Battle Mountain 2013

[Mr Larrington]

Just as a matter of interest, what is the clear tape that most teams seem to use to tape the shells together? Is it just sellotape?

It's hockey tape, originally touted by the Varna team as "the Canadian secret weapon.

Additional:  Results can be found fairly shortly after each set of runs on Jun Nogami's blog.  Jun, aka "Dr No", is the chief timer.

[fuzzy]

"I’ve got one or too other adaptations to make over the next day or so, but it clearly goes down the road at speed, so that’s a positive."

 

[Mr Larrington]

Fixed! Oh boy.

300" fixed

[TimO]

Fixed! Oh boy.

300" fixed

Yee gods and little fishes, how do you pull away with that?  I'd have thought that legs would barely want to move!

[clarion]

I'd need the assistants to do more than balancing me with that kind of load.  They'd need to run me up to a flying start for me to have even half a chance of turning it at all!

Perhaps a tow...

[Von Broad]

Fixed! Oh boy.

300" fixed

Yee gods and little fishes, how do you pull away with that?

Never tried but I can only guess that the answer is: very, very slowly. And to stay upright?
Attempts to find the video have failed but I'm pretty sure he was messing with gears when he was welding the thing together in his kitchen last year. Things have changed obviously.
I was trying to wonder what his reasoning is. I'm struggling. Maybe there isn't any [why should there be?] and he just likes the feel of fixed in that position.

[Mr Larrington]

He got going OK this morning, after nearly riding off the side of the road while still being held.  Did over 50 mph but the wind was too strong for it to be a "legal" run.  He dropped it while slowing down towards the catch area but no lasting damage seems to have been done.

I don't have the times / speeds yet as I got fed up with waiting for the post-race meeting to start and walked out in a strop.  If someone says a meeting is to start at eleven, then those hosting it shoul;d not be gobbing away in one-to-one conversations at ten fucking past

[simonp]

Fixed is more efficient and may work better for linear drive due to the lack of a dead spot.

[Mr Larrington]

I've just been looking at the wording of IHPVA rule 3.2.3.2.  It says: “Push assists by one or more persons are permitted. Pushers may not assist the vehicle for more than 15 meters.”  Herewith my interpretation thereof:

One might well argue that most starts here are not push-assisted - the launch assistant(s) are there merely to stop the bike from falling over until it's moving fast enough to be under control.  The same goes for the machines using a launch dolly controlled by a launch assistant.  The machine derives only stability, not acceleration, from these practices.

The exception to this is when a bike is launched both by a pusher and a sk8ter d00d (or sk8ter grrrrl, obv).  In these cases the pusher should stop pushing at or before the 15 m mark; the sk8ter d00d is probably hindering acceleration as the rider has to tow them as well as accelerate himself and his machine.

I imagine the rule dates back into the pre-Cambrian era of HPV competition when no-one had thought of using a launch dolly or a sk8ter d00d.

Rule 3.1.5 is a different kettle of wossname altogether: “Integrity: No vehicle may discard any part after beginning motion.”  My feeling here is that a launch dolly controlled by an assistant is not part of the vehicle as it's only held in place by friction.  However Aurélien Bonneteau is using a stabiliser which is discarded when he pulls a piece of string inside the bike; the stabiliser is solidly fastened to the machine until the string is pulled.  A lot of people thing this is illegal, although no-one complained when Matt Weaver used a similar system ten or so years ago.  Maybe because Matt's rarely worked

[Mr Larrington]

Wednesday evening runs cancelled due to wind, rain and a plague of blood-drinking shape-shifting lizards¹. Tomorrow's forecast looks a bit nasty too. Bah!

1 - This sentence may contain traces of Lie...

[Mr Larrington]

Good conditions this morning in spite of low cloud and low temperatures.  The Delft lads both went over 78 mph, Jan Bos blew a tyre at "70+ and still accelerating" and is very lucky to have escaped unhurt.  Graeme, a sucker for punishment, did two runs over the full course, both in the low fifties.  He's tilting for 55 mph which would give him the prone record; the old one has stood since 1984.

