BSCC "Vaporizes" Two World Land Speed Records

One important milestone was passed successfully when the British Steam Car was inspected by representatives from the Southern Timing Association and the FIA (the international governing body of motor sport) and declared eligible to attempt the world steam car record. The record runs commenced this morning at 6am PT. [ctrl-click to launch in car video of a test run on Rogers Dry Lake Bed] Image & Video Credit: Don Wales – Test Driver, BSCC

BSCC "Vaporizes" Two World Land Speed Records

Today, two World Land Speed Records and one unofficial fastest top speed were established by the British Steam Car Challenge (BSCC), in the Rogers Dry Lake Bed (Edwards Air Force Base, Mojave, California). 139.843 mph by Charles Burnett III for the measured mile, 148.308 mph by Don Wales for the measured kilometer, and an unofficial fastest top speed ever set for a human-driven steam-powered vehicle of over 155mph set by Don Wales.

These new speed records were observed and documented on-site by the FIA (Federation Internationale de l'Automobile) and is awaiting official approvals. The FIA is the governing body for world motor sport, and recognizes a world land speed record as the average speed of two passes made across the same measured distance in opposing directions within 60 minutes of each other. The time of the two runs is then averaged to obtain the official recorded speed.

The BSCC is a mission formed to make something solid out of controlling, well ... vapor. The mission focuses on capturing new world land speed records (for both the measured mile and kilometer). Their most recent attempts to beat the longstanding 106-year-old land speed records have been ongoing since the end of June 2009, when the British Steam Car arrived by container ship at the Port of Los Angeles.

The steam car is fitted with 12 boilers, which work like a kettle on a stove. LPG in the vehicle’s tanks ignite in order to produce about three megawatts of heat, to boil 140 litres of distilled water which produces the requisite steam. The water’s then pumped into the boilers at 50 litres a minute to superheat steam to 400C, which is then transmitted to the supercar’s turbines at twice the speed of sound to gather enough momentum and thrust to push the car to mesmerizing speeds of over 200mph. [ctrl-click diagram to launch video of an engine test at Rogers Dry Lake base camp, Edwards AFB, Mojave, CA] Image Credit: BSCC

Prior to today's record-setting, the British Steam Car Challenge Team had successfully carried out 5 full test runs in excess of 100mph in their summer-long project conducted at Edwards.

Last week, after numerous setbacks, the team was rewarded with their preparations on Saturday having unofficially posted a mark greater than Fred Marriott record set in the Stanley Steam Racer - called the "Stanley Rocket". The BSCC team's own calibrated equipment measured the two-way average at 137.14mph, and a 48min 52 second turn-around.

Then, of course, there was the additional unofficial success of Monday's mark of 148mph. This was significant because the mark eclipses the fastest speed ever recorded by any human-driven, steam-powered vehicle, official or unofficial ... a mark set by Bob Barber in 1985 on the salt flats at Bonneville, Utah (unofficial) stood at 145.607mph.

British Steam Car Challenge Logo - Image Credit: BSCC

The BSCC team have acknowledged the achievements of the "Barber-Nichols Team" and their vehicle "Steamin' Demon". On 18th August 1985 The Barber-Nichols Team carried out three successful passes and achieved an American National Record at 145.607mph. There was no attempt, however, to establish an FIA record by the Barber-Nichols Team and it is the goal of the British Steam Car Challenge to recognize this speed, or better, as the target FIA record mark to set.

The principal driver of the BSCC is the nephew of Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, Charles Burnett III. Burnett was born in England in 1956 and educated in South Africa and America, and as a legitimate tri-national (his mother was Canadian and his father American) he inherited a love for travel and all things mechanical from his father, who raced hydroplanes and restored Hudson automobiles.

A long-time powerboat enthusiast, Charles set up Vulture Ventures, a UK-based offshore racing team, which soon became known as the world’s most successful team in the sport. During this time, Charles took a variety of world records using catamarans and monohulls powered by diesel, petrol and LPG. He was included in the Guinness Book of World Records in 1999 for an offshore water speed record of 137mph.

The World Land Speed Record holding British Steam Car Challenge team, Rogers Dry Lake, Edwards Air Force Base, Mojave, California, United states of America [ctrl-click photo to launch BBC Video of record breaking run!]. Image Credit: BSCC (2009)

At 8.19am PT, Charles Burnett III successfully broke the land speed record for a steam-powered car achieving an average speed of 139.843mph on two runs over a measured mile.

Charles piloted the car for both runs reaching a peak speed of 136.103mph on the first run and 151.085 mph on the second. The new international record, which is subject to official confirmation by the FIA, breaks the previous official FIA record of 127mph set in 1906 by American, Fred Marriott, driving a Stanley steamer at Daytona Beach.

