(vIndianz, June 4 2010): Can automobiles race against the wind and beat it too? A wind-powered car has beat the wind by hurtling down the street faster than the wind. According to physorg.com, a recent run at New Jerusalem in Tracy, California, the car reached a top speed of more than 2.85 times faster than the wind blowing at the time (13.5 mph) powered by the wind itself.
The run is now expected to set to rest a raging debate as to whether such a feat was ever possible. The Thin Air Designs car, called the Blackbird, built by Rick Cavallaro, an aerodynamicist, paraglider and kitesurfer, who was alerted to the DWFTTW debate took up the challenge and emerged successful.
A bunch of calculations convinced him the feat was possible. He then improvised on a model of the car and did the unthinkable. Further, the “Faster than the Wind” team was able to attract sponsorship from wind turbine company Joby Energy and Google, and worked in collaboration with the aero department of the San Jose State University to build their ultra-light vehicle, which is made largely of foam.
The car, resembling a Formula 1 racing car, was then made to race and the rest, as they say, is now history.
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