Comments on: Gas Turbine Technology

By: Steve Boston

Steve Boston — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:48:18 +0000

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.

By: D Gatewood

D Gatewood — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 17:03:00 +0000

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.

By: Paul Bristow

Paul Bristow — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 04:44:27 +0000

The bottom picture is rather sad… Mike Spence was killed in that car at Indy in 1968… RIP