Daily Updates from the British Steam Car Team during their world recording breaking attempt in America British Steam Car Team Diary EntryFrom: Don Wales – Test Driver 24th August 2009The weather was stormy, and noticeably cooler. The team worked in earnest to rectify the electrical fault, but the part arrived two hours late. They carried out a static test, which was the best they have ever had running at 380degrees, demonstrating that the car now has more power. Typically on a 130mph run it is operating between 300-320, so this was good news. However the static test detected a fault with the water bladder, which had been damaged by the flow of pressure being pushed through the flowmisers. There was little more that the team could do, time was ticking on, so it was decided that they would carry out the bladder repair (which typically take 2-3hours) on Monday. They would utilise this time to carry out maintenance, such as flushing through the flowmisers and mechanically setting them, and clearing the car of any contaminated water. The next run will be Tuesday 2.5th 21st August 2009Second post We arrived on the lakebed full of anticipation and optimism. The air was still, it was a beautiful sunrise and we were all on schedule. The first run peaked at 133.491 but picked up speed when exiting the measured mile. The measured mile was 128.628. The turnaround crew was on target at approximately 40 minutes in preparation for its return run. Whilst the car was being refilled there was pressure problem with the water rigs. The second run was aborted and we all returned to base. The temperature soared to over 104f, and over 40% humidity. Having tracked down the route of the problem to a minor electrical fault, the team continued to work and source spares to rectify it. Clouds began to roll in, a storm kicked up with over over 45-50 mph gusts, we had had to rescue the marquee as things began to fly away. It became impractical and dangerous to work, the team battened down the hatches and called it a day. The weather forecast has predicted bad storms and lightening. It is really howling out there! The team will continue to work on the car tomorrow (Saturday) and carry out a static test for more runs on Monday, when I will bring you more news.
Yet another bad day for Steam Car Record Breaking at Edwards! The temperature is slowly creeping up and is forecast to be very hot again tomorrow and Friday with thunderstorms on Saturday.
The car moved away painfully slowly, but picked up speed. The outward run was 129mph* again, but during the return run the car got a puncture on the right rear tyre and also was losing a little steam pressure through the measured mile. The car recorded a run of 104mph* giving us an average of 117* mph. ( *approx speeds)
I know that record breaking is not easy, but this car is making us all work very hard for it. I am beginning to think that maybe it should repainted a certain blue colour. Campbells don't like the colour green!!
Tomorrow is another day and I will watch the attempt from the base camp on top of the portacabin where you can view the whole course in the distance! We need a good day with a speed of 140mph plus, wish us luck!
We wish them luck.  19th August 20094pm Check out the BBC News site by clicking HERE to see the latest VIDEO and news from the USA. Unfortunately today on the first run the turbine became stuck meaning that the record attempt is on hold again.
British Steam Car Team on Course for World Record Success
Today the British Steam Car Team will commence their attempts to achieve an official record The current FIA record is 127mph previously set by American, Fred Marriott, driving a Stanley steam car in 1906.
