Today's News by Jack Nerad for Driving Today

Steam Car Gaining Steam

Friday, February 19, 2010

If you think of steam cars at all, you probably think of them as some relic of a long-distant past.

But now there is a concerted effort to set a new land speed record with a modern steam-powered vehicle. 

Cyclone Power Technologies has completed and shipped a full-scale model of the engine it is building for the U.S. Land Steam Record Team. The high-performance Cyclone LSR engine will power a steamliner that will attempt to break the world land speed record for steam vehicles on the famed salt flats at Bonneville, Utah, as early as August of this year.

The engine is a modified Mark V heat-regenerative external combustion engine capable of producing 180 horsepower with maximum starting torque of 850 foot/pounds and 262 foot/pounds at 3600 rpm. It boasts an expanded steam generator to create greater surface area and water rate, which will dramatically increase power output while keeping the engine’s total weight below 200 pounds, something we’d like to do for ourselves. Steam car veteran and team leader Chuk Williams will design, build and drive the U.S. Land Steam Record (USLSR) vehicle, which will attempt a 200 mph record-breaking run.

“This project is moving ahead diligently,” said Cyclone CEO and engine inventor, Harry Schoell. “We see the LSR application as a great test of the power and performance of our all-fuel capable, Earth-friendly Mark V automotive engine.”

The LSR project is being endorsed by the Steam Automobile Club of America, the pre-eminent association of steam vehicle developers, racers and enthusiasts. Other individuals associated with the team include former engineers at NASA, Lockheed Martin and MIT. Potential corporate sponsors may include providers of U.S.-grown biofuels to power the USLSR vehicle. The Cyclone Engine is capable of running on virtually any fuel, and the team has yet to choose a fuel for the record attempt. Perhaps Jack Daniels would be a good fit.

Driving News Archive>>