Lots of cloud bubbling up over the mountains so tonight's runs are still somewhat up in the air.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I's confusled: I thought the record Obree was going for was 83mph. 

[Kim]

I's confusled: I thought the record Obree was going for was 83mph. 

That'll be the general HPV record.  There will be more specific records for different classifications, eg. prone bicycles, tricycles, tandems, etc.

Sounds like the prone record is something he's in with a decent chance of breaking.  Good luck to him.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Good luck to him in that, he certainly deserves it - but the difference between that and the general record makes 83 look as unrealistic as 100 ever was.

[bobb]

Good luck to him in that, he certainly deserves it - but the difference between that and the general record makes 83 look as unrealistic as 100 ever was.

He never actually said he would break 100mph. Of course, the media were (and still are) quoting that left right and centre. What he said was that with HPVs as they are - constantly developing and evolving without being too constrained by rules (like other forms of cycling), there is no reason why a human can't go 100mph some day with the right design. He didn't say he would do it or even that anybody else would any time soon. It was just something to aim for in the grand scheme of hooning it around in HPVs.

He has said that he wants to break the British record though, which I believe is 60 something...

[Kim]

Just a thought: what's the IHPVA stance on superconducting maglev?

(Propulsion system left as an exercise for the reader)

[Mr Larrington]

British record is 67 and a bit (ICBA to look it up), set by Rob English in the Kingcycle Mango here in 2002.

Very windy evening; only five crews elected to run and it came as no surprise to most of us that two of them were loons from Toronto.  Apparently Trefor Evans pedalled up to 95 km/h and sailed the rest of the way.  Bluenose seems to have extremely stable handling at any speed and in any conditions.  Sergei Dasheviski pulled out after a couple of failed start attempts; Damjan Zabovnik made it down OK.

In the third heat Aurélien Bonneteau did nearly 69 mph in a crosswind more than three times the legal maximum; Todd Reichert was slow but steady in Bluenose and as usual Phil Plath and Randy Gillett were giving it some welly.  They overtook Bluenose's chase car before the timing traps, nearly overtook Bluenose and then lost it just before the bridge.

Which they hit with considerable force.  The top came off the fairing, the nose is bent to buggery and there are wood splinters (from the boards we zip-tie to the armco to stop bikes from going under the rails) punched through the fairing.  Phil has a few minor cuts; Randy is, as far as I know, completely unscathed.  "I felt it go over and wondered what we were gonna hit" he said afterwards.    to the Toronto PSOs for stopping to help even though their bike was still on its way down to catch.

Hoping for better weather in the morning...

[Cudzoziemiec]

Good luck to him in that, he certainly deserves it - but the difference between that and the general record makes 83 look as unrealistic as 100 ever was.

He never actually said he would break 100mph. Of course, the media were (and still are) quoting that left right and centre. What he said was that with HPVs as they are - constantly developing and evolving without being too constrained by rules (like other forms of cycling), there is no reason why a human can't go 100mph some day with the right design. He didn't say he would do it or even that anybody else would any time soon. It was just something to aim for in the grand scheme of hooning it around in HPVs.

He has said that he wants to break the British record though, which I believe is 60 something...

That's reassuringly sensible.

[The French Tandem]

He never actually said he would break 100mph.

Really?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/9248769/The-100mph-bike-designed-in-the-bath-and-made-from-an-old-saucepan.html

Perhaps we should stop believing in what we read in newspapers 

[Von Broad]

Went 56.6mph this morning. He looks pleased  http://twitpic.com/ddc109

Apparently going to have a go in Vortex next. That should be interesting!

Ah, that's really cool, good to hear.
I was wondering the other day, that once he got out there and started mixing a bit, getting interested and inspired by everything else around him, if he'd end up in another machine at some point during the week!

[Mr Larrington]

He was very wobbly in Vortex, which has a deserved reputation as being very easy to ride, and pulled up after less than half a mile.

Now he's got the prone record, he says he's not going to run again.  We'll see...

[Mr Larrington]

Friday evening session rained out chiz but the forecast is much better for tomorrow.  Graeme is going to have another go in Vortex on the short course in the morning and if all goes well and there's sufficient time he may get to run on the full course as well.  He, or rather his manager Charlie, has confirmed that Beastie is done for the week as "Graeme's washing his hair".

