On the morning of March 26th, on the dry Lake Ivanpah, The Ecotricity Greenbird driven by British engineer, Richard Jenkins smashed the world land speed record for wind powered vehicles. The Greenbird clocked 126.1 mph (202.9 km/h) , eclipsing the old, American held, record of 116 mph , set by Bob Schumacher in the Iron Duck in March 1999 at the same location. www.greenbird.co.uk
After looking at the GPS, I am really not to worried about the crafts performance, and will be bringing you data on this shortly. The real problem is the ice surface. Have a look at this video, which hopefully explains it a little better. Full blog here: blog.greenbird.co.uk
The Ecotricity Greenbird - world speed record challenge. Harnessing the power of the wind is what Ecotricity is all about! And now we're taking our love of wind to a new level, with the fastest wind powered vehicle on Earth! The Greenbird will challenge all your preconceptions of wind powered travel - it's simply an amazing machine powered only by nature. And not just on land... on ice too. It's part aeroplane, part sailboat, part Formula One car... The new year presents a new challenge to the Greenbird team our next record attempts on ice. We're back in the States, at Canyon Ferry Reservoir, Montana to do the runs for the 2009 season, which will culminate in a shot at the world record when we have the ideal conditions.
greenbird ecotricity world speed record montana canyon ferry windjet
Here is the making of the fantastic Greenbird helmets made by F1 helmet designer Jason Fowler