UK team breaks steam record

A British racing team that includes Don Wales - grandson of famed record breaker Sir Malcolm Campbell - has finally broken the world land speed record for steam powered vehicles.

Recording an average speed of 139.848, the British Steam Car team topped a benchmark that has stood unchallenged for more than 100 years.

Driver Charles Burnett III piloted the car for both runs reaching a peak speed of 136.103mph on the first run and 151.085 mph on the second. The new international record breaks the previous official FIA record of 127mph set in 1906 by American, Fred Marriott, driving a Stanley steamer at Daytona Beach.

Weighing three tons, the sleek 25-ft British Steam Car is made from a mixture of lightweight carbon-fibre composite and aluminium wrapped around a steel space frame chassis. It is fitted with 12 boilers containing nearly two miles of tubing. Demineralised water is pumped into the boilers at up to 50 litres a minute and the burners produce three megawatts of heat. Steam is superheated to 400 degrees Celsius which is injected into the turbine at more than twice the speed of sound.