I am truly overwhelmed by the messages I have received in the last few days. I had no idea that so many people were following my efforts, so thanks so much for all the support. There is also a huge list of people I need to thank who have made this whole thing possible. Some enormous generosity over the years, from people all over the world, whether it is just letting me camp in their garden, use their workshop, donate materials or help out financially. It could not have been done without you and I hope you share the achievement.

I also need to thank Dale and Ecotricity, who were the only sponsor, of the thousands I must have spoken to over the years, who believed in the project and the dream. They provided the final cash injection which enabled me to make this last big push that has culminated in success. Before signing the deal, I was at rock bottom in terms of resources and was going to have to shelve the project and earn some money to continue, but you saved the day. It was only a fraction of the whole project cost, but at the right time and was spent on the right things. I could not have done it without you guys. Thanks.

So on to technical stuff, first the speed. It has been pointed out to me a few times now that the speed mentioned on the video is different from the 126.1mph quoted. This is due to the record rules requiring the average speed over three seconds (which is a fair distance at 126mph) so our peak speed was 126.4 and the three second average was 126.1. Bob Dill and the ratification crew are pouring over the data from the five onboard GPS devices and will reach the final number sometime soon, but my guess will be that it is around 126.1mph.

This really has been a phenomenal wind month, the windiest anyone can remember, in well, ten years I guess! There is another wind event forecast on Sunday / Monday, but I don’t think anything can compare to Thursday, so I am not going to try to increase the speed. The craft is in one piece and it would be cool if it stayed that way, so I am going to be prudent and pack it up today, before I get tempted by Sunday’s wind!

I hope you like the video. Simon Fitzgerald from BHP Sport has followed the project for the last ten years and it was amazingly cool that he was able to be here to shoot the actual record day. He did a fantastic job considering how difficult it was to even stand up in that wind, let alone hold a camera on maximum zoom. From the drivers perspective, it really is a good take on how it felt from the cockpit.

Wind and GPS track data to follow shortly.

Stop press… breaking news!!

You can also view/embed this video on Youtube

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.

More details to come plus comments from Richard and Dale on this terrific accomplishment.

Press enquiries to press@greenbird.co.uk +44(0)1453 769318

We did it! Greenbird smashes world record

I have now spent a day going going over Greenbird and checking all the mechanics, serviced the bearings and making sure everything is ready for the next wind opportunity. Apart from stone chips to the wing leading edges and some general abrasion from the dust at speed, there really is no sign of damage from the testing on Sunday, which is great news.

I have also had some time to digest the performance further, and am very pleased with all the data, matching our predictions very closely.

Speed graph

Here a graph or the speed increase with time, which shows we were well on the way to record speeds, if only we had a little more distance.

There is some more wind forecast for Thursday and then again on Monday, so fingers crossed, but the predicted direction is not looking that great right now, we will have to wait and see…

Well I have now had a chance to digest yesterday’s mammoth day. Here are the results.

It was indeed a great wind day. Almost the best that this location can possibly offer. These days are few and far between and although there have probably been many over the years, there has not been one during the Americas cup regatta (last week of March) since the current record was set in 1999. So with over 100 expectant land sailors watching the pressure was on to perform. The wind was coming out of the SSW and averaging between 25 – 32, but gusting to 40.

Ivanpah Wind 22-03-2009

Here is the days wind graph, dark blue is the average and purple is the peak gust.

This was the first time that the Greenbird, in its new configuration had run at speed, so it was going to be interesting. I started sailing at 09:12 and finished for the day at 5:30pm, after covering 172 miles (277km). During the day we did many pit stops, changing wheels, compounds, tyre pressures and ballast distribution to eke out more speed and tune the vehicle for the conditions of the day.

The final top speed was 107.12 Mph. A frustrating 9 mph short of the record speed.

Ivanpah Track Dist 22-03-20009

Here is the track from the days sailing. You can see I tried to use every available space and try every angle to aid acceleration. In fact I really gave it everything I had to try and get it past the illusive record speed. You can see here by the measurement tool, that the venue only really provides 1.8 miles, for the entire run, including stopping.

It was initially disappointing that the craft was not going much faster in these sort of winds, but after much testing and understanding, the results are very encouraging. The problem here is simply the length of run we are able to use. All the top speeds were in the last seconds of the run, with the craft still accelerating hard, but I had to de-power hard to stop before the end of the lake. I will graph the acceleration curves for you later, but the yacht was accelerating at 0.6 mph/sec at 107 mph, meaning about another 20 – 30 seconds required to hit 120, meaning we needed another 1000m to reach top speed. (Top speed is when acceleration has reached zero, demonstrating we are some way off the vehicles top speed).

