Recumbent - Murry Bridge 24hr. A Personal Race Report.

Hi all. Just got back from the Murry Bridge 24hr, the largest 24hr race for recumbents in the world. There were 219 entries this year, spread out over 2.16km/1.3miles of sealed public road. Thats about 10metres of space per bike I think.
Anyway, I raced with Bendigo Youth Racing, in our new vehicle, BY-06. It was an absolute rocket, now holding the top 10 shootout lap record and also the fastest lap in race conditions. It was also very tough to break as we found out, yet more on that later.

So without futher ado, here is how the Murry Bridge 24hr looked, through my eyes. Enjoy!

Daryl had put us into 1st on the grid for the start of the race, something that had never been done before. We were, as a team, kind of annoyed that we didnt have the extra time to fine tune '06, but you get that :) . Anyway, after a spell of 2 hours, the race was finally ready to start. The door to our vehicle was rushed onto the grid and bolted on, whilst Nige' made the last adjustments to the deraillur- all this whilst the ceremony was in full swing too :lol: . So finally the vehicle was 100% ready for the race. The largest Australian flag in the state was waved over the 1st 3 or so rows of vehicles, with our race starter, Browny, commenting later on how refreshing the flag's breeze was from the confines of our vehicle- truly refreshing :) . So the rolling warm up lap was started, the vehicles gently rolling by through the hottest part of the day. Next lap they all came screaming through. I was at the 1st corner, a right-hander. Ballistic, BY-06 and Firetruck leading the pack. Browny gave Ballistic some room through the corner, then they drag-raced all the way to the hairpin 200metres away. Ballistic and BY-06 blew Firetruck away at that stage, with '06 getting through the hairpin 1st. The next 45 minutes was all Brownies, being 3 to 5 seconds faster a lap then Ballistic. By the time Browny pitted 45 minutes later, we were over 1 minute in front.
http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/7231/pic1oi8.jpg
From left; Daryl/ "Daka, Daka, Daka", Luke/ "Flota", Tim/ "Vanilla Ice", Matt/"Browny", Rohan/ "Old Bluey", Dean/ "Deano", Nigel/ "Presto Valve Jnr", Chris/ "Crowey" (Pitcrew), Mark/ "Davies" (Pitcrew), Myself/ "Megapixel"

Nige' was in next and he stretched the lead over Ballistic once again. He pitted 45minutes later and big Deano hopped in. 1st lap around and there looks to be damage to the left hand side. He comes around again and I took a closer look....It turned out to be a bit of rubber from the tyre of another vehicle :lol: . Apart from that, Deano also kicked some serious arse.
"Flota" hopped in for his stint and I started warming up for my stint, which was straight after. Flota hadnt ridden a race like this in nearly 10 years,thus we were all of the thought that if he wanted to ease into it, then we should let him do it at his own pace. That mindset was not needed, with Flota zooming past pit lane at an incredible rate of knots! :o . He was absolutely mauling the competition for 20 minutes, and then he was a bit late. Eventually he did come around, and he went straight into pits. He opened up and the chain guard was wrapped around everything! Davies literally ripped it off its mounts, then the spare was put put on, and he was pushed back into pitlane. You could tell Flota was a little stressed by the situation, and that was confirmed when he opened the door up whilst traveling down pitlane and threw his glasses out onto the lane- only to smash into a pole as he did so :lol: . The whole fairing bent like a banana, then he took off. Flota was absolutely pumped after his screwups, and he sure made up for it. It was noted that the left wheel was extremly buckled as he went past, and the decisin was made to replace it before I hopped in. Whilst we were questioning exactly what he had done to warrent such damage to everything except the canopy, Flota came flying past to reset the race lap record, smashing the previous record (BYR's BY-04 actually!) by several seconds, to record an 2'34.7 . Phenomenal speed from our vehicle and great skill from Flota :) .
Later on in the day, Flota would tell me exactly wat happened out there; Coming up to the very tight "Channel 7 corner", he wanted to get past a medium paced bike to set himself up for it, and he did. Prob was that he was now doing 60kmh/37mph at the apex of the corner. He turned hard left, flipping '06 into the air. It barrel rolled through the air up to 2 times (in which Flota said seemed like a very slow process) and then landed back on to its wheels, the left one landing 1st and buckling instantly. What a sight that would've been :D .

