British engineers take on steam car speed record

A Hampshire-based team of engineers are hoping to break the steam car speed record over the next four days. The team hope to break the 127mph (204km/h) record, which was set in 1906 and is the longest standing land speed record.

The team have already unofficially beat the record during testing last week and are confident that the car, called Inspiration, can achieve speeds of up to 170mph (274kmh). To enter the FIA record books, the car must do 2, two-mile runs in opposite directions, which are then averaged out giving the official speed.

The car, which weighs over 3 tonnes and is 25 foot long has been dubbed the ‘fastest kettle in the world’ and has taken over 10 years to complete.

Project manager Matt Candy admits that it has not all been clear sailing, he said, “We’ve had overheating electrical components, so we’ve started using an awful lot of dry ice every day to cool those,”

Adding that: “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”.

An American called Fred Marriot holds the steam car speed record, which he set in 1906 with his car dubbed ‘the rocket’; the record took place on Ormond Beach, now known as Daytona Beach in Florida.