It’s time to do a round up of the racers and teams that have announced that they are competing at the World Human Powered Speed Challenge (WHPSC) in a little over a week. I’ll go over the teams in order of how they finished last year.
Aerovelo
Todd and Cam et al are not coming this year. They’ve been very busy during the past year making Larry Page’s flying car, and Cam is now a father, but they have not ruled out a return in the future.
Team Super Ketta
They’ve announced that they are coming back with the same bike, but with a new rider, Shinsuke Kouzai. From his Facebook page, it looks like they have a few scratches to buff out of Super Ketta 162.
Team Policumbent
The Italians are back with a brand new bike, Taurus, which has been designed from the ground up as a camera bike. It has already gone almost 100 kph in testing, and it looks fast. Andrea Gallo went 78.85 mph last year, and they are gunning for a European Record that currently stands at 83.13 mph (Sebastian Bowier in Velox 3).
Human Power Team Delft Amsterdam
Delft/Amsterdam is back with Velox 7. This year, they have two female riders and are gunning for the women’s record of 75.69 mph. (photo Bas de Meijer)
University of Liverpool
The Liverpudlians are back with Arion 3, and rider Ken Buckley. Sadly, their female rider is not able to compete this year. I imagine they want to push the British record above 80 mph.
Update: Liverpool just posted on Facebook that Yasmin Tredell is back as their female rider. This is terrific news as she is the world’s second fastest female rider, and she could have gone faster than her best run of 71 mph if she had gotten a final run last year. However, since Arion 3 is already on its way to the US, I’m not sure if she has any seat time in the new bike.
University of Toronto
Our team is back with Eta Prime and Bluenose. Vortex is retired. Last year was Eta Prime’s debut, and there were some teething problems. (People should remember that Eta was also slow the first time out). This year, there have been some detailed refinements, Calvin has had time to train, and we’ll be running with a power meter for the first time. Alan Petit will also ride Eta Prime, and four or five riders will cycle though Bluenose.
Team Varna
The big news is that Barbara Buatois is back to break her own world record with a new Varna camera bike.
Team Elan
Ellen and Hans are back with Velox S2. She’ll have plenty of competition for the women’s record this year.
Universidad de la Salle Team
The Mexican team is coming back, this time with a completed bike. There is no information about their entry.
MacQuarie University
Macquarie University has been working on a streamliner for a couple of years, and they are coming this time. It will be interesting to see how they do.
Peter Borenstadt
Peter will be back with his DF velomobile to see if he can better his run of 51 mph last year.
Adam Ince
Adam will be back with Dos to the Tres to give Peter a bit of competition in the multitrack class.
Natasha Morrison
Former Liverpool rider Natasha will be back to try to set an official WRRA record for an unpaired recumbent. This is a bit odd since the record on their website stands at 33.55 mph for women, (held by Ellen Van Vugt), whereas Natasha has already gone faster than that when she previously rode at Battle Mountain. She’ll be riding one of two bikes loaned from either Garrie Hill or Mike Mowett.
John Jackson
Long time volunteer John Jackson is finally going to run his streamliner (the REO Speedwagon) down Rt 305 this year.
John Mumme
John is a handbike rider from Reno who will see how close he can get to the arm powered record with an unfaired racing trike.
Thanks to Larry Lem and Mike Mowett for compiling some of the information for this list.
It is sad to see that other teams such as Cygnus, Aerovelo, Tetiva and the Kowalik’s are absent this year. There is always the possibility that others will show up at the last minute.
Two other teams (Damjan and IUT Annecy) may have elected not to come since the start rules have been changed for this year. The IHPVA board ruled that launch carts are not allowed as they violate the vehicle integrity rule. Skaters are allowed as launch assistants, but they will be banned as of WHPSC 2018. (Update: IUT is building a new bike for next year).
Also, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that Dave Larrington is already on his way to Battle Mountain.
Will the women’s record fall? Which team will be fastest this year? It’s going to be an exciting week of racing.
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