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Water Speed Record
The world unlimited water speed record is the officially recognised fastest speed achieved by a water-borne vehicle, irrespective of propulsion method. The current unlimited record is , achieved by Australian Ken Warby in the ''Spirit of Australia'' on 8 October 1978. Warby's record was still standing more than 45 years later."The deadly history of the water speed world record" by Sanj Atwal, GuinnessWorldRecords.com, February 7, 2024 The record is one of the sporting world's most hazardous competitions; seven of the thirteen people who have attempted it since June 1930 have died trying. Two official attempts to beat Ken Warby's 1978 record resulted in the pilot's death, with Lee Taylor in 1980 and Craig Arfons in 1989. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spirit Of Australia
''Spirit of Australia'' is a wooden speed boat built in a Sydney backyard, by Ken Warby, that broke and set the world water speed record on 8 October 1978. The record and boat On 8 October 1978, Ken Warby rode the ''Spirit of Australia'' on Blowering Dam in Australia on opposite direction runs of and , for an official record of , with a peak speed of . It was powered by a Westinghouse J34 jet engine. The engine was developed by the Westinghouse Electric Company in the late 1940s and was used for jet fighters and other aircraft. ''Spirit of Australia'' is displayed permanently at the Australian National Maritime Museum in Darling Harbour, Sydney, New South Wales. Successors Starting in the early 1990s, Warby built a second jet boat, ''Aussie Spirit'' powered with a fresh Westinghouse J34, but he never made a record attempt with it. Warby and his son Dave then worked on a new boat, ''Spirit of Australia II'', powered by a Bristol Siddeley Orpheus jet engine taken from an Itali ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bras D'Or Lake
Bras d'Or Lake (Mi'kmaq language, Mi'kmawi'simk: Pitupaq) is an irregular estuary in the centre of Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, Canada. It has a connection to the open sea, and is tidal. It also has inflows of fresh water from rivers, making the brackish water a very productive natural habitat. It was designated the Bras d'Or Lake Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 2011. Toponym Pronounced ( or ), maps before 1872 name it ''Le Lac de Labrador'' (or more simply ''Labrador''). ''Labrador'' was the name given by the Portuguese to much of eastern Canada; the lake's name eventually evolved to resemble the French language ''Arm of'' ''Gold'', a homonym. It is also called locally ''The Bras d'Or Lakes''. In Mi'kmaq language, Mi'kmawi'simk, the lake's name, ''Pitupaq'', refers to the brackish waters, meaning "the long salt water." Geography The lake has a surface area of 1099 square kilometers. Three Arm (geography), arms stretch out to the north east. At the top, the Great ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Windermere
Windermere (historically Winder Mere) is a ribbon lake in Cumbria, England, and part of the Lake District. It is the largest lake in England by length, area, and volume, but considerably smaller than the List of lakes and lochs of the United Kingdom, largest Scottish lochs and Northern Irish loughs. The lake is about in length and at its widest, has a maximum depth of , and has an elevation of above sea level. Its outflow is the River Leven, Cumbria, River Leven, which drains into Morecambe Bay. The lake is in the administrative council area of Westmorland and Furness and the historic county of Westmorland, with the lake forming part of the boundary between the historic counties of Westmorland and Lancashire. It has been one of the country's most popular places for holidays and summer homes since the arrival of the Kendal and Windermere Railway's branch line in 1847. The Freshwater Biological Association was established on the shore of Windermere in 1929 and much of the early ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aircraft Engine
An aircraft engine, often referred to as an aero engine, is the power component of an aircraft propulsion system. Aircraft using power components are referred to as powered flight. Most aircraft engines are either piston engines or gas turbines, although a few have been rocket powered and in recent years many small UAVs have used electric motors. Manufacturing industry The largest manufacturer of turboprop engines for general aviation is Pratt & Whitney. General Electric announced in 2015 entrance into the market. Development history * 1903: Manly-Balzer engine sets standards for later radial engines. * 1910: Coandă-1910, an unsuccessful ducted fan aircraft exhibited at Paris Aero Salon, powered by a piston engine. The aircraft never flew, but a patent was filed for routing exhaust gases into the duct to augment thrust. * 1914: Auguste Rateau suggests using exhaust-powered compressor – a turbocharger – to improve high-altitude performance; not accepted after the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rolls-Royce Limited
Rolls-Royce Limited was a British luxury car and later an aero-engine manufacturing business established in 1904 in Manchester by the partnership of Charles Rolls and Henry Royce. Building on Royce's good reputation established with his Crane (machine), cranes, they quickly developed a reputation for superior engineering by manufacturing luxury cars. The business was incorporated as "Rolls-Royce Limited" in 1906, and a new factory in Derby was opened in 1908. The First World War brought the company into manufacturing aero-engines. Joint development of jet engines began in 1940, and they entered production in 1944. Rolls-Royce has since built an enduring reputation for the development and manufacturing of engines for military and commercial aircraft. In the late 1960s, Rolls-Royce was adversely affected by the mismanaged development of its advanced Rolls-Royce RB211, RB211 jet engine and consequent cost over-runs, though it ultimately proved a great success. In 1971, the owners w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Miss England II