The British Steam Car - Inspiration - on its first record-breaking run with Charles Burnett III on Rogers Dry Lake bed. The first photo shows the Steam Car at full speed on the first pass as it goes by a U.S. Air Force jet taxiing on an adjacent runway. The middle photo has the car through the middle of the second pass where it reached a speed of over 151mph. The last photo shows the British Steam Car as it completes its challenge to break the World Land Speed Record for the measured mile. [ctrl-click photo to launch BBC Video of record breaking run!] Images Credit: BSCC via BBC Video

As he was congratulated by his jubilant crew, principal driver, Charles Burnett III said: "It was absolutely fantastic. I enjoyed every moment of it. We reached nearly 140mph on the first run before I applied the parachute. All systems worked perfectly, it was a really good run.

The second run went even better and we clocked a speed in excess of 150 mph. The car really did handle beautifully. The team has worked extremely hard over the last 10 years and overcome numerous problems. It is a privilege to be involved with such a talented crew, what we have achieved today is a true testament to British engineering, good teamwork and perseverance.”

A very happy and relieved Charles Burnett III, Primary Driver of the British Steam Car Challenge named Inspiration, after his FIA sanctioned measured mile run that broke a 106 year old World Land Speed Record for a human-driven steam-powered vehicle. Image Credit: BSCC via BBC Video

Project Manager Matt Candy said: "The first run took place at 7.27am when the air temperature was a cool 63 degrees Fahrenheit, the team turned around the car in 52minutes (with just 8 minutes spare) in preparation for its return run. The British Steam Car takes 2.5 miles to accelerate, and after the measured mile, a further 2.5 miles to decelerate – so each run was over 6.5 miles. The FIA requires that the return run takes place within 60 minutes. The times of the two runs are then averaged to obtain the official recorded speed. Compared to the testing we did in Britain, the British Steam Car ran 12 times the distance and twice the maximum speed ­– all within one hour. It’s been a huge challenge for all."

Primary Test Driver, Don Wales - Replacing Don Wales for the actual record attempt will be the project's brainchild and main financier, Charles Burnett III. "It's his project, so he gets to drive it on the day," Mr Wales added. "I just hope to break the world record during the test run - he can then break it after me. If I can help a British team get a world record, then I'm happy." Image Credit: Murry Sanders

Soon after Burnett's successful run, Don Wales, the primary test driver and the person who had logged the most runs in the machine, set the record for a measured kilometer – achieving an average speed of 148.308mph for the required two runs.

Wales climbed into the cockpit of the car for the attempt at the kilometer record and reached a peak speed over 155mph. Again, both new international records are subject to official confirmation by the FIA.

Don Wales said: "What a great feeling, the car felt better than ever today. We peaked over 150mph and the car was handling beautifully. The team has worked so hard over the last 10 years, especially over the last few weeks!”

Project Manager Matt Candy said: "It’s fantastic to set another record for the team and all that hard work has been worth it. After Charles broke the record for the measured mile, we decided to have one more run with the car and attempt the kilometer record.

We took some of the inhibitors from the boilers for this run and it helped get a bit more speed out of the car. The weather was perfect and the air temperature was just 62 degrees Fahrenheit, the team turned around the car in an amazing 30minutes which is their quickest ever! Don has worked so hard with the team, it’s fantastic that he should go home with a record too.”

Three cheers for three records (two official and one unofficial) for the British Steam Car Challenge, and the car they created, Inspiration!

... notes from The EDJE



TAGS: 139.843mph, 145.607mph, 148mph, 155mph, Barber-Nichols Team, British Steam Car Challenge, BSCC, FIA, Rebecca Nicholls, Rogers Dry Lake Bed, Southern California, Southern Timing Association, The EDJE

BSCC Sets Another Unofficial Land Speed Mark - 148mph

The FIA have just joined us, and will be setting up the course tomorrow (Tuesdat August 18, 2009). Attempts will commence on Wednesday. Ironically the date coincides with both the Barber Nicholls run and when Don Wales achieved his Electric record. No pressure! Caption & Image Credit: Rebecca Nicholls, BSCC - Press Officer and Kitchen-Hand

BSCC Sets Another Unofficial Land Speed Mark - 148mph

The British Steam Car Challenge (BSCC), on its way to set an officially recognized land speed record for a human driven vehicle on a course laid out on Rogers Dry Lake Bed, Edwards Air Force Base, Mojave, California, set an new unofficial mark at 148mph.

This is significant because this eclipses the fastest speed ever recorded by any human driven, steam powered vehicle, official or unofficial ... a mark set by Bob Barber in 1985 on the salt flats at Bonneville, Utah (unofficial) stands at 145.607mph.

