Originally Posted by StephenH
One thing I have wondered about is that it seems a major problem would be the rider getting overheated without the airflow as on a standard bicycle. Do you still have to work a good draft up through there? Or race on cold days?
That is an issue we are constantly fighting. It's extremely easy to get air inside the fairing, but making that air "blow" onto the face is an art. It seems to be about aero and cutting an intake and an outtake that, due to their dimensions, produces adequate pressure. We have a intake on the "hat" above our windscreen and "shark gills" on the section after the door opening. Here's the inside of the intake, just after layup;
It's the best system I've ever experienced, and I've raced in 6 different vehicles since I was 16. We concerntrate on the upper body only. The legs are fine mostly because they're disturbing air as they rotate.
Hot days are pretty common, with half our races being late spring- mid summer. Hot days are unavoidable, and cold days are much appreaciated
. Some races have seen 38*c/100*F days, so our fairing heats up to close to 60*C/140*F. All you can do is rotate riders quickly, or race with a head out design, like this vehicle;
This is "Tru-Blu" which came 3rd in this years Australian International Pedal Prix
Originally Posted by Brian
Brian AU$10k is not so bad. When you factor in the much lower cost in the US, (for everything) it could probably be almost affordably over 10 months. Where can I get plans? After all, this thing starts at US$10k.
The thing about us is that we use very exotic materials, which accounts for most of our costs, plus we build a new plug each year as our vehicle's design evolves, so there's a grand there......
Here's a good example.
THis is "Blueshift". They're a fellow competitor and our biggest rival. Sure, their vehicle looks advanced, but it certainly isn't. The fairing is made from coroplast sheeting and their windows from polycarbonate. Their chassis is a cro-mo spaceframe. Total weight is 50lbs. I estimate that this vehicle cost, at the most, $4000Aus to construct. It's simple yet effective. Blueshift just prove you don't need to spend big money to go fast.
Plans? We don't have any on offer I'm afraid. Plans from greenspeed trikes are easy to get though. IMO though, if you want something fast, you have to build it yourself from nothing. Most recumbent trikes manus' design things with the "recumbent rider stereotype" in mind. That is, a big fat old guy with a santa claus beard who rides at walking pace speed with a talking parrot on his shoulder
. They can't be pushed to the limits of adheasion that one of ours can. Its a weird issue, and I certainly can't help from over here
As for that link to the velomobile........ no wonder popularity is lacking in this area. That thing is ugly and agricultural. Plus the aero is all wrong and it's typically heavy. If you want a real velomobile then people gotta stop looking at Europe and at Australia instead.
Take Trisled for example. This velomobile came 4th at AIPP. And it's a production trike racing custom rides. Having HPV races over here allows local manufactures to test their designs and ideas to their limits, and this only benifits the customer. You can pick the above machine up for $7000ish Aus. It's aero, its sub 44lbs and it's practical to work on etc.