Many Many thanks to Bob Dill, the Nalsa secretary and GPS guru who has painstakingly analysed the accuracy of various GPS units and overseen the speed measurement of all my efforts over the years. Bob designed and built the Iron duck (previous record holder), but has been tremendously helpful to me throughout the project. He has hung out with me for weeks at a time at the various locations around the world including Australia (exactly the opposite side of the world from his home in Vermont), at his own expense, to oversee the attempts as an official observer. As it turns out, we managed to do it in front of the whole Nalsa Committee, but if the weather had played it’s hand in one of the remote locations, Bob was there on standby to be the official witness. Thanks for all your support and company over the years, Bob.

Here is the official Statement of ratification as well as the supporting documents submitted to the Nalsa Committee; The measurement report (PDF, 784kb) and the GPS data (Excel, 81kb) from the fastest run.

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Dear NALSA,

The NALSA Board of Directors has ratified a new world record for speed in a landyacht of 126.2 mph by Richard Jenkins in Greenbird on March 26, 2009 at 11:04 PDT on Ivanpah Dry Lake California.
The wind at the time ranged between 30 and 40 mph with occasional higher gusts. As required by the NALSA Regulations for Speed Record Attempts, the top speed was measured over three seconds during which the yacht traversed about 560 feet. Speed measurement was made by a total of five logging GPSs which agreed within 0.1 mph and which all have a demonstrated accuracy (U at 95%) of 0.2 mph (well under the NALSA requirement of 0.5 mph). Additional information can be found at NALSA.org.

Bob Dill
NALSA Secretary

The Greenbird is now in San Francisco awaiting transport back to the UK. Really sorry I could not stay another week at Ivanpah for the Kite buggy Expo. The kiters are a great bunch who have been incredibly helpful in the past and I have made some great friends there, so sorry to miss you this trip.

I have now had some time to digest the record day and the craft performance. I cannot tell you how satisfying it is, from a technical perspective, that it worked exactly as planned. No wear, no breakages and total control at all times. Once I had got to grips with the sensitivity of the sail control, I was able to ‘fly’ the outrigger pod consistently above the ground, which is the perfect situation for least drag, with only two wheels touching the ground. The gusty wind made it slightly more tricky, but even when it looks like the wheel is touching, it really is only just touching, so very little rolling drag.

The biggest problem on the day was the blowing dust, which made visibility very poor. After setting off for the first time, I was completely blind and had to stop for about 30 minutes until visibility improved. The dust also likes to stick to the windscreen, which makes the situation worse, I think you can get a good idea of this from the onboard camera. At times visibility was down to 40 feet, so I waited and once I could see the silhouette of the hills once more, I set off. The first run was a test to see how much room I had with this unusual wind direction. All went well so I turned around and made my way back to the top of the course. This time I gave it full throttle and ‘went with it’. As the craft became overpowered, rather than de-power, I bore away, sailing more downwind. Looking down at the Driftbox GPS, it was reading 126, seemingly for some time. Bailing out of the run and trying to avoid the various obstacles on the lake, I stopped by the camera crew for verification. It all happened too easily and quickly in the end.

Parallel to the road is a pipeline to Vegas, which has various (solid) obstacles along it. These would be fatal if hit at speed so I was pretty careful to try and bail out of the runs into a clear area, but being so low to the ground and in so much dust it was hard to see where the edge of the lake and these obstacles were. Looking at the GPS track now, I am amazed to see how much space we did have left and just how short the record run was. The whole run was completed in about 1.5 miles. Which is pretty amazing acceleration. If I had an in-cockpit position display I probably could have used another 0.5 miles. Here is the GPS track and the acceleration curve:

GPS Track

Acceleration Curve

It clearly shows that there is a little more potential left in the yacht and a figure of 130 mph is probably achievable with a little more time and room.

So should I have pushed harder on the day? Possibly, but the design speed of this vehicle was 125 mph. This is not to say it won’t go faster, but the structure was not yet load tested for speeds above this and the safety factors were definitely small, so to push it much harder, I would like to do more static tests first. Also, now that we know our predictions were spot on for 125, we can certainly make modifications to tune the aerodynamics for 135 mph and have another crack at it.

So the vehicle and me are still in one piece and ready to fight the next fight. It could have easily been very different had I ventured into unknown territory and pushed it beyond the limit, but i guess we will never know! Such is the fine line of record setting and I am very pleased to be on the right side of that line for now. I may have taken a different view 6 years ago, but after many crashes, I guess that is what experience does for you!

Regarding the wind record, I have to say I screwed up here. In all the commotion after the record I did not download the wind data until a few days later. I had not fully realised the memory capacity of the unit when set to maximum data detail, which is only a couple of days. This meant the data from record day morning had already been over-written. All I can say is that it was windy! Averaging 30-35 mph with higher gusts. I guess we will never know exactly what it was during the record run, other than to say it was enough! The speed multiples are normally pretty reliable, and we can consistently do 3.8-4.1 times the wind speed on dirt, so an average windspeed somewhere between 30 and 35 mph is probably a pretty reasonable guess.

Here is the course for the entire days sailing:

All day course GPS track

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 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…

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!

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!

However, despite the lack of wind, I did get one day of sailing in, clocking 60 mph in light wind. Although this is only a fraction of the vehicle’s potential, it was fast enough to demonstrate that everything is working perfectly. My concerns over the rear suspension on the bumpy surface was unfounded and that gives me a lot of confidence for the next weather window in March.

As all the landsailors had disappeared after the Nalsa regatta washout, I dismantled the Greenbird by myself, which is always a challenge, but after a long day, it is all safely back on the trailer, and off the lake. The craft will be stored locally over the winter, and be ready for the next land record opportunity in March.

The next challenge for us is going to be the ice record in Montana in January.

Ivanpah becomes a wet lake

Was woken up this morning at 4.30 am, to the sound of rain on the window. Two hours of pretty good downpour flooded most of the lake, but, all is not as bad as it seems. There area has been exceptionally dry for the last few years and most of this should be absorbed in the next day or two. Some wind is forecast for the weekend, so we are hoping it is going to be dry by Friday.

For now the lake is closed, with the Greenbird marooned on the edge. Hopefully we will be able to get back to it tomorrow, and download the data from the weather station, to see exactly how much rain fell during the night.

As long as no more rain falls, we should still be able to test on the weekend.

Closed due to rain

The flip side of the having a week or two of no wind is that I have been able to finish a large number of jobs and perfect any snagging systems. I have also built a new faring on the front pod, to remove a turbulent zone behind the front wheel and help deflect stones that were being flicked up by the front tyre and on to the canopy.

I have installed a new GPS system, called a Driftbox, kindly donated from Race Logic, that is not only super accurate, it also measures the exact sideslip angle (drift) and records all the information onto a flash card for analysis later. The cockpit is pretty cramped, so it is tucked away behind the hydraulic steering system and and can just be seen through the steering wheel.

Simon Fitzerald from BHP Sport (Greenbird film crew) is now here with me, providing very welcome company. Should the weather play its hand, Simon will be capturing any action on the very latest Sony HD equipment. He has already spent a couple of days rigging the Greenbird with an array of recording equipment and miniature cameras, to get the vital on-board shots, which will hopefully give you an idea of what it is like to drive this crazy machine!

Watch the weather, pray for wind, and no rain!