If You Want to Set a Land Speed Record - Call the UK

A new land speed record has been set - once again by a team from the UK. This time the motive force is not jet engines, diesel power or steam. Its the wind.


Called Greenbird, it was developed by English engineer Richard Jenkins and private 'green' electricity supplier, Ecotricity. On March 26 in a dry lakebed in California, the craft broke the world land speed record for wind-powered vehicles by more than 10 miles an hour, setting the new record at 126.2 mph. Greenbird uses a solid, vertical sail shaped like an aircraft wing to capture the wind. The craft's unique low-drag design, coupled with the power of "apparent wind" (a combination of true wind and the wind force created by forward motion), allows it to travel at up to five times the true wind speed.

It's a graceful thing to look at, but like most other LSR vehicles, not really practical for everyday driving.