STEAM CAR!

July 9, 2007 8:24 PM

"The car is constructed on a tubular steel chassis ... the Curtis turbine engine which will produce 300bhp, enough to enough to push the car to 200mph (in theory)." The builders hope to break a land speed record that's stood for 101 years. That is, the land speed record for a steam car.
posted by delmoi (22 comments total)

"tubular steel chassis" -- yeah, standard race car guts... "300bhp" -- not really all that impressive... "200mph" -- Oh *really*?? It had better be pretty goddamn aerodynam.. ::clicks link::

Oh. Okay then.
posted by LordSludge at 8:39 PM on July 9, 2007 [1 favorite]

Blah. It's a turbine engine. You know what would be cool? A car using piston-based steam engine that could go 200 mph.
posted by deanc at 9:06 PM on July 9, 2007

But ... but ... STEAM CAR!
posted by dhartung at 9:16 PM on July 9, 2007

what next, steam powered submarines?
posted by b1tr0t at 9:32 PM on July 9, 2007

I'm sorry, it doesn't count as steam-powered unless there are at least thirty unnecessary wires, bolts, tubes, and dials attached to the outside, and it's being driven by a small man wearing aviator goggles and a cravat.
posted by L. Fitzgerald Sjoberg at 9:42 PM on July 9, 2007 [3 favorites]

Steam cars rock - and I particularly like the prospects of a hybrid steam / petrol - in the form of a six stroke engine.
posted by Samuel Farrow at 10:15 PM on July 9, 2007

Steam cars rock - and I particularly like the prospects of a hybrid steam / petrol - in the form of a six stroke engine.

Six strokes are unnecessary, if you use ethanol as a fuel, you can simply mix in water for the same effect.
posted by delmoi at 10:51 PM on July 9, 2007

I am more interested in more power, as opposed to more economy, along with the spirit of your post delmoi.
posted by Samuel Farrow at 12:59 AM on July 10, 2007

A longer article is here and the official website is here. Toot toot!
posted by TedW at 5:34 AM on July 10, 2007

Samuel: Those six stroke engines would certainly be less powerful then a four stroke engine, just as a four stroke engine is less powerful then a two-stroke.
posted by delmoi at 5:38 AM on July 10, 2007

delmoi: I'm not sure. A four stroke is less powerful than a two stroke, but both have only one power stroke. The 6-stroke has two, one combustion and one steam. So a 6-stroke cylinder is on the power stroke 33% of the time instead of a 4-stroke's 25%.

It really depends on how much power the steam power stroke gets you, but there's certainly a possibility that the 6-stroke falls between the 4- and 2.
posted by mendel at 6:09 AM on July 10, 2007

That six stroke steam engine sounds fantastic. Very innovative idea, and I agree with mendel that it will probably do well on the power-to-weight ratio.

Having two fuels to run out of is definitely a failure mode, an ethanol/water blend would be more error-resistant.
posted by anthill at 7:45 AM on July 10, 2007

That sis xtroke engine reminds me of this technology.

Also, from the article:
this water injection cycle cools the engine from within, making an engine's heavy radiator, coolant, and fans obsolete

But you still have to carry around a tank of water.

Finally, from the Steam Car website:
Please note that due to technical problems beyond our control, we are unable to accept purchases by credit/debit card at present.

If they don't have a handle on banking technology yet, I wonder if they will get the car working right.
posted by TedW at 8:21 AM on July 10, 2007

From the six stroke engine link:

He had long been trying to devise a way to harness the waste heat energy of combustion engines, and one day in 2004 ...

Well, I'm not going to include the spoiler, but it is brilliant! Why hasn't it been done? Sometimes things can be overlooked for a long time, but somebody with steam and ICE experience would have figured this out, you'd think, so this doesn't seem like one of those.

You'd have to use distilled water, I guess. Corrosion? I dunno, but it seems at least as brilliant as a rotary engine...
posted by Chuckles at 8:44 AM on July 10, 2007

I'm not convinced you can mix ethanol and water.. You still have to get very consistent combustion, wouldn't the presence of water mess that up, even if it is in solution? Maybe not.. Anyway, where are you going to get the ethanol (but we don't really want to go there, so pretend I didn't say it :P).

The steam power stroke, and the combustion power stroke, would produce vastly different forces, but I guess that isn't an issue..
posted by Chuckles at 8:52 AM on July 10, 2007

Mixing ethanol and water would solve the freezing issue though (one should really finish reading articles before posting about them...)
posted by Chuckles at 8:56 AM on July 10, 2007

Chuckles - I couldn't tell from the six stroke article, but is the steam simply exhausted from the vehicle or is there some re-condensation process that would allow the water to be reused?
posted by patricio at 10:11 AM on July 10, 2007

and it's being driven by a small man wearing aviator goggles and a cravat.

I'm visualizing some kind of sensible hat as well.
posted by quin at 11:27 AM on July 10, 2007

When I read steam-powered, I naturally assumed it would be conducted on rails and I thought that this might be a step towards my dream of a new kind of racing.

No limit racing on rails. No engine restrictions, no weight limits, nothing. If you can put it on steel wheels and it fits on the track, you can race it.

I think it's different enough that people would get excited about it. Hell, I'd watch it.

The steam powered car is pretty slick too though.
posted by quin at 11:33 AM on July 10, 2007

No limit racing on rails. No engine restrictions, no weight limits, nothing.

The boys at White Sands will win. Zero to three miles away in six seconds, topping out at Mach 8.

If you can put it on steel wheels and it fits on the track, you can race it.

Oh, they've gotta have wheels? The really high-speed stuff just skids along in a helium-filled tent.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 2:19 PM on July 10, 2007

I was thinking about that ROU_X, perhaps two classes: those that touch the track and those that float above it. That will work for mag-lev as well.
posted by quin at 2:47 PM on July 10, 2007

I'm pretty sure he anticipates exhausting it, because reducing complexity is one of the major advantages (the article talks about eliminating radiators and cooling, as well as having a water supply) but you raise a very interesting point, because..

Burning hydro-carbons produces an awful lot of water. You could condense the combustion products somewhere (like the wind deflector on top of a truck cab), and cycle that back to the engine. It would be like a big heat pipe!The freezing is still an issue.. Or maybe it isn't, because you might be able to run the 6 stroke motor on only 4 strokes until enough liquid water is available..

That would add some complexity back into the system, but it might be worth it. I don't know, this isn't exactly my area of expertise :)
And I'm pleased and amazed that firefox remembered the contents of this text entry field after crashing. Wow!
posted by Chuckles at 3:43 PM on July 10, 2007