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Land speed record attempt begins UK team attempts steam car record
(about 22 hours later)
Final preparations are being carried out by a Hampshire-based team in its bid to break the world land speed record for steam-powered vehicles. A team of British engineers are to begin four days of attempts to break the longest-standing land speed record.
Dubbed the "fastest kettle in the world", the car aims to reach 170mph (274km/h) at Edwards Air Force base, California, over the next four days. They hope their steam car, Inspiration, will achieve speeds of 170mph (274km/h) at Edwards air base, in California's Mojave Desert.
Built in Lymington, the team's car will attempt to beat the current record of 127mph (206km/h) set in 1906. The Hampshire-based team says it unofficially beat the steam car record of more than 127mph (204km/h), set in 1906, during test runs on Saturday.
The three-tonne vehicle will be driven by main financer Charles Burnett III. For FIA records, two mile-long runs in opposite directions are averaged out.
Technical problems The 25ft-long (7.6m) three-tonne car, nicknamed the "fastest kettle in the world" and the "lean, green, mean machine", has been 10 years in the making in Lymington.
The British team includes test driver Don Wales, nephew of the late Donald Campbell and grandson of Sir Malcolm Campbell, who between them achieved more than 20 land and water speed records. It is being driven by its main financial backer Charles Burnett III.
Mr Wales told the BBC that its main engineering obstacle was to develop a compact boiler system to turn 40 litres (8.8 gallons) of water per-minute into superheated steam at 400C (752F), at 40 times atmospheric pressure. But project manager Matt Candy admits there have been problems during the test runs.
It was forced to abandon a test run in March on Thorney Island, near Emsworth, when technical problems set in. "We've had overheating electrical components, so we've started using an awful lot of dry ice every day to cool those," he said.
The longest standing land speed record is recognised by the Federation International Automobile (FIA). "We've also had a lot of gas pressure problems, due to the temperature causing the liquid propane to vaporise further up the car than it normally does.
The team will attempt to break the record for five days between 0630 and 1030 local time (1430 and 1830 BST). "We've had vapour locks. We've had pumps that couldn't cope with the extra pressure."
But the car still achieved a 137mph (221km/h) average over two runs, which have to be less than an hour apart, according to the British Steam Car Challenge website.
Century-old record
The British team includes test driver Don Wales, nephew of the late Donald Campbell and grandson of Sir Malcolm Campbell. Between them, those two ancestors achieved more than 20 land and water speed records.
Mr Wales told the BBC that the main engineering obstacle was to develop a compact boiler system which every minute could turn 40 litres (8.8 gallons) of water into superheated steam at 400C (752F), at 40 times atmospheric pressure.
The team was forced to abandon a test run in March on Thorney Island, near Emsworth, when technical problems set in.
The longest-standing land speed record is recognised by the Federation International Automobile (FIA).
American Fred Marriot set the record in a steam car dubbed "the Rocket" on Ormond Beach, Florida, now known as Daytona Beach.