Nissan Brings Out the Second Generation Altima

Nissan brought out Altima, the hot selling car in 2001. The Japanese automaker introduced its second generation in 2006, toughening the sedan’s popularity. With an aim of broadening its overall appeal, Nissan introduced a hybrid version of the car in January. And the much-awaited coupe has at last arrived.

When compared with other coupes, the Altima is not just a two-door version of the sedan. The engineers from Nissan has shortened the wheelbase by 101 mm,
Cut the overall length by 185 mm and lowered the height by 66 mm, giving the coupe a handsome look that could turn heads.

The coupe has the only sheet metal shared between two- and four-door Altimas is the hood. It has been endowed with a pair of idiosyncratic bucket seats with striking side bolsters for extra lateral support. The back of the coupe is a 60/40 split rear bench that extends the cargo space. The feature is ideal for a weekend of skiing or to hold few odds and sods from the store. It has a more conventional parking-brake hand lever substituting the sedan’s foot-operated control.
Power is the other big difference between the models. The base car is equipped with a 2.5-litre four-cylinder that successfully generates 175 horsepower and 180 pound-feet of torque, which is more than enough to be amusing when mated to the six-speed manual box. A big part for the spirited drive is attributed to the transmission’s close ratios and a light, progressive clutch that puts the bite point in the precise place.

The suspension is firmer and the steering is also adequately weighted and responsive when turned off-centre. Apart from this, the coupe include the Nissan headlight bulb, a push-button start, the dual-zone climate control, cruise control and heated seats, power mirrors, windows and sunroof, a six-speaker audio system with an auxiliary plug-in, six air bags and standard anti-lock brakes that assures that this enticing model will provide an admirable driving experience on roads.

Nissan Altima: The Gorgeous Redesigned Car

Nissan has brought out the Altima for the second time in its four generations. The reinvented version is totally redesigned for the latest generation. It offers more performance, comfort, safety, economy, and better looks than last year’s model.

The Altima now resemble the Maxima now in looks. The Altima is s a couple of inches shorter on the outside, but has more room on the inside, including a spacious trunk. It has fold-down rear seats that allow the trunk to expand into the cabin for carrying big long things.

Nissan’s aim of the redesigning of Altima was to bring the feel and power of a luxury car to this everyman’s midsize sedan. Nissan has succeeded with the Altima model in that. It has the V6 engine and all the options, including plush leather.

The Standard equipment on the 2.5 include cloth seats, 16-inch steel wheels, 60/40 split fold-down rear seats, power windows, power door locks, cruise control, halogen headlamps, electric power steering, AM/FM/CD with four speakers, vehicle information display, and intelligent key with push-button starting. It has 2.5S adds air conditioning, a six-speaker sound system, remote keyless entry, power side view mirrors, and speed-sensitive intermittent wipers.

The 2.5SL uses the continuously variable transmission, and adds leather interior with heated front seats and power driver’s seat, moon roof, alloy wheels, dual-zone temp controls and rear air conditioning vents. The Nissan engineers while  redesigning the Altima, had attempted to create more cabin space, and given one inch less to work with, on account of the reduction in wheelbase. They made it by stretching the distance between A-pillar and C-pillar, thus shortening the cowl and deck.

The seats of redesigned Altima are relatively large. The redesigned suspension on the new rigid chassis ensures that there’s no swaying in the switchback turns. The Altima 3.5SL doesn’t quite feel like a sports sedan, but the handling is fairly nimble.

AN ENGINEER WITH TOO MUCH TIME ON HIS HANDS

Ron Patrick's Street-Legal Jet Powered VW Beetle

This is a my street-legal jet car on full afterburner.? The car has two engines:the production gasoline engine in the front driving the front wheels and the jet engine in the back.? The idea is that you drive around legally on the gasoline engine and when you want to have some fun, you spin up the jet and get on the burner (you can start the jet while driving along on the gasoline engine).? The car was built because I wanted the wildest street-legal ride possible.? With this project, I was able to use some stuff I learned while getting my fancy engineering degree (I have a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University) to design the car without the distraction of how other people have done it in the past - because no one has.? I don't know how fast the car will go and probably never will.? The car was built to thrill me, not kill me.? That doesn't stop me from the occasional blast.

 
The car is licensed here in California.? In California, new cars have bi-annual smog inspections so if you modify the engine, it is likely to fail the inspection and you won't be able to drive it on the street.? There are some exempt engine modifications (ex. after-cat mufflers - big deal) but none that will allow you to add 1350 hp to a new car.