So back to it then. Flota was ripped out and '06 was lifted up and Crowy started on getting the wheel replaced. Meanwhile my drinkbottle and foam was installed, and I pushed the canopy back into its original shape. It was put on the ground again and I stepped into the furnace that was BY-06. It must've been a humid 30C/ 86F outside, yet inside the vehicle it was bound to be over 50C/122F. It turned out I had a tough 45minutes ahead of me :o . I exited pitlane and was surprised to find that I got right into it, riding cleanly through the pack, horn blazing away. On my 2nd lap Ballistic overtook me, so i gave chase. It was going hard and I was keeping up. Then suddenly it pitted, and my chase was called off. For the next 40 minutes I was doing 2'50 laps, occasionally getting into the high 40's. I was very happy :) .
I had my 1st collision half way through. Going down the straight at 55kmh/34mph I moved to the right to pass a slow vehicle. I beeped the horn to let him know I was there, and so he ignored that and sandwiched me between his tyres and the gutter :rolleyes: . I took action, pushing him, and thus myself back from the gutter. Only when his vehicle was not going in the direction he wanted it did the driver look to the right to see his tyres burning into my fairing and my horn going into overdrive. He moved to the left and I blasted away. Crisis over ;) . That was the only collision I had in that stint.
Eventually the pitboard read that I had 3 laps to go, so I made the most of em, getting into the high 2'40's once again. I pitted and opened the door, then was thrown out of '06 and sprawled on the ground. 1st stint over :) . That 1st stint was by far the hardest IMO. It took alot out of me and I never really felt 100% for the rest of the race :( . My left quad in particular was full of lactic acid, and I spent hours getting rid of it.

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The moments before all hell broke loose; Firetruck in the background, a class 3 vehicle and the "never say die" Team Ballistic in the middle, whilst BYR's BY-06 gets some much needed fresh air into the canopy

And so "Vanilla Ice" hopped in for his 45minutes with no trouble, and then it was Daryls turn. It had cooled down a bit now and so Daryl ended up doing an 80minute stint, putting us back on our original schedule. "Old Bluey" hopped in next. He blew away the competition. He soon caught Ballistic and added another lap to Team Ballistic's troubles. That rider pitted and their No.1 was put in. "Old Bluey" caught him after a long time and lapped him. Ballistic fought this time though, with '06 eventually being passed. Rowan was having none of this though, passing Ballistic again on his way to an insane 2'35 lap! The Ballistic rider had burnt out at this outlandishly fast counter-attack by '06, and he slowed down to a very, very slow pace around the 1st corner, obviously to replenish his ATP-PC and lactic acid energy systems. Meanwhile, Rowan stayed out for another hour on top of his previous hour, sitting on low 2'40's and occasionally recording the odd 2'50. "Old Bluey" is a freak of nature in the best of ways. I've just described the fastest and longest stint of BYR's race, and it was done by a 16 year old. Yes, Rowan is only 16. Just an amazing talent.

And so our riding order was now back at the start. Brownie went back out again, only to be confronted by the 1st safety car of the 24hr. Several vehicles had crashed around the track, requiring ambulances etc. One poor little girl was even stuck in her vehicle for over 40minutes! And thus Browny stayed out there for an full hour, behind the safety car, doing absolutely nothing! Once the safety car left the track, Brownie got underway, only getting out after 150 minutes- 90 at race-pace. Great effort. Nige then hopped in and flexed his muscle, lapping 2'50 for 90minutes straight, lapping Ballistic every 30 minutes. Great effort Nige :D . Big Deano hopped in and was also lapping well, sitting on 2'50-55's for 90minutes.
Deano did have a big incident though. Coming through the spoon drain and into the chicane, Deano went to pass through a gap. It was 3 wide at the time though with the 1st on the left moving way right. THat caused a chain reaction, with the other two vehicles taking action and forcing '06 into the barriers, and then the base of the bridge going over the track. '06 went from 40kmh/24mph to 0 in the click of a finger. Once again the fairing had crumpled on the right hand side. On top of this, the tie rod connecting the wheels had snapped. After much cursing, Deano rode back to pits at 40kmh/24mph, steering each wheel independant of each other around all the corners. A really good effort Deano :) . Flota hopped in next and did a solid 80minutes. He would've went longer had the windscreen not fogged up.