17th August 2009Don arrives with us tonight, therefore in the meantime I wanted to give you a quick update of the team news today. Its my first day at Edwards and I can see how incredibly hard it must be for the team to work in such extreme heat. We arrived at the base at 5.00am, the security check process went smoothly and drove the 12miles to where we are stationed on the lakebed just as the sun rose. It was beautiful. It was a chilly start, but soon heated up to 104f and at first even the car was cold and the gas wouldn't fill up. Around 7am it was all systems go, Charles made his first run reaching 148mph. The crew turned her around in less than 50minutes (they have it to a fine art). During the second pass Charles had to stop as one of the 139 sensors had shut the system down as a safety precaution. The sensor turned out to be faulty and has since been replaced. No big issue. The team also replaced a flowmiser, as it was stuck open and throwing wet steam in to the dry steam affecting the cars speed and performance. The FIA have just joined us, and will be setting up the course tomorrow. Attempts will commence on Wednesday. Ironically the date co-incides with both the Barber Nicholls run and when Don Wales achieved his Electric record. No pressure! In the meantime the course is undergoing further "fodding" - 1 extra mile (7 miles in total). The car is peaking at 3.8miles, and as you are probably aware a land speed record is on a measured mile, 2-way pass with 1hr turn-around. At the moment the car is peaking slightly late, so this should balance it out. The speeds they are achieving are certainly record breaking, so now we just need the timings guys all set up and plenty of luck on our side! 7th August 2009We had two good days of testing and after the mid week depression to finish the week on such a high was exactly what we all needed. It was evident that all the hard work and team drills had paid off. The car was set up on the lakebed in a bitterly cold wind; we were all glad of our protective suits today, which normally we boil in! I was strapped in as usual, Jerry told me that I should be prepared to lift off at about 120 - 125mph but if it felt ok I could carry on. The car was ready and I sent off without delay. The car had 2 minutes of burn time and we were using 3 1/2 miles of track. The boilers were still to run a bit cold at about 270 degrees c rather than the available 400 degrees c. It was our best run to date, I lifted off momentarily at 125 mph but everything was running good so I put my foot back down. The car touched 131mph and I then started to slow down, as tyre pressure light had come on. We had gone faster than the official world record of 127mph, but we still have a lot to do. We need to maintain the speed over a measured mile, accelerate quicker, and do a return run within an hour. We know that the car has the potential. We went out and celebrated, which is why today's entry is a little late! I flew home on Saturday and was looking forward to seeing the wife and kids; it's been over 4 weeks. I will fly back on the 17th August in preparation for the timekeepers. Charles has agreed that I will have the opportunity to try for the Kilometre record, which is great news as a test driver. In the meantime Charles's has taken over at the helm and this week will be familiarising himself with both track and the car. The team will also be carrying out more improvements. My blogs will stop momentarily and start again when I return. 6th August 2009After numerous technical problems reported, the British Steam Car Team has carried out four successful runs ahead of its bid to break the century-old world land speed record for steam-powered vehicles. The 25ft-long British Steam Car dubbed “the fastest kettle in the world” reached speeds of over 131mph at Edward’s Air Force Base, California today. This is faster than the current world record. However as the FIA was not present, it is not officially recognized. The FIA will set up the course on Monday 17th August and official record attempts will be made on the mornings (~6.30 am to 10.30am USA time) from 18th August to 22nd August. The current official FIA record is 127mph previously set by American, Fred Marriott, driving a Stanley steam car in 1906. 6th August 2009I am pleased to report that the car ran beautifully this morning. We have been carrying out low speed tests to check Jerry's software modifications and today were one of the last ones. We tested the slam acceleration which still needs a little more “tweaking”, but reached in excess of 95mph again with just 90 second burn time. Tomorrow we are upping the burn time to 2 minutes so we should exceed 100mph and use approximately half of the track that we will have available come attempt time. No matter how hard I try to avoid getting into trouble out here, I fail. I was told off for speeding again by the Lakebed Management Team that patrols the lakebed! Having just carried out our 95mph steam car run, Charles suggested we take his new Dodge Viper for a high speed test of the prepared course. Naturally I obliged, but did warn him that it will get covered in lakebed dust both inside and out. We obtained clearance for a high speed run to test the track. So into the driving seat and off we went! That car is certainly mean in second gear, but great fun snaking away. The first run was 140mph, second run was 160mph. One of our guards joined me for a passenger ride as I reached 185mph. Adam also jumped in for a quick short burst sideways. It was awesome.  