ETNZ To Attempt Wind Powered Land Speed Word Record

[Sidecar]

^^^^^ Still having loads of on/off rain and showers, no real break in the weather for the foreseeable future. Never has to cut the grass so much. Currently, life revolves around using the occasional good day to cut the grass, so it doesn’t get too long during the wet spells. Many crops are struggling due to excessive wet and non pollination.

Wildflowers bloom after wet winter + pics - Beef Central

Wildflowers have started to bloom across large parts of the country after widespread autumn and winter rain...Read More

www.beefcentral.com

If you could get and keep enough water into the middle of Australia, the agricultural possibilities are phenomenal….and it would change the (micro) climate permanently.

Sit and wait is all TNZ can do….. Give up when it is time to go home for Xmas….

 

[dogwatch]

Sailing. Aero design. Structural engineering. And, uh... weather prediction.

Why would knowing how to optimise time around a w/l course on the air/water boundary at 50 kph, given or take, make you expert in developing reaching speeds at 4 times the speed on a low friction surface? Why would an AC design team know more about aero design and structural design than aircraft designers?

You are over-impressed by how the highly specialised realm of the AC generalises to a very different problem.

 

[Sailbydate]

On the subject of esoteric projects, I wish this one would resume. https://perlanproject.org/about/#history In 2018, 76,124 feet in a sailplane, higher than U2.

I dunno, Doggie. Some of the U2 band members got pretty high at times (reportedly). No wait....

 

[Stingray~]

Am sure Matteo is laughing. This is on the Horonuku wing

 

[JALhazmat]

At least they can concentrate on this now they can’t sail the 40/leq12

has the water level dropped yet😂

 

[The_Alchemist]

At least they can concentrate on this now they can’t sail the 40/leq12

has the water level dropped yet😂

Maybe they can sail the AC40 on the salt lake? The water is shallow enough so they won't take a huge nose dive and break the boat...

 

[barfy]

Tasmania is hardly “on the ground”, but I was born in South Australia and lived there for 30 years before moving on….

If I was planning their record attempt, I would be doing it now, right up to the new year. March is no guarantee of optimum conditions.

Scroll right down through all the weather data served up in umpteen different ways from the nearest RAAF base, and choose your own optimum period:

RAAF Woomera Airfield Climate, Weather By Month, Average Temperature (Australia) - Weather Spark

At RAAF Woomera Airfield, the summers are hot; the winters are cold; and it is dry, windy, and mostly clear year round. Over the course of the year, the temperature typically varies from 44°F to 94°F and is rarely below 39°F or above 106°F.

weatherspark.com

That is some interesting data.
Looks like some stable high pressure these days, how's your grass growing?

 

[Sidecar]

Looks like some stable high pressure these days, how's your grass growing?

Still growing like topsy….. I have five acres of it, and by the time it all gets mowed between the showers, I have to mow again, so effectively non stop mowing. And it has to be done to minimise bushfire risk later.

If I were a betting man, I would back TNZ having a serious go at the record in the middle two weeks of December. After that, I reckon they can give up and go home till later next year….

FWIW:

2022 - Dry Lakes Racers Australia

The official home page of the Dry Lakes Racers Australia

www.dlra.org.au

 

[The_Alchemist]

Still growing like topsy….. I have five acres of it, and by the time it all gets mowed between the showers, I have to mow again, so effectively non stop mowing. And it has to be done to minimise bushfire risk later.

If I were a betting man, I would back TNZ having a serious go at the record in the middle two weeks of December. After that, I reckon they can give up and go home till later next year….

FWIW:

2022 - Dry Lakes Racers Australia

The official home page of the Dry Lakes Racers Australia

www.dlra.org.au

Sounds like you need some more sheep or goats.

 

[Sidecar]

Sounds like you need some more sheep or goats.

I think that every spring. But when you run out of grass, you have to feed them, which isn’t cheap, always a balancing act. And overgrazing destroys the pasture. Plenty examples of that in the world.

This year has truly been a freak year, if it becomes a pattern, you could well be right.

 

[barfy]

I think that every spring. But when you run out of grass, you have to feed them, which isn’t cheap, always a balancing act. And overgrazing destroys the pasture. Plenty examples of that in the world.

This year has truly been a freak year, if it becomes a pattern, you could well be right.

And then you get the dry, and then after a while the winter grass blues. Better to have a paddock or two fat and overgrown this time of year. I can't even see my cows for grass in my main paddock right now.

 

[Jethrow]

I can't even see my cows for grass in my main paddock right now

Sorry Barfy, I meant to tell you but I came around the other day and "borrowed" your cows. Didn't think you'd miss them...

 

[barfy]

Sorry Barfy, I meant to tell you but I came around the other day and "borrowed" your cows. Didn't think you'd miss them...

You could have mowed all the fucking carrot weed while you were down there.

 

[Stingray~]

Looking up?

 

[shebeen]

Looking up?

So basically it's the wettest year on record, but we took the chance anyway to go to a lake in the middle of this record year.

 

[Sailbydate]

If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.

 

[JALhazmat]

Still it’s only money time and resource that have absolutely NOTHING to do with the AC so presumably they will just crack on regardless of any other schedule 😉

 

[shebeen]

If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.

yes and no. It's really obscure and requires a lot of luck, so there aren't many takers punching in their lottery entries.

secondly, the ecotricity guys were a bit cooked on Ivanpah mushrooms too.

Ecotricity’s Greenbird triumph in America symbolises this historical watershed better than anything else by demonstrating how cutting edge British technology can harness the power of the wind.

And Ecotricity are already working on their next innovative wind project. Ecotricity is working with a team of highly skilled engineers to create a 2nd generation wind powered which will be a real and practical alternative to petroleum, diesel and hydrogen fuelled vehicles; powered using electricity generated by the wind.

Dale Vince said: “today’s record is an amazing achievement. It shows what is achievable with great British engineering and the power of the wind. In the next twenty years I firmly believe that wind power will be our main energy source and wind-powered cars will no longer be the stuff of dreams. At Ecotricity we are dedicated to making this a reality which is why we were behind today’s new record and why we will soon be revealing a wind-powered super car for everyday use. We want to change the world and create a very real solution to transport in a post-oil economy.”

 

[dogwatch]

I believe they mean "conventional" electric cars charged by wind-generated electricity. Not directly wind-powered cars.

 

[shebeen]

I believe they mean "conventional" electric cars charged by wind-generated electricity. Not directly wind-powered cars.

yes I got that, just figured they didn't exactly realise that making production cars is a bit different to slapping a wing on a tube of carbon and waiting for some windy desert conditions.

Turns out I was mostly wrong. They did actually build an electric supercar!

'Nemesis' breaks electric car land speed record

Modified Lotus Exige reaches speed of 151mph at Elvington airfield in North Yorkshire

www.theguardian.com

who cares if you bought it off ebay and retrofitted it, man put his money where his mouth was.