http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/4165/pic3jm0.jpg
Firetruck, Ballistic and BY-06 lead the field into the 1st corner of the 2.16km/1.3mile street circuit. Speeds approaching this 1st corner are up to 70kmh/ 46mph

And so I hopped in. Whilst I was belting up, the windscreen was replaced with a new one, leaving less chance of fogging thanks to some extra dimister holes. I went out with a goal of self-conservation and consistancy. I pretty much did that, doing 3minute laps for 90minutes. I did have a slight hiccup though. I was going through the tight chicane after the spoon drain. There was a gap on the very left and I took it successfully. Thing is the chicane is actually a driveway gutter, with a slight lip about half a foot high on each side. In taking the gap I had gotten the left wheel airborne. It landed and suddenly I felt a vibration. Going down the rough back straight (please! Can that b fixed next year?) made it worse, the left hand side going up and down constantly. I made it to the 1st corner, a right hander, and loaded up the left wheel at full speed. The motions then became unbearable and so I made the decision to pit. I jumped out and the wheel was replaced in record time. It turns out I'd chewed through about 9 spokes. I hopped back in and completed my 90minute stint.
I think thanx to my little hiccup, Ballistic got a lap back, but whilst I was out there I was never lapped once. Stint over, I was once again thrown out of '06. Off to bed I went :) .

http://img133.imageshack.us/img133/9417/p1012711ju0.jpg
Here's Daryl sqeezing through the sea of vehicles that littered the track. You can see how all over the place they are. IMO 90% of our damage was caused by punting or being punted into these way-ward vehicles. We need em for the sport, yet there should be tighter vehicle control rules.

I awoke in the morning to find that all chaos had broken loose. After Daryl had went out with a freshly lubed chain, Vanilla Ice had hopped in and rolled over down the back straight. We ended up being on the same lap as Ballistic, from about 630am onwards. Old Bluey was missing in action for awhile, and was about to miss his stint. Brownie, having heard the screams for Rohan from his tent, jumped out and ran to the pit tent in his underwear, kitted up, then warmed up for only 1 minute, then casually hopped in '06 and rode a really solid stint, bringing us out of the darkness and into the light of Sunday. Probably the best move of the weekend!

At about 630am, the race timing stopped. For some reason it was still recording our times, yet was unable to process them. Bascially, the system had crashed :( . This effected everyone in pitlane, because it meant that if you wern't paying attention, then you'd never know where you were placed. Thankfully we had many parents and supporters on "BYR Hill", and they were nice enough to keep track.
Rohan finally showed and jumped in when Browny pitted, and he put in another insanely good stint. We were still on the same lap when Rohan got in. He soon pulled away from and then lapped Ballistic, then he did it again, and again. By the time he pitted we were, according to our calculations, barely 3 laps ahead, after Rohan being in their for 130minutes.
After the hour long Safety car period and Brownies surprise stint, strageties changed. With only 4 hours left to go it was decided to chuck all our sprinters into the mix. I am not one of them, thus it looked like this would b the easiest 24hr I was ever going to do, having only ridden 2 hours, 40 minutes. Deano hopped in and put in a really good effort for 45 minutes, as did Luke till he got a puncture at 30minutes. It was changed by Crowey in no time at all, and Vanilla Ice hopped in. Tim is a natural sprinter, and he was busting a move out there for 6 laps. We were short on riders and Daryl suited up. I decided to put my hand up for a last gasp attempt too, and it was worked out that I'd go over Daryl. He'd put alot more time in then I, thus I was fresher, and plus we were about the same, speed wise. The deal was that if Tim could do an extra 3 laps, then my services would not be required and the finish would b handed on to Nigel. But if he didnt make those 3 laps, then I would have to hopp in and go as hard as I could for 6 laps.
Tim couldnt take anymore and decided to come in, and so it was my turn. I hopped in and traveled out of pitlane. Ballistic went straight past me and into the chicane. I gave pursuit and caught him. I stuck with him down the back straight, in which he was looking at his rear-view mirrors an awful lot. Through "channel 7 corner" I decided to go for it. I opened up all taps and went past Ballistic down the main straight. It was said that for the next 3 laps the lead I had ballooned to about 200metres.
As I was completing my 3rd lap I made a major mistake. Coming out of "Channel 7 corner" I went to the right as I always do. I pressed my right horn to clear the traffic only to find the right horn didnt work( I later found a horn taped to the left hand side steering handle). I was approaching the slower vehicle at a larger rate of speed, and I made the split-second descision to go left. To-bloody-late! BY-06's nosecone came across the tail of the slow vehicle, impacting heavily enough to break the mount holding the nosecone off the ground.

