The British team striving to take the British and World Steam-powered speed records with a car hand-built in a wooden workshop in the New Forest, Hampshire, are back on track after the tragic setback of the death of team leader Frank Swanson last year.

Now with Sir Malcolm Campbell's grandson Don Wales and Lord Montagu's nephew Charles Burnett III as drivers, the car will be undergoing final testing at Thorney Island, Portsmouth during May, then making an attempt on the British record (set by the steam locomotive Mallard 70 years ago on 3 July 1938) at Elvington, near York, in early July before heading out to USA for the world record attempt on Bonneville Salt Flats in August. Don Wales will drive the car during Bonneville Speed Week (August 18-24) before Charles Burnett takes over for the world record attempt once the Speed Week paraphernalia has been cleared away.

For more information, take a look at www.steamcar.co.uk. The highly aerodynamic car has four independent boilers driving its steam turbine, powered by LPG. The vehicle uses clean burn technology and is intended to be a far cry from the smoke-belching steam vehicles of old.

Malcolm McKay, Motorbase News Editor