Breckland’s Beira is a two-seat V8 soft top based on proven GM architecture and powered by GM’s LS2, 6-litre V8 engine, tuned to produce just a whisper short of 400bhp. Tipping the scales at 1,400kg, the Beira’s power-to-weight ratio promises a sub-five second sprint to 100kph, coupled with tremendous torque and a governed top speed of 155mph.
The car debuts in left-hand drive form, underlining its appeal to enthusiasts in Europe and well beyond, and will be available in the UK and internationally from November 2008.The on-the-road price is expected to be around £55,000 in the UK
Team Green, the UK’s most successful eco-marathon team, is celebrating after being named the ‘Best UK Team’ at the 2010 Shell Eco-Marathon Youth Challenge UK event.
The annual fuel economy competition, which was held at the Rockingham Motor Speedway, is designed for youth teams to construct and drive the most fuel-efficient vehicle possible. The event helps to promote environmental sustainability through the development of frugal petrol and LPG technology on an international stage.
Andy Green, manufacturing engineer at the University of Bath and founder of Team Green, comments: “We have taken part in the Youth Challenge since 1996 and every year offers a new opportunity for our students to get involved and use their skills to try and beat not only our impressive personal record but also that of our competitors.”
“After a tense start experimenting with various timings and settings and a disappointing test run, the team pulled together and, with a few minor adjustments, achieved the best LPG results of the event, at 5505 and 5575 miles per gallon. This stellar performance meant the team drove away with the respect of being the ‘Best UK Team’ at the event, beating their main competitor, the French team ‘Lycee Marcel Callo’, and placing fourth and fifth in the competition overall.
For further information on Team Green, visit www.teamgreen.org.uk.
LPG autogas isn’t just for cars and vans
Bike manufacturers aren’t convinced there would be enough demand, especially with the complication of an additinal fuel tank. However the storage of the LPG tank can be overcome as with this V Strom, above, built by Suzuki Belgium utilising the top case.
The LPG conversion costs around £1,250, worthwhile for high mileage bikers
Small but perfectly formed: The Parry carrier is popular in the Black Country
The railway branch from Stourbridge Junction to Stourbridge Town has three unique features
Firstly, it is the shortest commercial passenger line in the British Isles.
Secondly, the train does 110 round trips a day. And thirdly, the vehicle utilised is a Parry's People Mover, designated Class 139.
There are just two of these trains which provide a seven day a week service which, as the frequency of service suggests, is in great demand.
This unique vehicle is the brainchild of John Parry, a brilliant Black Country engineer with a great love of railways.
For the technically minded it can run on LPG, and compared with the previous train, a standard single coach class 156, is "greener" to run by some 75%.
With a one metre diameter flywheel, designed to store kinetic energy located under the vehicle, rotating at some 2500 revolutions, it captures brake energy when slowing or descending gradients.
The current models can carry some 60 passengers and there are designs on the drawing board to have two coaches linked together with a corridor, that will have a carrying capacity of 180.
In round figures, it costs less than 50% of its predecessor, a standard class 153 single car, to run and is cheaper to build by some 33%; an absolute winner.
In an interview, John Parry told me that he is very keen to see his trains used on long closed down routes, which will remove cars from roads, and enable journey times to be accomplished more quickly.
Many of these lines still have track in place, currently being used for occasional freight.
Oswestry-Gobowen, Portishead-Bristol, Chinnor-Princes Risborough and Leek to Stoke-on-Trent are just a few of the 70 possible rail reconnections that could be made.
Now this is a British invention, by a British engineer, and deserves to be given every encouragement by a Government that wishes to reduce the volume of traffic on our roads.
It ticks all the boxes in so far as environmental considerations are concerned, and has the potential to generate hundreds of jobs, not only in the running of the trains, but in the building and maintenance thereof.
The announcement that some £1.1 billion is going to be spent on the electrification of the Paddington-Swansea and Liverpool-Manchester routes is great news for British manufacturers and rail workers.
The Stourbridge Town route is purely a branch to support the main line running through the junction station.
The cost per mile structure will more than compete with present forms of transport, and the Class 139 should be considered for other short rail links such as Cardiff Bay-Cardiff Queen Street, Henley-on-Thames to Twyford and Windsor Eton-Slough, to mention but a few.
The Parry People Mover is the product of much research by a British inventor.
Given the right support it could be a winner for British industry, reducing carbon footprint, reducing the cost of travel, and taking cars off the road.
A steam-powered supercar built in Britain has broken the world land speed record for steam vehicles - 103 years after the last record was set.
Nicknamed "the fastest kettle in the world" the British Steam Car managed an average speed of 139.843mph over a measured mile at an American air base.
This smashed the previous world record of 127mph in 1906, set by American Fred Marriott driving a Stanley steam car.
The 25-foot vehicle weighs three tons and uses LPG to to haet its 12 boilers containing nearly two miles of tubing.the burners produce 3 megawatts of heat.
Created by a team in Lymington, Hampshire, the car was driven for two runs by American millionaire Charles Burnett III. He reached top speeds of 136mph on the first run and 151mph on the second, according to a team spokesman.
Mr Burnett said: "It was absolutely fantastic. I enjoyed every moment of it. We reached nearly 140mph on the first run before I applied the parachute.
"All systems worked perfectly, it was a really good run. The car really did handle beautifully."The team has worked extremely hard over the last 10 years and overcome numerous problems. "It is a privilege to be involved with such a talented crew. What we have achieved is a true testament to British engineering, good teamwork and perseverance."
LPG vehicle markets in the UK and around the world
From only 3,500 at the end of 1998, there were 153,000 vehicles on the road in the UK by the end of 2008. . We have over 1500 refuelling stations which is one of the highest number compared with the number of vehicles in the world.
Worldwide at the end of 2008 there were over 14 million LPG vehicles with 8.5 million of these in Europe.
Notable markets include:
Wordwide
Korea - 2.321 million - the largest market in the world
Australia - 650,000 - now one of the fastest growing markets following the introduction of grants in 2006
Japan - 289,000 - mostly taxis which are required to run on LPG
Europe
Turkey - 2.240 million
Poland - 1.9 million - the largest market in Europe
Italy - 930,000 - one of the longest established markets and one of two main sources of LPG equiment used in the UK
Netherlands - 240,000 - the other main source of LPG equipment used in the UK
France - 140,000 - our closest neighbour and with one of the best refuelling networks on main routes
Germany - 300,000 - and the fastest growing market in the world following the government freeze on fuel duty to 2018
