Steaming ahead

The team that broke the world land speed record for a steam-powered car visited Spirax Sarco in Cheltenham in April as part of its UK tour. As well as being one of the team's main sponsors, Spirax Sarco played a key role in its success by providing advice and high performance valves.

The company provided control valves and positioners for steam turbine and boiler prototype testing.

Tests revealed that the boiler design had a power output too low to enable the car to reach record-breaking speeds. Spirax Sarco identified the problem as insufficient heat transfer area within the boiler and helped to redesign the units.

The car was fitted with two control valve and positioner sets, one for controlled venting of steam during boiler start up, the second to control the flow of superheated steam to the turbine - in effect acting as the car's 'accelerator'. C-Series valves were selected for their performance in extreme conditions.

The British team broke its first record, achieving an average speed of 139.843mph on two runs over a measured mile. A second record was set for a measured km - achieving an average speed of 148.308mph on two runs, with a peak speed of 159mph.