The British Steam Car Challenge on a test run where the vehicle reached 94.9mph at Edwards Air Force Base. 

Video Credit BSCC

This excerpted and edited from a posting at the BSCC website -

British Steam Car News
Rebecca Nicholls, BSCC - Press Officer and Kitchen-hand - Monday 17th August - Edwards Airforce Base

We arrived at the base at 5.00am, the security check process went smoothly and drove the 12 miles 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 [Burnett] made his first run reaching 148mph. The crew turned her around in less than 50 minutes (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.
[Reference Here]

It can now be stated boldly and with clarity - At 148mph ... the British Steam Car (affectionately known by the crew as "The Fastest Kettle In The World") is the fastest measured (officially/unofficially), human driven, steam-powered vehicle ever, in the world!

... notes from The EDJE



TAGS: 127mph, 131mph, 145.607mph, 148mph, Barber-Nichols Team, British Steam Car Challenge, BSCC, Rebecca Nicholls, Rogers Dry Lake Bed, Southern California, The EDJE

British Steam Car Challenge Team On Course For World Record Success!

"The Fastest Kettle In The World" on its way to setting a new high speed mark of 94.4mph [ctrl-click to launch video]. Image Credit: Don Wales – Test Driver BSCC

British Steam Car Challenge Team On Course For World Record Success!

Finally, after arriving in the United States June 23, 2009, the British Steam Car Challenge has been busy preparing their base camp and test run track in the Mojave Desert, at Rogers Dry Lake Bed on Edwards Air Force Base for this moment in time.

The British Steam Car Challenge Team pictured on Rogers Dry Lake Bed, Edwards AFB, with the three ton sleek British Steam Car, made from a mixture of lightweight carbon-fibre composite and aluminium wrapped around a steel space frame chassis. Image Credit: Don Wales – Test Driver BSCC

Yesterday, August 7, 2009, the British Steam Car Challenge 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. This is faster than the current world record. The FIA was not present having to attend the activities at Bonneville Speed Week in Utah, so the mark will not be officially recognized.

The current official FIA record is 127mph previously set by American, Fred Marriott, driving a Stanley steam car in 1906. Another speed recorded by a steam-powered vehicle was set in 1985 at Bonneville, but at the time, no official FIA stewards were on hand to recognize it as official. The documented speed set by Bob Barber stands at 145.607mph.

The 133mph speed, while good enough to top the officially recognized FIA world land speed record, is still short of the BSCC stated goal of setting a mark that would eclipse both official and unofficial known speed marks. The 133 mph, however, allows the British Steam Car Challenge to claim that "the fastest kettle in the world” is in fact the second fastest vehicle powered by steam EVER.

Previous test speeds run in April, 2009 at Thorney Island, England had passes of 80 plus mph, and here in Southern California of almost 95mph, until yesterday's mark. The British team has hopes to overhaul the land speed record by reaching a target velocity of 170mph with their car.

Weighing three tons, the sleek British Steam Car is made from a mixture of lightweight carbon-fibre composite and aluminium wrapped around a steel space frame chassis. It is fitted with 12 boilers containing nearly two miles of tubing. Demineralised water is pumped into the boilers at up to 50 litres a minute and the burners produce three megawatts of heat. Steam is superheated to 400 degrees Celsius which is injected into the turbine at more than twice the speed of sound, according to a team spokesman.

The FIA will set up the course on Monday August 17, 2009 and official record attempts will be made on the mornings (~6.30 am to 10.30am USA time) from August 18-22, 2009.

... notes from The EDJE



TAGS: 127mph, 131mph, 145.607mph, Barber-Nichols Team, British Steam Car Challenge, BSCC, Matt Candy, Rogers Dry Lake Bed, Southern California, The EDJE

British Steam Car In Los Angeles For World Land Speed Record Attempt

Following the two runs at Thorney Island on April 1st, the UK test program is now complete. It is a sobering thought that the car now has to go twelve times as far, at double the speed, twice, in one hour to achieve the record. We have much to learn, test and achieve on the lake bed in California. Image Credit: BSCC News

British Steam Car Arrives in Los Angeles in Preparation of its World Land Speed Record Attempt

The British Steam Car arrived this morning (5.00pm GMT) at Long Beach Port, Los Angeles in preparation for its World Land Speed Record Attempt. The vehicle departed Felixstowe last month via the Panama Canal on route to California.

The team has since been granted its entry license to Edward’s Air Force Base for the attempt to officially take place and the FIA confirmed. The team will commence further testing and subsequent attempts from 10th – 24th July 2009.

