In fact I'm positively *underwhelmed*.
It doesn't look like they've got massive amounts of funding. Also, if it was that easy to go fast using steam, wouldn't we all be driving steam cars now?
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>> 'World's fastest kettle' trying to beat current record of 127 - driver talks of having >> done 140+ already (but not on official run I guess). Looks good. I am very surprised that a dirty great thing like that over ONE HUNDRED YEARS after the original record was set
Fascinating. Look at *this*:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Stanleyracerwreck.jpg
and then compare it with this:
www.steamcar.co.uk/gallery/index.html
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steam makes sense, you can get coal at every petrol station and they seem surprised when you buy some.
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I wonder how much extra power it would need over the Stanley Steamer, to get that extra 20mph?
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There are four coal seams at different levels under our house. I ought to be driving down a shaft....
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Most steam cars were powered by paraffin-fuelled "flash" boilers, not coal.
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I was having a flashback to an Austerity class LMS loco for some reason...
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I was having a flashback to an Austerity class LMS loco for some reason...
Anorak on..... Austerity was a WD , the 8F was the LMS design.
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Hang on a minute....
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Yes. Right to hand. Under "Industrial Archaeology of Lancashire", I've a book called "The Doble", by J.N. Walton. It's quite fascinating. A 1917 Doble-Detroit has a wheelbase of 10' 8", a vertical water tube boiler, and a two-cylinder, "uniflow" double-acting engine. Contemporary brakes acted on the rear only. An exhaust steam turbine-driven fan assisted condensing. It cost $3,750 in 1917 (wow! twice the cost of petrol-driven cars!). Apparently the quality, silence, and performance were much better than for a petrol car. It would, from stone cold, be able to move off in two minutes from starting.
A table on page 9 shows that during a steaming test, there was 100 PSI in 1 minute 20 seconds, 200 in 1:45, 400 in 2:25, 600 in 2:50, 800 in 3:10, 1,000 in 3:20, and 1,200 in 3:30. Normal running pressure <= 600 PSI.
Anyway, there's some stuff on-line at:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doble_steam_car
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Just heard there's going to be a report on the attempt on BBC 'South Today' at 6:30pm this evening, for those in the region.
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"Anorak on..... Austerity was a WD , the 8F was the LMS design."
I can still hear that horrible clonking sound they made - you could hear them a mile away. Then 10 minutes later they hove into view heaving around 100 full coal trucks and doing around 15mph. Then the desperate gasping, soot puff blow CLONK gasp. CLOCK....CLONK.............CLONK.... now a mile further on ....clonk....clonk.
What was causing the clonking? and was it a design fault?
(aged 10, train spotter book in hand)
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oilrag - get yourself to the Keighley and Worth Valley as they have a WD Austerity. I'm sure there are many experts on the "clonking"!
www.kwvr.co.uk/stockbook/index.htm
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sky channel 984 should do the trick. not sure about digital terestrial.
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I found the write up on the WD interesting Dave, thanks.. no Sky - Virgin...
Edited by oilrag on 19/08/2009 at 18:23
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yep, sky 984. car sounds like a steam turbine.
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Record attempt delayed by technical hitch - got run in one way, allegedly faster than record but didn't give a figure, but couldn't come back.
Hoping to go tomorrow, with the benefit of an extra mile run-up (now 4 miles, thanks to USAF).
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Steam piston engines, well designed and expensively made, have enormous torque from low speeds and provide silent, rocket-like acceleration. They don't always clonk oilrag! And I think they may be more fuel-efficient than turbines.
The problem seems to be with prolonged cruising. I believe electric cars may fall down on that too.
Always liked the idea of small steam piston engines. One with a coal-fired boiler in a 16ft dinghy is my idea of heaven on the river. Without the power and drama of a Royal Navy steam pinnace, but on a human scale somehow.
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The problem seems to be with prolonged cruising.
"The Doble" mentions that a Doble E-19 of around 1925 would do about 450 miles per gallon of water (but only about 15 MPG of "cheap fuel oil") - bear in mind that the car weighes about two tons, and the roads would not have been up to today's standards.
There's some stuff about an E-20 at:
www.hemmings.com/hcc/stories/2008/01/01/hmn_featur...l
a bit sensational, perhaps, although I like, in the "specifications", this: "Torque @ rpm: 1,000-lbs.ft. standing still".
I believe electric cars may fall down on that too.
Yes, but you could "fill up" by switching battery packs.
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"They don't always clonk oilrag"
Oi, Lud! You`re teaching your Grandad. I used to live at the point where the LNER line passed over the LMS ;-)
(only between 8 & 11yrs tho...)
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"The car will be brought back to England and will end up at the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu, Hampshire."
Better than `ending up` at the tip, I suppose. Wonder what terms the BBC used when Mallard broke the rail steam record?
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Mallard
A very handsome beast especially in that blue with the coachlines. I wonder if it clonked though oilrag?
Streamlined too innit? But I bet the styling didn't give it much extra at the top end. 126 was its official number I think.
GWR Castles used to do 90 or 100 on regular runs in the fifties, and could do a bit more. And actually there was a turn-of-the-last-century thing with a long funnel, open cab and just two 8 or 9 foot driving wheels that could pull a smallish train at 90 or so.
Steam.... don'tcha just love it?
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>> Mallard A very handsome beast especially in that blue with the coachlines. I wonder if it clonked though oilrag? >>
I think it did, actually. I read somewhere, probably at the railway museum when it was at Clapham, that the valves were damaged during the record run and it had to be rebuilt.
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They've done it:
One hundred years later and the best they casn do is beat that record by 12mph?
They have got the Union Flag upside down too. What's up with these people?
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One hundred years later and the best they can do is beat that record by 12mph?
I guess they did the best they could with the resources available. Also, perhaps the fact that it took so long indicates the difficulty in doing it?
They have got the Union Flag upside down too. What's up with these people?
Probably had other things on their mind :-)
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>> >> They have got the Union Flag upside down too. >>
>>>>
No they haven't. Taking the whip aerial on the left as the "mast", the broad white line is on top, which is correct.
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Depends which pictures you have seen.
The video in the link with just the guy next to the car has the flag the correct way. On TV this morning it showed the whole team posing for a photo and the flag is upside down.
I know a steam engineer I'll ask him why it was so difficult to beat the record.
I've heard the Tornado owners would have liked to try and beat Mallard record, but Network Rail won't give them permission to try.
Mallard didn't have a speedo and they only knew they'd beaten it after the run - which did cause serious damage.
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