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The pits; The cleanest pits you'll ever hope to see. Ruled with an iron fist by Crowey and Davies, the weekend would never run smoothly without em. The most organised folk in the field!

In an instant the battered BY-06 went from 50kmh/31mph at the start of the straight, to 40kmh/24mph down the fastest part of the straight. It was already unbearable, and the nose scraping on the ground was just too much. I went past pit lane and indicated "1 more to go". I could just tell that they'd nearly hate me for it, yet I would only limit our chances by staying out there any longer. I completed my 4th lap then dived into pits. I jumped out and my throat was so dry I was dyreaching. Water was poured all over me and down my throat. I was spent.
Nigel hopped in, 2 laps earlier then he expected mind you. He did 3 laps, Nigel only able to pump out 3minute laps with the nearly deceased BY-06. Rounding "channel 7 corner" Nigel was tapped in the tail and was rolled over. Thankfully it was a low speed rollover, yet the damage was complete, the fairing now collasping on the tarmac on one side.
Then something unexpected happened. There was an accident somewhere around the track, and with that the ambulance came out, and the Safety car was deployed. Everyone was forced to line up behind the safety car. The safety car picked up BY-06 1st, thus indicating that maybe we were still in front. With under 10minutes to go, it seemed like a good thing. With 3 minutes to go the safety car was brought back in, and the final lap was announced. Nige went hammers past the pits and we cheered him on all the way. The announcement was made that the checkered flag would be dropped on the lead bike. WAtching the TV screen from the pits, the flag was waved, and a second later BY-06 passed through the TV screen. Success!! We went pretty nuts throwing tools up in the air and just generally stuffing around.
We met Nige at the main straight, and opened the fairing. 1st thing Nigel said was to not celebrate yet because nothing was offical yet. That was fair enough :( . We sat back and the main guy in all this came on stage and apoligised to everyone. He also let us know that there will be no presentations made, because no one had results. And so the anti-climax of the century pretty much topped a dramatic race. We really just packed up and went home after that. Such a sad way to end such a brilliant 4 days :( . Right now we are waiting on the results....only then will we know if we won :( . I'll update youse on that when it presents itself.

Heres how I'd rate the weekend;

Event: 8/10. Obviously run by enthusiasts, rather then morons. Would've been a 10 had the timing not stuffed up

Team: 8/10. We were very competitive as a team, yet maybe we could've run a cleaner race

Myself: 7/10. I started well enough, yet faded at the end. Feel I could've been fitter.

Competition: 10/10. Ballistic was our only competition really, yet they were relentlessly fast. They just never stopped coming, and in fact, they may have won it......To be confirmed!

Vehicle quality: 4/10. How some vehicles passed scruteneering is beyond me. The real crime was the lack of understanding riders. Not many cared that you were trying to pass them, nor that its dangerous to ride on the right hand side in a vehicle that only does walking pace speed. I think rules should be more heavily enforced for the sake of safety.

Anyway, thats the way I seen it ;) . Thanx for listerning :) .

http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/8688/pic4ww3.jpg
Game over; The kevlar canopy was nothing but an aerodynamic sack scraping the ground by the end of the race. It took a hell of a beating, more then any previous BYR vehicle. In the end though, its a small price to pay, esspecially if we won, which we dont know yet!

Wow, what an amazing event, and an excellent retelling. The poor BT06 sure took a beating, though.

Cool, Im glad you took the time to read it :D . So do youse guys in Nth America have anything like this? Yes, I know youse have speed record attempts etc, but do youse have street circuit racing with heavily faired recumbents? Seems like there's not much interest in it over there.....but I could b wrong....?

