For The British Steam Car Challenge ... It's Base Camp Made, Course Laid!

The BSCC land speed car gets unloaded from its special shipping container and checked out at the base camp for the British Steam Car Challenge scheduled to begin July 13, 2009 and end July 24, 2009. Image Credit: BSCC

For The British Steam Car Challenge ... It's Base Camp Made, Course Laid!

The British Steam Car team arrived at Edwards Air Force Base on Monday 29 June.

Despite temperatures of over 100 degrees (that's dry heat) and a Fourth of July celebration, they have now established the BSCC Base Camp.

Team Manager, Matt Candy, says: "There's a lot of work to do before we can make the record attempts. We have to set up our communication system, check the radios, assemble the fuelling rigs, unpack the tools, obtaining the propane, get the fridge working and put the toilet in place. It's a bit like an Everest expedition but in baking heat rather than the freezing cold!"

One of the most nerve-wracking tasks was to check for any damage to the British Steam Car during transit. Fortunately, and this was largely because of the special shipping container which was made for it, the car arrived just as it had left the UK 21 days earlier.

The daily schedule the team has been working has been from before 5am. After 9am, due to the high temperatures. The heat , it is suspected, will affect the timing of the record attempts as well.

Candy says: "It can also get quite windy and by the afternoon it can get up to 20-30mph, we can't run the car if the wind is over 15mph."

Safety equipment to meet the regulations of the Southern Timing Association – the recognized body for Land Speed Records – has been fitted to the British Steam Car. Today the car will be inspected by representatives from the Southern Timing Association and the FIA (the international governing body of motor sport).

Tomorrow, the team's test driver, Don Wales, will arrive and dynamic test runs will start on Monday, July 13, 2009.

Candy says: "We then have a window until the 24th July in which to make the record attempts. Potentially, each run could be an attempt on the record but to qualify as an official record we have to turn the car around and make a run in the opposite direction within 60 minutes. Obviously, if a first run is not at the required speed we shan't attempt to go for the record. Instead, we'll wait and make another attempt to get a fast first run."

... notes from The EDJE