Car was built to look as if VW delivered the car this way.? It handles fine and is safe.? I was thinking of putting it into an import car show but the promoter told me that it looked too plain and recommended that I put some decals on it, lower it, and put on some aftermarket wheels.? Sure kid, put on some flimsy wheels won't take a curb and don't center on the hubs, lower the car so the tires rub and get cut by the body using springs that bounce me all over the road, and advertise for companies that couldn't engineer themselves out of a paper bag.? I would have thought the 14" diameter tailpipe was enough for him but I guess it wasn't.? Response from the hot rod magazines has been slow.? One editor told me that is because I didn't use anything they advertise.? But the response to driving it on the street and going to the hot rod shows (San Francisco Custom Car Show, Grand National Show in Pomona, and the Detroit Autorama) has been fantastic.? This car attracts crowds better than any '32 Ford, '69 Camaro, or decaled Honda.?

The Beetle was chosen because it looks cool with the jet and it shows it off well.? Remember the Hurst wheelstanding Barracuda "Hemi Under Glass"?? Well, this is "Jet Under Glass".? Air for the jet enters the car through the two side windows and the sunroof.? It's a little windy inside but not unbearable.

The production hatch release switch on the driver's door activates two new latches (one on each side) and the hatch pops open just like a production car.? The "hatch not closed" warning light works too.

Here you can see the split in the tailpipe after a particularly rude burner pop.? All fixed and reinforced now.? The heat blanket keeps the plastic bumper from melting when the jet is operating.?

The back of the gauge panel was kept open to give the car a techie look.? Something to talk about.? The car's an engineering device, let's see some engineering thingies.? The aluminum panel was designed in SolidWorks and cut out of billet, bead blasted, clear annodized, and then the labels for the switches were milled into the front using a font matching the VW cluster.? Little details like the holes having flat sides so the switches don't spin and exactly matching the contour of the dash added time to the project.? Several versions were made out of styrofoam first to get the layout and lighting right.? From the back, the panel reminds me of the 1970s McLaren CanAm cars.

The first thing I did when I got the car was to cut the hole in the back for the engine.? Made a fancy jig out of a tripod, a rod, and a lawnmower wheel to mark out the cut and went at it with a pneumatic saw.? Then finished it off with jeweler's files.? No paint required.? Didn't even chip.? The hole was tricky because it goes through 3 layers (bumper and two layers of metal) and it's a circle projected onto angled surfaces.?? Just finding the centerline of the car wasn't trivial.? Worrying what my neighbors would say if I ruined the back of a brand-new car made me REAL careful.? I believe the hole is within 2 mm.

There are three gauges for the jet: %RPM, Oil Pressure, and Turbine Inlet Temperature.? The most important is turbine inlet temperature.? If you exceed about 650 degrees C for very long, you damage the engine.? This is critical on start-up.? You don't want a "hot-start".? The throttle for the jet engine is located next to the gear selector.? It is a lever and has three buttons: Cool, Big-Fire, and Afterburner.? "Cool" leans out the engine and is used to lower the turbine inlet temperature if you get a hot-start.? To light big-fire or the afterburner, you hold a button down and 1/2 second later, press the hot-streak button on the floor.? Then things happen!? Notice the kerosene level gauge in front of the gear selector (jet fuel is mostly kerosene) and the bud vase missing a rose.? Where did it go?

Lotsa stuff back here.? The force from the jet is tied to the vehicle through sandwich plates inside the car bolted to contoured aluminum billets that were slid into the frame rails.? You can see the billet on the left side with a hole in its center, welded to the plate with 4 bolts.? Used helium as the inert gas and a lot of current to weld that chunk of aluminum.? To return the car to its production height, adjustable spring perches were used.? Same spring rate, just corrected the ride height.? Drives and handles fine.? Kerosene is stored in a custom 14 gallon, baffled, foam-filled kevlar fuel cell in the spare tire well.? Two fuel exits in the back: a -12 on the left side and a -10 on the right.? The -10 goes to a shutoff, then a Barry Grant pump (one of the few hot rod parts on the car), then up into the car where it sees a filter, a regulator, and an electrical shutoff valve before feeding the engine.? The -12 goes into a shutoff, then a 1.5 hp, 11,000 rpm, 24V custom electric pump.?? Pump is magnesium and can maintain 100 psi at 550 gph.? From the pump it goes into the car to a filter, then a large regulator, and then to the afterburner solenoid and the big-fire solenoid (to left
of pump and feeding bottom of tailpipe through orange covered hose).? Fuel system was tested for flow capability.? Above the big pump you can see the relocated gasoline cap actuator and all that black stuff on the right side is the stock fuel evaporative control equipment.? All circuits feeding solenoids and pumps have fuses, relays, kick-back diodes to minimize contact arcing, sealed connectors, and use automotive wires of a gauge giving a maximum of 1V drop over the circuit loop.??

