, your 600 PSIG boiler ran about 489 degrees and the 1000 PSIG ran about 546 degrees.

http://www.indpipe.com/images/PDF/steam_temperature_pressure_table.pdf
(Just the first link I found.)

Untrue

[Savior_on_a_Stick]

In 1905, the British Admiralty announced all new ships of the line would be turbine driven.

Babcock & Wilcox built coal fired boilers through the 50's - most of these driving turbines.

By the time of the Stanley record, piston steam was on it's way out for capital ships

Now, some WWII naval ships used piston steam driven pumps for damage control, but it sounds like you're talking about main propulsion.