''Miss England II'' was the second of a series of speedboats used by Henry Segrave and Kaye Don to contest world water speed records in the 1920s and 1930s. Design and construction ''Miss England II'' was built in 1930 for Lord Wakefield, who had obtained a pair of new Rolls-Royce type R V-12 air-racing engines. Mounted aft of the cockpit, they turned a single propeller shaft via a gearbox mounted near the bow. The shaft ran aft below the hull to a twin-bladed screw, first of 11.75 inches diameter and later, in trials, of 9 inches. The stepped hull design was similar to that of the previous ''Miss England''. On ''Miss England II'', the step was separate from the hull, so that with the boat withdrawn from the water it could be unbolted and moved fore or aft to balance the boat for speed. The cockpit accommodated a crew of three, with engineer and mechanic in the left and right seats and driver amidships. Death of Segrave On Friday 13 June 1930, Segrave drove ''Miss England ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Popular Science Monthly
Popular science (also called pop-science or popsci) is an interpretation of science intended for a general audience. While science journalism focuses on recent scientific developments, popular science is more broad ranging. It may be written by professional science journalists or by scientists themselves. It is presented in many forms, including books, film and television documentaries, magazine articles, and web pages. History Before the modern specialization and professionalization of science, there was often little distinction between "science" and "popular science", and works intended to share scientific knowledge with a general reader existed as far back as Greek and Roman antiquity. Without these popular works, much of the scientific knowledge of the era might have been lost. For example, none of the original works of the Greek astronomer Eudoxus (4th century BC) have survived, but his contributions were largely preserved due to the didactic poem ''Phenomena'' written ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Miss America (speedboat)
Miss America is an annual competition that is open to women from the United States between the ages of 18 and 28. Originating in 1921 as a "bathing beauty revue", the contest is judged on competition segments with scoring percentages: ''Private Interview'' (30%) – a 10-minute press conference-style interview with a panel of judges, ''On Stage Question'' (10%) – answering a judge's question onstage, ''Talent or HER Story'' (20%) – a performance talent or 90 second speech, ''Health and Fitness'' (20%) – demonstrated physical fitness onstage dressed in athletic wear, and ''Evening Gown'' (20%) – modeling evening-wear onstage. The previous year's titleholder crowns the winner. Miss America 2025 is Abbie Stockard of Alabama, who was crowned on January 5, 2025. She will crown her successor at Miss America 2026. Overview On February 1, 1919, a beauty pageant was held at the Chu Chin Chow Ball at the Hotel des Artistes in New York City. The winner, Edith Hyde Robbins ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry Segrave
Sir Henry O'Neal de Hane Segrave (22 September 1896 – 13 June 1930) was an early British pioneer in land speed and water speed records. Segrave, who set three land and one water record, was the first person to hold both titles simultaneously and the first person to travel at over in a land vehicle. He died in an accident in 1930 shortly after setting a new world water speed record on Windermere in the Lake District, England. The Segrave Trophy was established to commemorate his life. Early life Segrave, who was a British national, was born on 22 September 1896 in Baltimore, Maryland, to an American mother and an Irish father. He was raised in Ireland and attended Eton College in England. He spent some time at 'Belle Isle' house, near Portumna and learnt to drive the family houseboat. He is reported to have attended the North Shannon Yacht Club regatta on Lough Boderg between Leitrim and Roscommon. First World War At the outbreak of war the Sandhurst officer training co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Castrol
Castrol Limited is a British oil company that markets industrial and automotive lubricants, offering a wide range of oil, greases and similar products for most lubrication applications. The company was originally named CC Wakefield; the name ''Castrol'' was originally just the brand name for CC Wakefield's motor oils, but the company eventually changed its name to ''Castrol'' when the product name became better-known than the original company name. Since 2000, Castrol Limited has been a subsidiary of BP, which acquired the company for $4.73 billion. History The "Wakefield Oil Company" was founded by Charles Wakefield in Cheapside, London in 1899. Wakefield had previously left a job at Vacuum Oil to start a new business selling lubricants for trains and heavy machinery. Eight Vacuum Oil employees joined Wakefield, and the company launched its first lubricant in 1906. In early 20th century, Wakefield Co. developed lubricants especially suited for automobiles and aer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Land Speed Record
The land speed record (LSR) or absolute land speed record is the highest speed achieved by a person using a vehicle on land. By a 1964 agreement between the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM), respective governing bodies for racing in automobiles and motorcycles (two or three wheels), both bodies recognise as the absolute LSR whatever is the highest speed record achieved across any of their various categories. While the three-wheeled Spirit of America (automobile), ''Spirit of America'' set an FIM-validated LSR in 1963, all subsequent LSRs are by vehicles in FIA Category C ("Special Vehicles") in either class JE (jet engine) or class RT (rocket powered). FIA LSRs are officiated and validated by its regional or national affiliate organizations. Speed measurement is standardized over a course measuring either or , Arithmetic mean, averaged over two runs with flying start (commonly called "passes") going in oppo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
