About the Car |
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The car has been named Inspiration after the impact we hope it will have on the public conscience as well as the minds of the future generation of engineers, designers and public policy makers. The layout of the car shares some characteristics with many automobiles found in the market today. It is a rear wheel powered, rear engine vehicle that has traditional rack and pinion front wheel steer. The braking system is four wheel disk (parachute assisted) with double wishbone independent suspension at all four corners. From there however, the similarities end.
The boiler section is in the center of the car directly behind the single seat cockpit. For space reasons, there are actually four separate boilers each capable of being run independently.
As the ultimate speed will be well within the limits of pneumatic tyres, there is no need for special high speed wheels. The tyres are rubber pneumatic LSR spec Goodyear series.
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(c) 1999-2008, British Steam Car Challenge |
The
motive power is a two stage steam turbine and is fed by a boiler that
is fired on LPG. The 13 inch diameter turbine drives an epicyclical gear
train with a 4:1 ratio for a wheel speed of 3000 RPM at 200 MPH.
The
steam system is total loss with the turbine exhaust steam being vented
with the burner exhaust into the wake of the car. The volumes of steam
generated along with the boiler waste heat will provide a mass flow rate
such that the car will effectively have no drag associated with its wake.
This will also save the weight and technical difficulties associated with
a condenser and recirculation system.
Defining
the shape of the car has been an evolutionary process. Initially, it was
defined for the attempt with a 75Kw reciprocating engine. As is typically
the case during the design phase of any project, changes are constantly
being introduced as needs demand. There has been some deviation from the
original shape of the vehicle to accommodate additional tanks, extended
driver dimensions, different boiler designs and other design restrictions.