But, the current record was set here, was it a faster craft? Not necessarily. It had more wing area and a wing shape that performed better at slower speeds, so was able to accelerate faster. But, it is a trade off, fast acceleration at slow speeds (also like Windjet Mk 2) means sacrificing top speed performance, due to being overpowered and a poor induced drag characteristics at top speed. We spent a lot of time optimising the Greenbird wing for the precise record speed, no slower. this should yield the ultimate top speed, which is what we are searching for after all. However, this means acceleration is slower, and we need possibly twice the acceleration distance as the Iron Duck, but the ultimate speed should be higher, and this was exactly what we experienced, short of finding the top speed! There are high lift devices you can add (flaps, etc) to speed up acceleration, but not without some complexity and as we designed this craft for Australia, where we had up to 10 straight miles, I did not bother to add additional weight or expense to the wing.

So where now? Well we will look at the numbers again to see if we can improve the bottom end speed with the same or a different wing, without compromising top speed. Otherwise, we will need a different venue. There is obviously always Australia, but there are also other alternatives here in North America, which we are researching. Realistically however, we are unlikely to break the record here at Ivanpah unless we get a stronger, or more steady wind, from a slightly kinder direction, which is a big ask and may take another 10 years of waiting!

The very good outcome is that the vehicle behaved perfectly, despite taking a pounding, no failures, no problems, and excellent handling. This is immensely satisfying when it is a craft you have engineered and built yourself. Performance is also now proven (matches performance predictions to this point) so I am more confident than ever that we will get the record, but it is no mean feat. The closer I get to the speed, the more respect I have for the current record holders. They really did set the bar very high and it is certainly no walk in the park.

The really unfortunate side of the day is that we did not get it on proper film. Simon from BHP and our film crew were suppose to have been here, but when their plane was 1 hour out of Gatwick, it had a critical engine failure, meaning it had to return to Gatwick. ( hours of waiting for a new plane means they will arrive in Vegas this morning as the wind is just calming down). Very frustrating for everyone, but hopefully we will get a chance for more action later in the week. We did get some amateur footage from bystanders, which I will post shortly when I have had a chance to view and edit it, but it won’t be a patch on Simon’s quality I am afraid.

So there we have it, close but no cigar. We will hang out here for another week or so, just in-case the wind does get even better, which it may. The jet stream is being kind to us for once and pushing storm after storm down from Alaska into the right area. There is currently wind forecast for Thursday and possibly next Monday.

Greenbird glinting

Greenbird in motion

Greenbird at speed

Hi from a sunny Ivanpah, hot and sunny now, but a big weather change about to hit us.

It was a long and boring drive down from San Francisco on Thursday, but arrived at about 9 in the evening and started setting up Friday morning. Throughout the day, more and more people started showing up in preparation for the ‘Americas Cup’ regatta, held here every year at this time. By the end of today, there should be about 1000 land yacht pilots assembled for the biggest land yacht race meeting of the year.

It is, in fact, almost exactly 10 years to the day since the ‘Iron Duck’ broke the land sailing speed record (the record of 116mph that we have to beat), at the very same location. We are all very exited by the forecast, which is predicting big winds for Saturday and Sunday, however, we have often seen that before, only for the wind not to materialise or for rain to accompany the storm, so no counting chickens just yet. When this storm passes over on Sunday night, it looks like it will be followed by more systems 3-4 days apart, so we should have a number of opportunities in this 10 day record window.

Simon from BHP is on his way out from the UK to do some more filming and try to capture it all in HD, so we are hoping it will all come together at the right time, but it is still a very tough challenge!

Sorry for the radio silence! But we’ve been using the time to move our focus from the ice and back onto the land record.

This is because the ice surface never recovered at Canyon Ferry and on March 1st it started to break up in the warming weather.

So it appears that the only possible window for an ice speed record is during the time between when it freezes and when it snows. I sort of knew this before this year’s efforts, but hope springs eternal, right?

Anyway, the ice yacht is packed up in its trailer near the lake awaiting next year’s first freeze. I will be back there in early December, waiting for that first ice.

Thoughts now turn to the land version of Greenbird, waiting for me in storage near San Francisco. The America’s cup landsailing Regatta starts at Ivanpah (near Las Vegas) this weekend – and I plan to be there.

It is the biggest land sailing event of the year, encompassing the Pacrim (Pacific rim) Regatta, so there will be land yacht pilots there from Japan, New Zealand, Australia, etc.

It is not only a great event, but it is the same time of year that the current land record of 116 mph was set – at the same location, 10 years ago.

Believe it or not, I have been trying to beat that record every year, at different locations around the world since then, but opportunities are very few are far between.

Let’s hope it is a 10 year weather cycle!