There probably won't be any news from me about tomorrow evening's runs until Sunday night local time as it's the awards piss-up dinner tomorrow night, which traditionally ends when the staff of the Owl Club throw the stragglers bodily out of the door and then tends to continue back at the motel until the drinkohol runs out.  I, however, will be abstemious¹ as I have to get up at stupid o'clock on Sunday.  No change there, then.

1 - Trufax: last year I turned down free BEER and went to bed.  Ellen van Vugt nearly had a heart attack

[Mr Larrington]

Yep, the camera(s) are hidden in the fin, which has been painted red and white with a maple leaf in the middle.  It obviously makes a difference; Todd Reichert did 77.69 mph this morning, Cam Robertson 70.72, Trefor Evans 76.84 and Calvin Moes 76.50

Graeme got Vortex down to the end of the short course in one piece after a slightly wobbly start and clocked 43.66.  Pretty respectable for a first run.  Sadly there wasn't time to fit him in for a go over five miles; we overran our permit by about twenty minutes as it was.

Conditions were perfect this morning with all winds legal,  Sebastiian Bowier in Velox 3 was quickest at 79.20.  It was marred a bit by a number of crashes.  Jan Bos blew yet another tyre at the halfway point; he crawled out of the bike and just sat there with his head in his hands.  This must be at least the third time this week.  Blake Anton decked Primal 2 yet again; it seems he just can't get to grips with the handling.  And Florian Kowalik's screen fogged up at v>57 while actually in the timing traps.  All riders are OK but the bikes are pretty badly banged up.  Hans van Vugt and David Weilermaker are busy patching Velox S yet again but the consensus is that the Norus is too badly banged up to run and I don't think Team Primal want to play either.

Final runs of the week tonight, but  reportage will almost certainly be delayed by at least 24 hours due to Loathesome Drunkennes and Moral Turpitude.  Or something.

[Von Broad]

Graeme got Vortex down to the end of the short course in one piece after a slightly wobbly start and clocked 43.66.  Pretty respectable for a first run.

Did you get any idea of what he thought about riding in that 'conventional position' as opposed to the prone?

Sebastiian Bowier in Velox 3 was quickest at 79.20.

These guys are really knocking on the door aren't they, upper 70's is all too common, but it just goes to how impressive Sam Whittingham's record is, and how tough it is to get beyond it

One wonders if the technology has reached the end of it's exponential curve in terms of understanding laminar flow and what can really be improved upon in terms of aerodynamic shape, and what will really push speeds will have more to do with the transmission and the sheer power of the engine inside the thing.

[If that last comment is a bit daft then, well, I'm sorry but we have a new Red Squirrel brewery shop opened in Chesham....and they sell some very decent stuff. Am a frequent customer of late  ]

[Mr Larrington]

Just back from the evening runs and awards bash.  The weather was really the suxx0r for the first two heats with only three out of nine bikes opting to run.  And from where I was sitting it didn't look much better for the final five either, but apparently it had calmed down considerably at the important end of the course and all winds were legal.  Bluenose, which now actually has a blue nose, shed its chain after about half a mile but was recovered without drama.  Dr No hasn't put the results up so you'll have to rely on my shaky handwriting.

Fourth fastest: Jan Bos in Velox S: 74.13 mph
Third fastest: Aurélien Bonneteau in Altair 4: 75.64 mph.
Second fastest: Jan-Marcel van Dijken in Cygnus: 78.23 mph
Fastest: Sebastiaan Bowier in Velox 3: 83.1 something mph (this may not be entirely correct but it was certainly over 83)

I think we all know what that means

Sam Whittingham has lost the record he has held since 2000; I told Georgi Georgiev to give Sam a kick up the arse and get him back here next year.  I'd be partying if I could stand up without squeaking, or updating the Automatic Diary if I hadn't packed the Babbage-Engine away this afternoon (typing this from the one in the lobby).  As it is I am, thanks to the inestimable John Jackson, sipping a little medicinal JD and making plans for next year.  More stuff in the Automatic Diary in about 24 hours.