When we got back to South Base the Lakebed Management Team was having a word with Matt about speeding on the lakebed, even though we had permission. I consider myself told off. Boys and there toys hey! 5th August 2009Today had to be the worst day for the team’s morale as we had high expectations of a good run. There was a huge full moon setting over the lakebed as we arrived. I was strapped in to the car and waited for it fire up, which she did with a sense of purpose, but I could feel and see the burners cutting in and out intermittently. We had a blocked miser, which hasn’t happened since Thorney Island. After carrying out several successful runs, it was hugely disappointing for us all. I went into chef mode cooking breakfast and washing up whilst the team worked intensively on the car. We then had another issue to contend with, battling a very strong and hot wind. We took down all the tents to save them from being blown away; the mechanics were working without shade or shelter, which was a thoroughly unpleasant experience. It was a tough day. 4th August 2009Today was cloudy and only in the late 80's which is over 20 degrees cooler than the past few weeks. It took the customary 1 1/2 hours to get our weekly passes on to the base and through the security process. We had a good static test with the turbine running whilst the back of the car was raised on its air jacks; it was then slowly dropped back down as a slam test to help improve acceleration. We are currently down to only half of the crew numbers, as some of the team returned home for a well deserved break. But we have enough to run the car on one way passes and continue the testing. I return home at the weekend and return with fellow team members on the 15th August in preparation for the arrival of the FIA and timed runs! Sadly, Lynne, Wilbur and Stuart have other commitments and are unable to return – they will be really missed. 3rd August 2009 Today was cloudy and only in the late 80's which is over 20 degrees cooler than the past few weeks. It took the customary 1 1/2 hours to get our weekly passes on to the base and through the security process.
We are currently down to only half of the crew numbers, as some of the team returned home for a well deserved break. But we have enough to run the car on one way passes and continue the testing. I return home at the weekend and return with fellow team members on the 15th August in preparation for the arrival of the FIA and timed runs!
31st July 2009All the equipment had been prepared for an early entrance to the Lake bed. We were informed that we had to be off the Lake by 09.30hrs as there was a chance that the Space Shuttle might land at Edwards. We were all excited about that prospect of witnessing it land. Our first run was purely a rolling resistance test of the surface. The car was very slow to move away and acceleration was sluggish. We only had 90 seconds of fuel on board (the record runs will have 2 1/2 minutes). The car peaked at about 70mph before the burners switched off and I coasted for approximately a mile before coming to a stop. This was good news and demonstrated to the team that the surface of the lakebed is less 'sticky' than the Tarmac we are use to at Thorney. We practiced a full turn-around, and had just enough time to carry out a return run within the one hour regulations. Jerry tweaked the software to stop the steam going through the bypass system and improve its acceleration. The return run was the best to date and reached 94.9mph with the 90 seconds burn time. We saw it as the perfect opportunity to take a picture of the team with the car, as a few members are flying back to the UK on Monday (we will post it to the site shortly). We were off the lakebed by 09.00hrs but the Shuttle landed in Florida which was a disappointment. The team is getting good practice in loading and unloading the car and turning her around which is vital to the record attempts. It has been a challenging but rewarding few days. On Friday night Charles treated us all to a steak dinner to thank us all for all our hard work. On Saturday the car had routine checks and maintenance.
29th July 2009 The British Steam Car Team carries out successful run but delay World Record AttemptAfter numerous technical problems, the British Steam Car team successfully carried out its first test run on US soil, yesterday. The team has been working tirelessly to get the car ready for the record attempts to break the century-old world land speed record for steam-powered vehicles. The team was in position by 7.00am ready for their first run. Test Driver Don Wales was strapped into the 25ft-long car that he has nicknamed “the lean, green, mean machine” – because of the technical issues the team has had to overcome. The goal was to replicate the test programme that took place in April at Thorney Island. The throttle lag was approx 5-7 seconds but it seemed longer as the vehicle accelerated slowly away. Project Manager Matt Candy said: "We reached 77mph over a very short distance of just 1km which was comparable to our tests at Thorney. We were due to do a high speed return run but the gas rig had trouble refueling and so we had to abort it. We will replace this gas pump tomorrow and resume the testing programme. The software has since confirmed that the vehicle produced more steam on the test run than in the UK, a bypass valve was open for approximately 1/5 of the test and the majority of the steam was wasted. This can be rectified, and knowing that it not performing to its full capacity is really encouraging news, as we can utilize the steam to generate more power than we thought we had.