The engine is a General Electric Model T58-8F.? This is a helicopter turboshaft engine that was converted to a jet by some internal modifications and a custom tailpipe.? The engine spins up to 26,000 RPM (idle is 13,000 RPM), draws air at 11,000 CFM, and is rated at 1350 hp.? It weighs only 300 lbm.? It grows as it warms up so the engine mounts have to account for this.? The mounts in the front are rubber and the back are sliding mounts on rubber.? The structure holding the engine was designed using finite element analysis and is redundant.? Strong, damage tolerant, and light.? Second battery and fuse/relay panel on the right, halon fire system and 5 gallon dry sump tank on left.? 24V starter motor is in the nose of the engine.? 700 A of current goes into that motor for 20 seconds during start-up.? Due to heat, must limit starts to three in one hour.? Big screen is to avoid FOD (foreign object damage).? Jet keeps sucking the rose out of the bud vase on the dash!

A lot of attention to details in the car.? Note the aluminum block holding/protecting the halon gas line, pull line, harness to engine, and oil pressure line.? Rectangular tank under inlet screen is for various fuel drains.? Note temperature gauge and shutoff valve for dry sump tank.? 3 gallons of turbine oil at $25/quart (ouch!).? Two-stage PPG paint matching exterior of car was used inside the car.? It is not easy to paint around a lot of bars, etc while crouched in a car, in your dusty home garage, avoiding drips, and with your wife screaming that the fumes will cause brain damage in the kids.? Especially with two-stage where you have multiple coats an  critical drying times.? Kids passed their grades so I guess damage was minimal, but more importantly, the paint turned out great!

Street racing action.? The other guy wimped out after a few "big-fire" demonstrations.? What you see in the picture is about one-twentieth the full size of the fireball.? Guy standing beside car had never seen it run before and was smiling ear-to-ear throughout the show.? Had I launched, I would have burned him to a crisp.? Well, live and learn.

We get this a lot.? A police officer picking at his nose while trying to figure out what to charge me with.? Notice the hopeful anticipation of us on the right.? We're rooting for him and offer suggestions but unfortunately, the California Department of Motor Vehicles did not anticipate such a vehicle so he's out of luck.? Hmmm, the car has two engines making the car a hybrid so maybe we can drive in the commuter lanes along with the Toyota Priuses.

The car was built in this garage.? Paint, welding, everything except some mill work.? That's me standing beside the engine that is out of the car for some fuel controller work.? The orange line is for the afterburner.? There's one on the other side too.? Here you can make out the four rows of variable inlets/stators at the front of the engine.? Their angle changes with engine speed and is used to avoid compressor stall.? There are 11 compressor stages and 2 turbine stages.? The engine's pressure ratio is 8.3:1.? That's how you work on a jet engine.? Stick it on its end.? Easy to store them that way too.

Here's my wife's Honda Metropolitan scooter.? She wants it to go faster than 40 mph.? So I have these two little JFS 100 jet engines and I am thinking how to put them on the scooter.? Engines are 50 lbm each so weight is an issue.? Will probably use air-start with a carbon fiber tank of compressed air.? That saves weight since batteries will then not be needed.

Looks cool from the top.? Will want to make aluminum housings to go over the engines just like on a DC-9.

Bitchin' from the back too.? Should get the scooter going.? On one jet engine alone, this engine will get a kart up to 60 mph.? Looks like I have a lot of spare wire left over from the Beetle job to do the scooter.
http://ourlighterside.com/

Chevrolet Corvette: The Real American Car

American always had a desire for sports car. All big brands have brought out sports cars from time to time in the American soil. Chevrolet, one of the biggest automaker brought out its Corvette, targeting the sports car lovers. The Corvette was introduced into the Yankee land in the year 1953. The car gained the recognition of being the first completely American sports car built by an American car company, which is why it is often referred to as “America’s Sports Car”.