Thats sounds like one hell of a race, wish i could've been there :(. You guys were flying! By06 looks like its been hit repeatedly with a hammer... It needs some TLC :lol:. Great job though once again you may claim victory! :D

So do youse guys in Nth America have anything like this?

I WISH!

We do have ice racing, though. Imagine tearing around an ice hockey rink on trikes with skates instead of front wheels, and heavily studded rear tires. It's probably even less common than HPV races in Oz, though.

I WISH!

We do have ice racing, though. Imagine tearing around an ice hockey rink on trikes with skates instead of front wheels, and heavily studded rear tires. It's probably even less common than HPV races in Oz, though.Wow :eek: . Ive never seen bents on skates before. Sounds interesting, altough a bit cold :) .
HPV street circuit racing is common over here. The above race was actually the final round of a 3 round championship. 1st 2 races are held on the old GP circuit in Adelaide and they are 6hr races. The final is a 24hr at Murry Bridge. Theres more races that arn't part of the championship. Wonthaggi, Hobart, Maryborough in QLD and of course, the schools only Energy Breakthrough, are just some of the races we have access to all year round. THey're all 24hrs yet there are many 6hrs popping up, with tracks being esspecially built for HPV racing. Beautiful ain't it :love: .


Thats sounds like one hell of a race, wish i could've been there . You guys were flying! By06 looks like its been hit repeatedly with a hammer... It needs some TLC . Great job though once again you may claim victory! Dont worry mate, 63 days to the Energy Breakthrough- you can get your kicks there :D

Dont worry mate, 63 days to the Energy Breakthrough

Haha you counting down to and you've only just finished your last race. Now thats comitment :D .


- you can get your kicks there :D
Dont worry I plan to. This year I'm training harder, riding faster and for longer. And now we got a damn good vehicle. :D

What do you think? Last year I was doing about 15-20 minute stints with an average speed of about 50-55kms. Do u think it would be better to keep that speed or slow down a little, maybe to 45-50 and stay in for 30 minutes or more? Also would that mean I wouldnt get burnt out throughout the race as quickly?
Because for my first 2 rides I was doing about 10 laps each time, then as the day and night went on I went down to 6-7 laps per turn in the same time.

What do you think? Last year I was doing about 15-20 minute stints with an average speed of about 50-55kms. Do u think it would be better to keep that speed or slow down a little, maybe to 45-50 and stay in for 30 minutes or more? Also would that mean I wouldnt get burnt out throughout the race as quickly?
Because for my first 2 rides I was doing about 10 laps each time, then as the day and night went on I went down to 6-7 laps per turn in the same time.Well for starters, averaging 55kmh/35mph has never been seen in street circuit racing.....in trikes anyway. If you averaged 50kmh on a lap, then you'd smash the lap record, every lap, by over 10seconds :eek: . Having ridden your vehicle in a race myself (the old one and new), I can safely say its impossible.

The key to keeping ahead is to ride at a steady pace for as long as possible. 30minutes stints arn't acceptable, even in 50*C fairings. That is of course if your vehicle is fast enough to make up for the frequent pit stops. If you cant go more then 45minutes, then its nearly not worth hoping you'll b competitive. The less time travelling down pitlane, the better.

Well for starters, averaging 55kmh/35mph has never been seen in street circuit racing.....in trikes anyway. If you averaged 50kmh on a lap, then you'd smash the lap record, every lap, by over 10seconds :eek: . Having ridden your vehicle in a race myself (the old one and new), I can safely say its impossible.

Well you know that kinda confirms what I thought anyway...Our speedo was way out:eek:! So what do u think it would have been averaging? I know that those vehicles could make those speeds, but to hold them as an average I thought would be impossible.


The key to keeping ahead is to ride at a steady pace for as long as possible. 30minutes stints arn't acceptable, even in 50*C fairings. That is of course if your vehicle is fast enough to make up for the frequent pit stops. If you cant go more then 45minutes, then its nearly not worth hoping you'll b competitive. The less time travelling down pitlane, the better.

Our team at the moment will never be competetive, i know that, purley because our riders arn't motivated enough. They don't train enough outside school and then we dont do enough training in the vehicles either.