28th July 2009
We reached 77mph over a very short distance of just 1km which was comparable to our tests at Thorney. We were due to do a high speed return run but the gas rig had trouble refueling. So we settled for the one run and will replace this gas pump tomorrow. Jerry found out later that the boilers were not performing to their full capacity so this in theory means that we have at least 20% more power than we had originally thought. The team has since taken the decision to delay the record attempt to the week commencing 17th August. It’s important that the technical issues with the support rigs are resolved before an attempt is made. In addition, the FIA officials have to leave on the 4th August to attend Bonneville Speedweek. However the FIA are free from the 17th August after they have carried out their duties at Bonneville and can return to Edwards to witness the attempts. In the meantime, the team will continue fodding (clearing foreign object debris) from the course, and hope to have the complete 6 mile stretch cleared by the end of this week. Further fodding walks will be done the week of the run. Following the arrival of the British Steam Car team at Edwards Air Force Base on 29 June, there has been a month of intense activity but, unfortunately, a number of setbacks.
27th July 2009Today (Monday) we had some excellent news, we took delivery of an FOD BOSS! (foreign object debris remover) This is a replacement for us manual operators. It’s a mechanical device that is pull behind a truck and scoops up all the FOD, its positively brilliant and is certainly faster than us! We can scrape a 30ft wide track in about 6 passes at 15mph. We now only have 2 more strips to do and will then walk it as a final check. The new gas pumps have now been fitted to the car and a successful static test was completed late today. So it’s back on the lakebed tomorrow early to repeat our Saturday schedule of tests but now with more track available we might get a decent head of steam up and see what we get! So an early night tonight and up at 4.30am again! 25th July 2009 We were up nice and early, the alarm was set for 4.00am and we were all on the base by 5.00am. All the equipment and the car were made ready for the short journey from our base to the lakebed and our runway. We had made out a distance similar to Thorney Island where we ran in April to get some comparison data. We had a start team and a turnaround team to do two runs. The second run would be a coast down to find the rolling resistance of the track and I would get the car up to about 100mph. The sunrise was spectacular and the teams set up their stations. The Edwards AFB fire crews came out and we went through an 'unconscious' extraction from the car, which I always look forward to...NOT! The refueling process started and I got ready to be strapped into the car full of excitement. Richard was just doing up the seat belts when the run was stopped; the gas was taking too long to be pumped onto the car. So we returned back to our base and aborted the test. It turned out that the pump was partially blocked! We continued fodding (clearing the track of foreign object debris) and have now completed 2 1/2 miles. So it was another day of record breakers luck! However, it was still a good day for practicing getting everything out onto the lakebed. We also had a lot of time with Charles getting him familiar with the car and start up procedures. Monday is another day; the team will be fitting new gas pumps. The time keepers have also been penciled from Wednesday through to Tuesday.
24th July 2009 What a day it’s been! We got to the base in good time and got set up ready to run. The early air was distinctly chilly. The car was ready and the team got dressed into their protective clothing. We got well into the start program until the water was pumped on board. Under pressure it found a way out under the car due to a loose fitting. Once fixed we had another go, a sensor had given up in one of the boilers! A third attempt to fire up the beast got us the furthest, but this time a blocked pilot light stopped that test. My Uncle Donald was 100% right when he said that record breaking was not easy, otherwise everybody would do it! The Sun was well and truly hotting up. Charles had ordered a massive air conditioning unit that’s the size of small truck and is keeping the desert around the car nice and cool. We had lunch and got ready for our fourth go! This was the latest in the day that we had tried to run but with the dry ice and the A/C it started well. My task was to get the wheels to spin and spin they did exactly at the right time. I had to keep the turbine revs down to under 10,000 rpm for safety sake. During the test I had to dab the brake and lift off, we had lots of power at last! The car and rigs have been made ready for an early morning start to get on the lake bed for some test runs. We will be up at 4.00am tomorrow. The team deserved this boost after all the hard work of the past few days. If the tests are successful tomorrow and Monday we will be looking at high speed runs with Charles mid week onwards. 23rd July 2009 This morning was positively cold on the lake bed, a chilly breeze, ideal fodding weather! The mechanics and technicians got going on replacing three boilers and all the plumbing that goes with them.