Today, Chevrolet manufactures Corvette in the city of Bowling Green, Kentucky. Even though, there exist complaints regarding the handling of the car, Corvettes’ handling has been continually improved to be on a par with popular European sports cars. But still they remain relatively affordable, which is perhaps one of the reasons of their continuous popularity as a sports car.


Corvettes have brought out technical sports cars in Europe from time to time, which is one of the reasons they are cheaper. Due to the simplicity, Corvettes tend to be smaller and weigh less than sports cars manufactured abroad. The famous car designer Harley Earl after noticing that soldiers after the Second World War were bringing back European sports cars as America didn’t really have one, longed to make a sports car. At the 1953 Motorama car show, the Corvette designed by Earl was finally unveiled to the shocked public.

The body was originally made with fibreglass, and the performance was similar to other Chevrolets produced at the time, but when Chevrolet released it with the first V8 engine in 1955, it became more popular.

Since then, six different generations of Corvettes have come out.

Ford Coupe: After Seven Decades, Still a Prestige Car

The 1932 Ford Coupe Hot Rod is a royal car of pride collector’s piece for all car lovers. This is a model that all car lovers love to own at home, if had some money in the pocket. The Ford Coupe Hot Rod is a full handmade custom car, known as the definitive hot rod. It came out from Ford at a time when the Native Americans longed out a new entrant from Ford to challenge the European cars. It is the holy grail of hot rods, which is best known for introducing the first mass produced V8 engine. It is the key vehicle in American car culture. The Ford Coupe, although most commonly used chassis for hot rods, the whole point is that it is what you make of it that counts. The royal car marked its 75 years later as the Little Deuce Coupe.


This elegant car from world’s biggest car maker is the first model to experiment on V8 engine. This awesome car came out in a choice of colours of a cross between yellow and puke green. Considered as the finest looking car of its era, in any price range, from any manufacturer in the world, Ford Coupe really ruled the American roads for decades. It is a classic, as it served as a foundation for several generations’ worth of hot rods. Even after 75 years, the car has many lovers among the American youths, who still feel as it is a part of American pride. The Ford Coupe used to come out with an upholstery kit consisting of a seat made of fine upholstery fabric from Belgium. The first car on roads to use a V8 engine, also it is the most beautiful car ever discovered by hot rods. It is unquestionably the classic king of street rods. No doubt about the superiority and authority that Ford Coupe still possesses among the car market.

Hyundai unveils new R-Engine diesel range

Hyundai has well and truly left behind any lingering Korean car stereotypes as it reveals the first details of its brand new R-Engine Diesel powerplant.

The 2.0-litre version of the R-Engine outperforms any competitive offering, and will enter production next year to make its first appearance in the 2010 Tucson and Sonata models.
With power output of 135kW and 392Nm, the 2.0-litre unit eclipses similar offerings from Audi, BMW and Mercedes.

“R proves Hyundai’s Diesel development capabilities really are world-class. With Diesels becoming cleaner and more fuel efficient all the time, there’s a growing demand for Diesel powerplants worldwide and Hyundai is well positioned to supply the market with the very best Diesel technology,” said Dr. Hyun-Soon Lee, president of the Corporate Research and Development Division.

A 2.2-litre version provides even more performance with 147kW and 436Nm, and could find its way into a series of diesel performance cars in the Hyundai range.
The R-Engine benefits from the third generation common rail system developed by Bosch whose piezo-electric injectors deliver fuel at 1800 bar for an unprecedented degree of accuracy and control.
The all-aluminium R-Engine is fitted with a 16 valve dual overhead camshaft which is driven by an internal steel silent timing chain.
For reduced vibration and lower booming noise, the R gets a lower balancer shaft which has been encased in stiffened ladder frame housing for increased rigidity.
The R-Engine line-up is fitted with a lose-coupled Diesel particulate filter plus highly efficient exhaust gas recirculation with by-pass valve to meet strict Euro 5 emissions regulations.
The R-Engine is the result of an investment of over AUD$285million and an engineering team of 150 personnel.
Over 500 prototype engines were built during the 42 month development period where they were subjected to exhaustive testing under all imaginable environmental conditions.
The R-Engine brings Hyundai’s Diesel engine family fully up-to-date as it joins the U-Engine (1.1 litre, 1.4 litre and 1.6 litre), the A-Engine (2.5 litre) and S-Engine (3.0 litre V6).

