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Biking @ 80 MPH
sadclown writes "Saturday marked the conclusion of the World Human Powered Speed Challenge in Battle Mountain Nevada. Canadian Sam Wittingham now holds the world record for human powered speed on land, 80.55 mph, on the Varna Diablo, a fully enclosed 60 pound recumbent bicycle. Other competitors included Matt Weaver, with his video-camera-navigated bike (no windows)the Kyle Edge, World (conventional bike) Sprint Champion Jason Queally, with his bike the Blue Yonder Challenge, designed by the formula one race car designer Reynard, and the UC Berkeley team, The Bearacuda, in which two riders pedal back to back. Wittingham's new record is nearly 8 mph more than his record last year. Hopefully some of the aerodynamic technology can be applied to commercially available vehicles (cars, maybe?)."
(FYI: I've got biking in my blood. My uncle on my mom's side, and my cousin on my dad's side were both national cyclists for Trinidad. Although I love cycling, I've never done it competetively.. and for what it's worth, I'm also Canadian).
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Given open ground, I do not doubt that the speed record will eventually go much higher if you had a sufficient distance to ramp up to speed.
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
Have you ever stuck your face out the window of a car at 60 MPH? Now, add 15 MPH and think about trying to pedal a bicycle while breathing in that sort of wind. It's not that you need much of a filter.. You just need somethin that will keep breating easy and comfortable.
OS Software is like love: The best way to make it grow is to give it away.
I'm really impressed with Matt Weaver who built his own cycle, the Kyle Edge, and hence didn't have the same time for physical training that winner Sam Whittinghham had.
.18 second slower than the winning time, and his time of 46.78 in the mile is only 1 second slower than the winning time of 45.78. No one else came close.
His time of 5.73 in the 200M is only
Next year, my money's on Weaver to win!
Years ago, when recumbent cycle 'technology' wasn't as well known as it is now, I had the opportunity to ride both recumbent bicyles and tricycles created by a company called Greenspeed here in Melbourne, Australia.
My experience with the bicycles was less than perfect - it takes a slightly different balancing technique to ride with your centre of gravity lower than the centre of the wheels. The handlebars are also beneath the seat, rather than up in front. I'm told a couple of weeks experience would be plenty to feel at home though.
On the other hand, the trike is a joy to ride. Not quite as fast (if you're going for the speed record) but fantastic for cornering. I hit a corner a lot faster than I'd dare on a 2 wheel device, and it swung around without even lifting a wheel. Truly a fantastic piece of machinery.
At AU$ 3,750 for the economy model, these things aren't cheap - but hey, I can drool.
The real problem is trying to convince designers and the John Q. Public that aerodynamics are "cool", not the body styles with extraneous bulges, scoops and corners.
science is a religion
i seem to recall reading about some bike with some crazy gear ratio that got somewhere around 250 mph, but it had to be towed up to at least 70 or 80 mph to overcome the bike and rider's inertia
i think i read about it in popular science or scientific american a couple years ago
anyone know what I'm talking about?
"I would say that 99 per cent of what my father has written about his own life is false." - L. Ron Hubbard Jr.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I honestly don't think that there are tremendous gains in automobile aerodynamics on the horizon. Automobile manufacturers can already greatly increase the aerodynamics of their product, but only at a sacrifice to ergodynamics and practicality. The future for more efficient automobiles lies mostly in the development of smaller and more efficient power conversion (IE the engines) and the development of alternative fuel sources. Besides, the featured cycle looked to have the same lines as a Ford Probe concept car from over a decade ago, so I don't think there's much to be learned here. On the other hand, I think it's absolutely cool that cycle riders can achieve true highway speeds, even if they have to be in incredible shape and practically dislocate their shoulders to fit into the vehicles.
GreyPoopon
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A stable tricycle with this technology is commercially available in europe from a dutch company, "Velomobiel". Their "Quest" costs Dfl 12,500, approx. $5000,-
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I've known for years that you can go really fast on a bike, when you are in good health and in shape and have a short distance.
What I want is a bike that I can ride at some [fast] speed all day on my own power. Assume my exercise is only riding the bike to work (which if areoboic is enough to keep me in shape, but I'm still not pro level)
Remember that I'm only getting older. 7 years ago my body was at about the peak of its ability. I've got a long way to 40 and my body is already in decline. I'm looking for something I can use when I retire and still make good time.
Some cool pics from last year's contest can be found at the same site:/ wo rlds-fastest-bicycle-2000.htm
http://wisil.recumbents.com/wisil/speedruns2000
They're worth looking at because they show more interior details of the bikes, including small video display units and breathing masks.
If you want to see an almost-recumbent car, check out this prototype from Corbin Motors:
http://www.corbinmotors.com/
It's the closest implementation I've seen of the faired recumbent style. Of course it'll go 110 mph using dead dinosaurs, and it is amazing looking.
For sure the majority of spoilers on consumer cars are absurdly useless. Indeed I remember in the mid/late 80s when you could get the Mustang 5L (did Americans call this the Mustang 1.32G? :-}) in two variants: The plain jane version, and the "GT" version chocked full of ground effects and spoilers. In actual tests the GT version was somewhat slower than the plain version because of the added 40lbs+ of ground effects, plus the fact that they were aerodynamically horrendous and thwarted rather than helped the car.
The coolest thing about F1 cars is that most of the ground force is caused by air going under the car and sucking the car into the ground. Indeed they banned things like Venturi tunnels under there because the ground force was getting too extreme.
"The US is JUST DOMINANT ENOUGH to keep Imperial measurements around about as long as they want. Like it or not. "
Ahhh, but now you're just trying to screw with our minds. You call them Imperial measurements, but some are only in name. Take pints for example, 16 fl. oz. vs. 20 fl. oz. Which has a knock on effect on gallons, and thus car mileage. I find this makes for really small beers in the US. And what about the "short ton"? The US ton is 2,000 lbs vs. 2,240 for the Imperial ton. Talk about a perverted sense of humour!
Is there a rule that prevents recumbent bicycles from running in road races? Or is there a technical reason (maybe they're not so great for hill climbing ??) that makes them not the best choice.
The force of the air rushing in to fill the vacuum behind the fairing creates a suction effect that pulls the bike along. Almost all of the power is comming from the dragster's engine, not the rider. He might as well just use a rope.
Uh... what's your source on this? Yes, the point of the pace car is to reduce/remove the air resistance from the cyclist (thus simulating riding in a vacuum), but the cyclist still has to crank like crazy. Have you ever checked out the gear ratios on these bikes? The previous record holder had to be towed up to 60 mph before he could even start pedaling.
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