The primary aim of British Steam Car project is to establish an FIA sanctioned Land Speed Record and break the 103-year-old FIA record of 127mph achieved by American, Fred Marriott, driving a Stanley steam car in 1906. The FIA is the sanctioning body and now recognizes a land speed record as the average speed of two passes made across the same measured distance in opposing directions within 60 minutes of each other. The time of the two runs is then averaged to obtain the official recorded speed. While the mile in which the attempt is being made cannot move during the attempt, there is no limit to the runup or braking distance for the vehicle as well or location that the event must take place.

The car and all the ancillary equipment has been cleaned prepared and packed. The car, 6 support rigs, eight pallets of plastic boxes containing all the spares and essentials, including teabags, have found a home inside our two 40ft containers and the 20ft workshop container. Image Credit: BSCC News

The team acknowledges the achievements of the "Barber-Nichols Team". Their vehicle 'Steamin' Demon' is currently the fastest steam car in the world. In 1985 The Barber-Nichols Team carried out three successful passes and achieved an American National Record at 145.607mph. There was no attempt to establish an FIA record. However, the British Steam Car Challenge recognizes this speed as the record to exceed.

Image Credit: BSCC News

From its inception, the British Steam Car was designed to achieve an FIA record. This is reflected in many of the design decisions and also greatly affects our choice of venue.

The car, on its trolley and trailer is a tight fit, but it has gone into the container. Image Credit: BSCC News

The British Steam Car has fixed gearing between the turbine and the wheels. When the car starts it is in top gear and only manages to pull away because of the incredible torque available from a stem turbine. Weighing 3 tons and starting in top gear means that the car accelerates very slowly toward its top speed. The team need a minimum of 6 miles to make the record attempt, 2.5 miles to accelerate, measure 1mile then decelerate for 2.5 miles, to allow room to accelerate on the return run so, for the record attempt, we required six miles of smooth, flat ( less than 1% gradient) which immediately preclude a record attempt in the UK.

Matt Candy, Engineering Administrator/Strategic Planner, BSCC says: "There are no runways or man-made flat surfaces six miles long - it has to be a natural feature. Beaches, lake beds or salt flats are often chosen for speed record attempts, including the well-known Bonneville Salt Flats. "We have chosen Rogers Dry Lake Bed in southern California as our venue for the record attempt, as it is a suitable surface with sufficient length. Rogers Dry Lake Bed is within the huge 308,000-acre Edward's Airforce Base site and is where the Space Shuttle lands if conditions in Florida are unsuitable. It is steeped in aviation history, and there has never been an official FIA land speed record achieved on site.

"It has another advantage for us - low altitude. Being only 2300 feet above sea level, the air at Rogers Dry Lake Bed is denser than at higher altitudes providing more oxygen for the car's burners"

Unfortunately as Edwards is an active top secure military base, people are unable to turn up to watch the attempts take place.
(ht: Rebecca Nicholls - Director, Eventageous PR Ltd for The British Steam Car Challenge)

The BSCC Team

Several members of the original ThrustSSC team have been brought back together to work on this project. With the previous success of the ThrustSSC team in the desert at Black Rock there is every faith that the project will proceed to set the record at 200 MPH without incident.

There are some additional roles that will have to be cast such as support crew, operations support and general support of the efforts at Thorney Island and Rogers Dry Lake Bed, Edwards Air Force Base. These roles will be partly dependant on the number of sponsors that attend the record attempts.

Driver - Charles Burnett
Test Driver - Don Wales
Engineering Logistics Coordinator - Frank Swanston
Team Coordinator and Administrator - Lynne Angel
Team Administrator - Kirsty Redfern
UK Liaison Officer - Elly Dalby
PR Liaison Officer - Pam Swanston
PR Manager - Rebecca Nicholls
Car Build Technician - Peter Prove
Technician - Clive Hawkins
Technician - Stuart Bailey
Engineering Administrator/Strategic Planner - Matt Candy
Wireman - Peter Dickerson
Electrical, Wiring and Computer Technician - Matthew Warr
Electric and Electronic Technician - Nick Bass
Composite Body Work - Mike Horne
Fabricator & Welder - Chris Yates
Fabricator Technician - Wilbur Day
Student Placement - Adam Tye
Design Draughtsman - Chris Lack
Transport - Nigel Leppard
Newtown Park Estates Manager - Richard Channell
Newtown Park Estates Logistics Manager - Rob Gray
Designer - Glynne Bowsher
Consulting Engineer - Peter Candy
Team Inspiration Chairman - Bill Rich
Webmaster - Martin Swanston

Welcome all from the British Steam Car Challenge to sunny, Southern California. Great success and Godspeed!

... notes from The EDJE



TAGS: Barber-Nichols Team, British Steam Car Challenge, BSCC, Matt Candy, Rogers Dry Lake Bed, Southern California, The EDJE