Hyundai Announces Diesel R-Engine for European SUVs and Sedans

If there's one automaker who seems to be on an increasingly upward trend lately, it's Hyundai. The Koreans took the world by storm with their eight-cylinder, rear-drive Genesis sedan, and the Hyundai folks have now released another bit of engineering to compete more closely with other worldwide automakers.

Hyundai's new four-cylinder diesel R-Engine will be available in both 2.0 and 2.2-liter displacements. The 2.0 produces 181 horsepower and 289 pound-feet of torque while the 2.2 puts out 215 horses and 398 pound-feet. Both engines are more powerful than Audi's new 2.0 TDI engine (170 hp/258 lb-ft).

The first vehicles to get these engines will be SUVs and large sedans sold in Europe, since the R-Engine meets Euro-V emission standards. No word on if this engine will ever make its way to the States, mostly due to our stricter emissions requirements. And to think, we'd love to see a Genesis Coupe with one of these powerplants under the hood.

New Hyundai 2.0 and 2.0-Liter Turbo Diesels with up to 200HP

Hyundai has released details on its newest diesel powerplant, the "R-Engine" that was first previewed in prototype form on the 2008 Geneva Show HED-5 i-MODE concept. The all-aluminum R-Engine benefits from a third generation common rail system with piezo-electric injectors to deliver fuel at 1800-bar while it also features an electronic variable geometry turbocharger and an advanced engine control unit. The new powerplant will be available in two sizes, 2.0 and 2.2-litres with outputs of 184HP / 392Nm and 200HP /436Nm respectively. Hyundai said that the R-Engine will enter production in 2009 and will see its first application in new SUV vehicles and large saloons.

"R proves Hyundai's diesel development capabilities really are world-class. With diesels becoming cleaner and more fuel efficient all the time, there's a growing demand for diesel powerplants worldwide and Hyundai is well positioned to supply the market with the very best diesel technology," said Dr Hyun-Soon Lee, president of Hyundai's Corporate Research and Development Division

Video: GM Corvette’s LS9 engine being built

You’ll soon be able to buy this insane donk without owning a Corvette, too. As it does 3.3-seconds 0-100km/h, and a low 11-second quarter mile (in the ‘Vette), we’re sure it won’t be long before a few of these beasts will be shoehorned into various project cars.

VW Bus with Porsche Turbo Engine

What if your Porsche 911 just doesn’t have enough leg room for you, your kids, and some groceries? But you still like getting around to your errands lighting turbo quick. Well if you have lots of money and I do mean lots, you can get the best of both worlds. TH Automobile will take a VW bus and swap a 3.6L turbo Porsche engine and also throw in an AWD system from the 996 all for $213,300. All these upgrades will allow you to get those groceries from 0-62 MPH in 5.2 seconds. Then if I understand it correctly for some extra money they will even throw another engine up front. I know after reading this your next question is “What if I want to transport something larger?” Well they also have you covered with a 4 door flat bed version for only $249,200.

Something tells me money would be better spend buying one 911 turbo and one VW bus and just switch between them. But I guess if you have the amount of money to seriously considered buying this, then the last thing on your mind is frugal spending.

Tiny Corvette engine is a working scale model

This mini-motor sounds like it could power a leaf blower, but it’s actually a working scale model of a 1964 Chevy Corvette V8 engine. Jim Moyer built this four-stroke pocket rocket from scratch, fabricating all the parts himself.

He’s not quite done, still working on the water pump and radiator, but what he’s done so far can run for a short while, waking the dead with its 11,000 RPM scream. Now all he needs to do is build a 1/6th scale Corvette to drop it into, and then invite one of those 12-year-old Chinese Olympic gymnasts to test drive it.

Corvette Blogger, via Jalopnik

Twin Turbo powered Ultima rocks on!

Custom tweaking a car is something that many of the auto enthusiasts enjoy dearly and while some just stick to the exterior others go a bit deeper than that. Custom crafting you car with a new engine that can power it up a lot better than the previous one is something not many of us would really do. It is only the die-hard car fanatics that want their stuff under the hood to be tinkered with so that it outperforms some other car or hits the particular speed in a span of time they wish.

A customer in Eastern Europe wanted the capability to outrun a Bugatti Veyron at track days with a street legal package. Obviously it was not a job for an amateur in his back yard (Though some would disagree with that) and so he went to Schwartz Extreme Performance and their technical team to get what he wanted. They put together a 1011 hp LS7 with small, quick spooling turbo for maximum drive off the corners, with a beefed up, re-geared, 6 speed transaxle, installed in a car that weighs 2300 lbs. added 15″ Schwartz / Baer Monoblock brakes with 19″ center-locking wheels.

