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Google-Backed Wind-Powered Car Goes Faster Than the Wind
sterlingda writes "A wind-powered car has been clocked in the US traveling downwind 2.85 times faster than the 13.5 mph wind. The definitive research by Rick Cavallaro of FasterThanTheWind.org is being funded by Google and Joby Energy. The run should now settle the DWFTTW (downwind faster than the wind) debate that has been raging for some time on the Internet about whether or not such a feat was possible."
If you'd read some of the provided links, you'd have seen that the requirement was for the vehicle to be powered solely by wind, so no gravity involved except in its usual role of keeping the wheels on the ground ;-)
In other news, scientists actually getting their hands dirty turn out to know more about their chosen field than a bunch of people on the interwebz.
People replying to my sig annoy me. That's why I change it all the time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailing_faster_than_the_wind
Sailing vessels only go faster than the wind when they travel with the wind coming from the side. No matter how fast the vessel goes, the wind keeps blowing from the side and delivering energy to the vehicle. When you try to go faster than the wind in the direction of the wind, the relative motion to the air goes down to zero and then you start going against a head wind. Obviously the wind can not be the propelling force beyond the point where you go as fast as the wind in the conventional sailing sense, because at that speed there is no wind (motion is relative). The described device uses the sailing force to accelerate and then produces its own faster wind, so to speak, by driving a propeller via a transmission from the wheels.
I hate spelling nazis, but since you are suggesting a search, the correct spelling is Ascher H. Shapiro. I only found this out as I was trying to take your advice and search for him.
Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
Let me know when you have a solar powered car traveling faster than light.