"The vast majority of cars on our roads are powered by piston-engined internal combustion engines. A gas turbine, however, has no pistons.
Instead, air is compressed and fed into a combustion chamber, into which fuel is sprayed. The fuel/air "
I imagine that gas turbine’s one-dimensional power arc might even have an application on the razor-straight, grid like road system of contemporary America. Every vehicle I have driven in America, from taxi cab to bus to Hhotrod seems great at going forward, loudly, with as little effort as possible, but the bump and grind of a twisty road is another proposition entirely.
The bottom picture is rather sad… Mike Spence was killed in that car at Indy in 1968… RIP
D Gatewood
Andy Granatelli created the SPT gas turbine car for the Indianapolis 500 race in 1967.
It led for 167 of the the 200 laps only to end up finishing 16th due to a $6.00 gear box part failing.
The following year Turbines were restricted.
I wonder if the Colin Chapman car was a response to the Granatelli car a year earlier.
Steve Boston
Obviously the way to match up the gas turbine power delivery to road or race needs would be to use it as a generator. By generating for example hydraulic pressure or electricity you could then easily have flexible power to any or all wheels as required plus regen braking for better efficiency. The downside is that converting energy is inefficient anyway so – for example Jet A1 to tuboshaft power then to electricity probably loses more than is recouped by regen. Even so it always surprised me that Colin Chapman didn't try that way.
"The new Formula 1 season is here.
And this time the organisers really hope that you won’t scratch your head and wonder what all this has to do with you and your car.
The new engines are dramatically smaller – V6 "
"He was the first to win races in four classes- Sports Car, Formula One, NASCAR and Indy Car. And of course, the first to win Le Mans at the wheel of a Ford motor car, his head swathed in that "
"“Well, the thing that’s impressive apart from anything else in an engine is that each individual cylinder manages to go ‘suck, squeeze, bang, blow’ 92 times per second. The sparks required at 11,000rpm are 733 per second. The piston weighs five "
"If ever there was a 24 carat hall of famer, it’s Mario Andretti. Pulled over in the UK, it’s, “who do you think you are, Stirling Moss?” But for the Smokies in the USA, it’s always Mario.
On "
"
This week's car crush is relatively attainable. Well, it might cost an arm and a leg, but at least the family driver could practically own one without causing too much jangling discord on the school run.
BMW aspirational mainstay receives "
"Cars change. It’s a simple statement, and an observable one. At the same time, it could be argued they don’t. The steering, the exhaust note, the grip of the tyres to the road – though these may technically vary "
"In life, there are challenges. In fact, many would agree that life itself is a challenge. On the day-to-day, whether it’s financial, familial, circumstantial or emotional – all of us face a degree of uncertainty when it comes to taking "
"Turbo lag. It’s not seen as something to aspire to.
Look around you. McMindfulness meatheads smash their screens between Zoom calls and online pilates sessions. Anti-vax perps with cabin fever, who get their news from Call of Duty twitch "
"The appeal of Van Life is now something everyone understands. Freedom. Adventure. Self-determination. All these things are encoded deeply into how we see ourselves - and an entire industry has arisen to cater for every kind of wagon-type desire. But "
The bottom picture is rather sad… Mike Spence was killed in that car at Indy in 1968… RIP
Andy Granatelli created the SPT gas turbine car for the Indianapolis 500 race in 1967.
It led for 167 of the the 200 laps only to end up finishing 16th due to a $6.00 gear box part failing.
The following year Turbines were restricted.
I wonder if the Colin Chapman car was a response to the Granatelli car a year earlier.
Obviously the way to match up the gas turbine power delivery to road or race needs would be to use it as a generator. By generating for example hydraulic pressure or electricity you could then easily have flexible power to any or all wheels as required plus regen braking for better efficiency. The downside is that converting energy is inefficient anyway so – for example Jet A1 to tuboshaft power then to electricity probably loses more than is recouped by regen. Even so it always surprised me that Colin Chapman didn't try that way.