The prototype did not use a standard clutch or gearbox as a result of a turbine engine sucks air into the entrance by way of a fan, the place it is compressed, blended with gasoline, and ignited. That ensuing gasoline/air combination shoots out the again of the automobile as a thrust. With the JET 1, the thrust was “taken directly from the power turbine shaft to the differential rear axle.”

It was first revealed in 1950. A number of years later, Rover dropped in an even bigger engine and broke the world pace report (for fuel turbine vehicles) at 152 mph. JET 1 may run on fuel, paraffin, or diesel oil. Still, after conducting intensive check driving, it was quickly found it used totally an excessive amount of gasoline (some accounts declare it solely averaged 5 to seven miles per gallon) and responded too slowly throughout acceleration, thus proving wholly impractical as a passenger automobile.

Rover continued working with fuel turbine vehicles till 1965 and even created the Rover-BRM Le Mans, which participated within the well-known race in 1963. Even Ford experimented with a turbine-powered Thunderbird. The lone JET 1 presently sits within the London Science Museum, the place it can reportedly by no means be operated once more (to maintain it preserved).

However, at the least three working replicas exist, just one utilizing an precise turbine engine. Austrian Georg Meyr-Harting spent 1,000 hours planning and researching and one other 2,000 hours making his Rover Jet 1 R (the “R” is for “re-creation”). You can see (and listen to) what the JET 1 might have seemed like when in precise operation and may add noise issue to the listing of impractical options related to this turbine-powered automobile.