22nd July 2009My family has often told me that I am accident prone and clumsy. Well today I cannot be blamed for all the breakages! The count so far today is two boilers and one broom. The boilers were in the car during our static test before breakfast to establish the throttle position. This time we hoped that the wheels would at least move, and move they did for a whole two revolutions whilst I applied the throttle. The test was declared a success but we needed one more test to open the throttle fully.  Whilst we were having breakfast the puddle of water under the car had widened and it was suspected that a boiler had blown. On closer inspection two had given up. It normally takes two days to do one boiler change. However it looks like the team will do it one; this is a fabulous effort by all the mechanics. They are even considering changing an old boiler for a new one at the same time, as a precautionary measure which might save time later on. We will probably lose all of tomorrow but at least it will save time in the long run. So Fodding again! Hopefully Friday and Saturday will see the car on the lakebed prior to high speed runs next week! 21st July 2009Edwards Air Force Base, California
20th July 2009Edwards Air Force Base, California
|
|||
18th July 2009Edwards Air Force Base, California
We successfully carried out two static steam runs which provided Jerry with a lot of information to sort out for tomorrow! The early indications are that the car is producing more steam due to the altitude at Edward’s and the high temperatures, it means that there is a bit more power and hopefully a bit more mph once we get running! We also carried out another foreign object check but it was so hot that we could only managed an hour, however we did clear the worst bit and got going a lot quicker. Just another 5 miles of stretch to go. We also watched a V2 bomber fly around a bit!! Over the course of the next few days video footage will go live on the website. Please remember to visit it, each day we have been doing a team diary (such as this one) to keep you as up to date as possible. |
|||
17th July 2009Edwards Air Force Base, California  The car was ready for its first steam test after yesterday’s repairs. We wanted a test before it got too hot; we had a short burst of the' Dam Busters' theme tune to get us in the mood! But after breakfast it refused to fire up. We found a blocked miser but fixed it, and then a refueling rig expired, so we had to change over rigs. Each time we restarted the refueling process we managed to get a little bit further into the process. However it was now getting too hot for the car. So in future we will have much earlier starts!
Tomorrow is another day, but the forecast is for more hot weather peaking on Sunday, oh joy! |
|||
16th July 2009 Edwards Air Force Base, California What a first couple of days! We arrived mid afternoon on Saturday into over 100f dry heat! We got up earlier on Sunday to drive to another nearby dry lake called El Mirage and watched a SCTA sanctioned race event, which is a smaller event than Bonneville but the entrants will be going to Bonneville in August. It was great to soak up the atmosphere and to get us in the mood for our coming event. Today we were up at 4.30 and in the cars for 5.00am for the trip to Edwards AFB. Its 30 miles away to the base, we arrived before sunrise but it took a long time to get access due to the strict security. We then drove the remaining 6 miles to where our main pit station is and made ready the tents and equipment. An excellent English breakfast was cooked by Rob!  This was the first time that I had seen the car since our April tests. It now has the sponsor’s logos on it and drivers names! It turned out that a sensor in one of the gas tanks had failed during shipment, so the technicians had to strip it out and replace it! This took most of the day. The temperature was really cooking by midday well over 100f and its forecast to get hotter over the next few days. Our camp is positioned in the Southern corner of the base just away from the main runway. We get to see and hear all sorts of aircrafts taking off and landing during the day. Maybe we might get a closer look later! We have a nice concrete perimeter track to work on which then leads onto the lake bed course. However, we have to be escorted onto the lake so I have yet to drive on it! Our plan is to carry out more checks tomorrow and hopefully to get some steam going. Early to bed again tonight! Will keep you posted on our progress.
|
|||
| For full details why not visit their web site Click here |