The ended up creating the Schwartz twin turbo LS7 Ultima and it surely made the guy who brought in the car for all those changes pretty happy. The Ultima now handles great on the road and on the track it can sure out power the Bugatti Veyron, which is a feat in itself!

Via: schwartzperformance

Lakester - A car built using WWII airplane fuel tanks

WWII airplanes have inspired many an artist. This being an auto blog, we would talk about artists that design cars, bikes and the like. So, here we have a Lakester, a futuristic looking car that can blaze desert roads, tundra region and of course aggressive terrain. Lakesters are built using WWII airplane fuel tanks and the tanks are equipped with flathead V8 engine. The car would definitely need a fearless driver to drive it as it needs a great deal of skills to drive along difficult terrain. One might wonder if this car would please WWII veterans, which we doubt, considering the fact that the good old fuel tanks were converted into an alien looking vehicle.



Via: BelleMachina

Magnetic power used in MAG vehicle concept

When Slovak designer Matúš Procháczka created the MAG magnetic vehicle concept, he combined two special technologies in one vehicle. Apart from using magnetic power, it also uses an electric engine, which has a polarity like in the road. This means the roads must be built with concrete panels and magnets. The upward force caused by the magnets will make the cars 50% lighter and the car itself is constructed with a ring bearing system and the electric traction is born by the back tyres. A range frame coated by 3mesh dense net forms the seats and they also have a spring-like feel. This vehicle gives the passenger great comfort and is a clean, green, noiseless vehicle that has a promising future. The design won an award at the Interior motives design awards 2007.

Via: TheDesignBlog

BMW M5 switching from V10 to twin-turbo V8

According to an inside source, BMW might change the direction lanes for their top-end performance M5 saloon. The change refers to their long lasting tradition in high-revving naturally aspired engines, in this case, the all-powerful V10 might be changed for a twin-turbocharged V8.

The engine, could be a tweaked version of the 4.4liter, twin-turbo engine presented on the X6, modified to 4.8 liters, an output of around 400hp and an improvement in torque. It seems that the success of their in-house-built twin-turbo engines, that currently power the 335i and the 535i has taken even the manufacturer by surprise in terms of efficiency, and has generated this turn-around. As big enthusiasts of the M5, we can’t say that this is a bad change, switching from the high-pitched, F1 “scream” of the V10 to a lower, baritone, rhythmical sound, since we can, surely, love them both as much.

British Steam Car plans for 170 MPH at Bonneville

The British Steam Car, a potential Land Speed Record breaker vehicle is being geared up for a trip across the Atlantic. It will head for the Bonneville Salt Flats and a potential tryst with racing history in late August. The car burns liquid petroleum gas at 750° F to pressurize that 360-hp Curtis turbine. This 25-ft.-long Steam Car can turn 10.5 gallons of water a minute into boiling-hot feat, with velocities in excess of 150 mph. The absolute land speed record of 763 mph, tops the 88-year-old international steam record of 127.66 mph­. The target speed for later this summer: 170-mph. When the trials are run, it will be the first time the Steam Car will run as a complete unit. So far, all the car's systems have been exercised individually on a test bed. The entire unit will run together for the first time in the third week of August, when the supersonic engineering team will test the time-bending machine prior to an attempt at the record the following week.

The biggest problem thus far, has been the 12 micro boilers that have to make super heated steam, very quickly. Getting the maximum amount of energy from the burners into the water without allowing it to escape has been a difficult challenge.

Unlike a steam locomotive, which uses a steam-powered injector system, the British Steam Car uses compressed-air-powered hydraulics to inject distilled water and pre-prime itself. The water is pumped into the start of 1.86 miles of tubing to develop three megawatts of heat to convert water into 750 F steam. This super-heated "dry" steam is then directed down the car via heavily lagged pipes and two enormous industrial steam valves, which act as throttles, and then into the two-stage turbine. "That's where we turn pressure into velocity," says Candy. The steam is injected into the turbine at over two times the speed of sound; under the assault, the turbine revolves at up to 13,000 rpm. The turbine drives the rear wheels via a conventional crown wheel and pinion. The vehicle turns 10.5 gallons of water a minute into super-heated steam at 40 times atmospheric pressure.

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