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TECH NEWS
Arion 1 Velocipede 1Liverpool students target human powered vehicle world record
A team from the University of Liverpool are attempting to break the world record for the fastest human powered vehicle. The record currently stands at 83.13mph.
The University of Liverpool Velocipede Team (ULVTeam) are designing and building a vehicle called Arion1. They hope it will achieve the record next year at the World Human Powered Speed Challenge, hosted by the International Human Powered Vehicle Association (IHPVA), in Battle Mountain, Nevada.
If the eight engineering students succeed, they’ll bring the record to the UK for the first time. The current record was set in September last year by a team of students from the Delft University of Technology and VU University of Amsterdam.
“This is the first time that the University of Liverpool have attempted this exciting project and the team and I have been overwhelmed by the positive response we have received at this early stage of our journey,” said team leader Ben Hogan.
“We are extremely excited about attending the 2015 event and having the opportunity to showcase the UK’s innovation for sustainable transport on an international stage.”
ULVTeam say that the rider will be lying in a recumbent position just five inches from the ground inside a carbon-fibre shell, and will need to generate over 700 watts of power. They have partnered with Far-UK Composites, a Nottingham-based company that specialises in lightweight structural composite components, for the project.
The unusual shape that completely encloses the vehicle’s framework is, of course, designed with aerodynamics in mind. The team aren’t yet saying whether the rider will be using a windscreen or relying on a camera to see out of the shell.
“The project is going very well right now,” said Ben Hogan. “We are currently in the prototyping stage of the project and are all on track for setting the record in September 2015. We hope to keep everyone updated over the summer months of our progress with the prototyping via our social media pages.
“The team are visiting the track in Battle Mountain, Nevada, later this year. During this visit the team will make a number of measurements and observations that will help the team design Arion1 to reach a record breaking speed of 90mph.”
Graeme Obree set a new world speed record for cycling in a prone position last September (56.62mph), although his original plan had been to go for the overall human powered speed record.
Here’s a video of the Dutch team breaking the record last year.
For more info go to the ULVTeam website.
Mat has been in cycling media since 1996, on titles including BikeRadar, Total Bike, Total Mountain Bike, What Mountain Bike and Mountain Biking UK, and he has been editor of 220 Triathlon and Cycling Plus. Mat has been road.cc technical editor for over a decade, testing bikes, fettling the latest kit, and trying out the most up-to-the-minute clothing. He has won his category in Ironman UK 70.3 and finished on the podium in both marathons he has run. Mat is a Cambridge graduate who did a post-grad in magazine journalism, and he is a winner of the Cycling Media Award for Specialist Online Writer. Now over 50, he's riding road and gravel bikes most days for fun and fitness rather than training for competitions.
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19 comments
They probably all have records already.
What?
You laughed, don't deny it.
Hillsborough card...really, I pity you.
Wow.
Just wow.
I'm actually quite impressed that you have managed to somehow twist the conversation and play the Hillsborough card.
Absolutely stunning in fact.
It does look like a dildo. How many speeds has it got?
You can't rob a dead person, or some wheels.
I'm old enough to remember 96 people being killed at football game and the sun news paper reporting that the other people from Liverpool robbed from there bodies. Still just a bit of leg fun, no insult intended.
I also remember being told the bloody scoucers need to get over it and lose the chip from there shoulders.
please be a little more intelligent when commenting about communities.
Rant over
you find people generally get a "chip on there shoulder" when they are discriminated against. bit like the black man who has a chip on his shoulder because he wants people to see he has equal rights or a gay man who doesn't like being insulted because of his sexuality.
If people are offended by insulting stereotypical comments, I don't see them as having a chip on there shoulder.
Bit like the all cyclists go through red lights,e.c.t. it tends to piss cyclist off when they don't. Just like me, a hard working nurse who doesn't go around Liverpool robbing wheels.
Whenever Liverpool is mentioned, it seems clever and funny to somehow infer that everyone from Liverpool is a thief.
Hilarious.
Am I the only one who thinks that it looks like a c*** ?
Looks a bit like a portable innovation from Ann Summers!
Good on 'em though, love a good HPV record... as in Human Powered Vehicle.... not the other kind.
The student newspaper thinks alike!
http://liverpool.tab.co.uk/2014/04/22/liverpool-students-design-bike-tha...
No. That was my first thought too. Oh dear
I wasn't too happy that that was my first thought either, but it just jumped into my mind. Might need to go for a lie down.
It'll never do 90 mph on bricks...
You must have misread the article, it's happening in Liverpool not Manchester which according to the 2013 crime survey
"central Manchester is the car crime capital of England and Wales, with 505 offences per 10,000 registered vehicles".
I'm assuming you misread, you might have been attempting humour in which case you just look like a kno b. Where are you from again ?
Manchester, although I do have some friends from Liverpool, in fact one of those scousers once told me a joke that went "What's the difference between a scouser and someone from the Wirral? Someone from the Wirral has a chip on both shoulders...."
wow, based on that "joke" and your earlier attempt, I bet you and your friends have some great parties. Maybe you should be checking on your car rather than attempting humour, you're clearly not cut out for it
Who's going to generate 700 watts? They'll need an elite rider.
I take it that ther're going to get a scally to steal it and pedal off as if the bizzies are after him.