Steam is one of the great forces of the world. You can take a cup of water, put it in 15-20 inches of steel, weld it shut, put a fire under it – and the water will break it

By the time you read this, hopefully the British Steam Car Challenge will hold the world steam car speed record which was previously set by the Stanley brothers when, on February 26, 1906, they went 127.66 miles per hour. One hundred and two years to break a record! Amazing…

We always tend to think of steam cars as being extremely primitive but, by the time the Stanleys set their record, steam power was over 100 years old; it was pretty much proven technology. It was a classic case of the last days of the old technology beating the first days of the new technology.   

People tend to think the Stanley brothers were just tinkerers.Actually they were pretty good engineers. They designed the cheap disposable plate for cameras and with that money went into business. In the 21st century we have a wonderful sort of cockiness that translates as ‘We’re so much smarter than people were back then!’ But really, really, we’re not. I picked up a steam book from the late 1800s and there was so much maths and science in it that I couldn’t figure out, I felt like a child.  

The Stanleys were not just good at steam power, they were good aerodynamicists too. The body for their car was basically two canoes, one inverted on top of the other. They towed a canoe with a spring balance to see which shape had the least wind resistance.

In 1985 the steam record was raised to 145mph, using steam turbine power, but it was not recognised by the FIA. What we’re seeing now with this British team is some wonderful engineering with steam turbines, and they’re using computers and all that stuff, but the Stanleys essentially did it with just a slide rule.

The Stanley engine was geared 0.5 to 1, which means the wheels make two full revolutions for each engine revolution. Although the steam car has only a two-cylinder engine, it has the same power strokes as a V8 engine. Every stroke is a power stroke, down and up, unlike an internal combustion engine where you have wasted motion. Steam engines have tremendous torque. Even on my Stanley steam cars, regular street cars, if you get a full head of pressure and open the throttle quickly you can actually twist a wheel inside the tyre. There’s that much torque.

It’s fascinating to me that road-going steam progressed from about 1801 with Richard Trevithick, the first man in England to run a steam locomotive, to the Stanleys and Abner Doble, and then it just stopped. But setting this new record will not open the floodgates for steam to make a return to the roads. I have a 1925 Doble steam car which meets fairly recent emission standards because it burns the fuel 100%, but the fire in the boiler is rated two million BTUs – which is enough to heat a small office building.

Steam is one of the great forces of the world. You can take a cup of water, put it in 15-20 inches of steel, weld it shut, put a fire under it – and the water will break it. It’s an amazing force but it’s not particularly efficient. When people ran steam racing cars, obviously the power-to-weight ratio would change as they used up the water. You’ve got to carry fuel, oil to lubricate, and gasoline to heat the fuel and water. It’s just too much to carry around.

While I have no doubt that the Brits will beat the Stanleys’ record fairly easily, it’s not that easy. In their day, when 60mph was considered the end of the world, the Stanleys went 127. When Fred Marriott made another run the next year down Daytona Beach and had a terrible accident, although it’s been exaggerated, they estimated his speed was between 140 and 150mph.

The engine and parts of the Stanley record breaker are in the Smithsonian Institute in Washington. What’s interesting is that Fred Marriott had a daughter but he was a guy’s guy and I guess never shared too much with her; after the accident Fred took the nosecone home and put it in a closet and never mentioned it to his daughter. As a result, after he died it was thrown away because she didn’t know what it was.

Hopefully the British steam car will be preserved intact for all to see. Mind you, if they do break the record, it will probably be another hundred years before anyone tries for it again.