Record-breaking steam car comes to Cheltenham28 April 2010

The team that broke the world land speed record for a steam-powered car visited Spirax Sarco in Cheltenham last Thursday (22 April 2010).

As well as being one of the team's main sponsors, Spirax Sarco played a key role in the success, by providing engineering advice and high performance control valves and positioners for steam turbine and boiler prototype testing.

These tests revealed that the boiler design had a power output too low to enable the car to reach record-breaking speeds. Spirax Sarco identified the problem as insufficient heat transfer area within the boiler, and then helped to redesign the units.

The car itself was fitted with two control valve and positioner sets – one for controlled venting of steam during boiler start up, and the second to control the flow of superheated steam to the turbine.

"Spirax Sarco expertise was crucial in the technical design and testing of the car," said team project manager Matt Candy. "Their input ensured that the car had the power and performance capabilities we needed, while the components they provided worked impressively well," he added.

The British team broke its first record by achieving an average speed of 139.843mph on two runs over a measured mile.

The feat, at the Edward's Air Force Base in California, beat the old record of 127 mph, which had stood since 1906. The second record was set for a measured kilometre – achieving an average speed of 148.308mph on two runs, with a peak speed of 159mph.

Brian Tinham

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