Car insurance women news
06/04/2009

World record steam production

Is it a bird, is it plane, is it the world's largest iron? No, it's a steam car that's attempting to break the world steam-powered speed record. And us ladies at CoverGirl, the specialist providers of car insurance for women, are proud to say that testing is going ahead not a million miles away from our doorstep.

The 25ft British Steam Car has achieved speeds of over 80mph on the tarmac stretches found in Emsworth, Hampshire, on the Ministry of Defence's facility based there.

The record stands at 127mph and was set over a century ago in 1906 when American Fred Marriott drove his Stanley steam car into the record books at Daytona Beach. The British team hopes to achieve a speed of 170mph.

The car would appear to be in good hands as it is being test driven by Don Wales, the nephew of Donald Campbell and grandson of Sir Malcolm Campbell, who both broke numerous world speed records during their illustrious motoring careers.

Mr Wales said, "We reached nearly 60mph on the first test before I applied the parachute. All systems worked perfectly; it was a really good test. The second test run went even better and we clocked a speed in excess of 80mph. The car really did handle beautifully. After that run I feel more confident about breaking the record."

The three-ton vehicle holds nearly two miles of tubing which carries up to 50 litres of demineralised water a minute to the 12 boilers, where the burners produce three megawatts of heat.

The superheated steam reaches temperatures of up to 400 degrees Celsius and is then injected into the turbine at more than twice the speed of sound. (Just like my iron!)

A CoverGirl spokesperson said, "After we've provided great car insurance for women we like nothing better than to catch up with all the latest motoring news and we wish the British Steam Car team the greatest success in their record breaking attempts in the Mojave desert in June."