Rover Gas Turbines

T3 rear-engined, 4WD T4 front-engined, front WD Le Mans car, rear-engined, rear WD - 4wd.sofcom.com/4WD.html

During world war two (WWII), Rover worked on experimental gas-turbines and jet engines. Rolls-Royce became the largest British manufacturer of these new devices after the war, and went on to become a major builder of aircraft jet engines, but Rover kept an interest in automotive gas-turbines.

Rover fitted gas-turbines to a number of experimental and prototype passenger cars. The Science-Museum in London holds the first, ``Jet 1''.

T3 (top right) could have formed the basis of an acceptable production car; it is rear-engined and has four-wheel drive, perhaps to keep a light front-end under control.

The gas-turbine Rover T4 strongly resembles the Rover P6/ Rover 2000/ 3500. The Rover 2000 was fitted with a two litre four cylinder engine in production, and later, as the 3500, with the ever-green 3.5 litre V8, but the story is that the 2000's unusual front suspension is designed to make a wide engine bay so that the gas turbine could have been fitted.

A Rover-BRM gas-turbine coupe was raced at the 1963 LeMans 24 hour race, driven by Graham Hill and Richie Ginther. It averaged 107.8mph and had a top-speed of 142mph down the Mulsanne straight.

It ran again in 1965, averaging 98.8mph fitted with a 126 h.p. Rover gas-turbine. Maximum revs were 60,000! The lower speed in 1965 is attributed to damage to the turbine blades early in the race, limiting power output.

This gas-turbine is fitted with a heat-exchanger to try to improve fuel efficiency which was and remains the main problem with automotive gas-turbines, unless you believe in the conspiracy theories. The race car is now held at the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust (BMIHT).

Stationary Gas-Turbines

Rover gas-turbines were manufactured for a variety of stationary applications. One hoped-for market was in emergency pumps, e.g. in marine use; a gas-turbine is light and can be run quickly up to power.

The example (below) was one of a number built for educational and training purposes, and is connected to a dynamometer and test-rig to measure pressures, temperatures and fuel consumption against revs, torque and power. The fanciful blue/grey trumpet is the air inlet. Air flows down the black "horshoes" to the gas turbine. The compressor is a single centrifugal stage. The high-pressure air is taken up and sideways to the reverse-flow combustion chamber (lower right). The hot exhaust gases pass back down to a single-stage axial-flow turbine mounted on the single shaft or ``spool''. The shaft drives the compressor, and also the external load via reduction gears.

A plate on the combustion chamber casing reports:
Rover 1960, Rover Gas Turbines Ltd., Solihull, England. Manufactured by Rover Gas Turbines Ltd. under licence from the Rover Co. Ltd. under the following British patents and patent applications....

Thanks to AJM and LA.

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