Jet Power: Bladon's microjets enable Jaguar turbine hybrid

Take a wander around the Making of the Modern World gallery at London’s Science Museum and you’ll see, among exhibits such as Stephenson’s Rocket and the crew capsule of Apollo 10, a curious-looking car. Its body is blocky but smoothly curved, with a blunt front end that tapers towards the back - a streamlined style familiar from pulp science-fiction novel covers. This is Rover’s JET1, generally accepted to be the first car powered by a gas turbine engine rather than an internal combustion engine, and it’s approaching its 60th birthday this year.

Gas turbine cars have made a comeback this year, however, with Jaguar’s latest concept vehicle, the C-X75, making a splash at the Paris Motor Show and winning the Best In Show prize. Just as striking in its styling as the JET1 was in its day, the car is also billed as ’jet-powered’, although in truth neither of the vehicles could be described as a jet. The stories behind both vehicles show how automotive technology has developed and where it might be going.