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Battle Mountain 2003: Garrie Hill Has Some Unorthodox Ideas About Qualifying... Winter 2002 Issue 71 BHPC Newsletter - Issue 71 http://www.bhpc.org.uk/ Front Cover: The serious side of HPV Racing - Guido Mertens, Jan van Eijden and Sam Whittingham big it up. Back Cover: RTTC approved... Contents Event Calendar 3 Editorial Stuff 7 Letters 12 The Return Of The Legendary Paul Davies Column 16 Racing News The Editor 19 AGM 26 Not Battle Mountain 36 The Great Rules Debate 40 Late News 43 Suppliers And Wants 44 Objectives: The British Human Power Club was formed to foster all aspects of human-powered vehicles - air, land & water - for competitive, recreational and utility activities, to stimulate innovation in design and development in all spheres of HPV's, and to promote and to advertise the use of HPV's in a wide range of activities. Hey! Mackie!! OFFICERS Chairman & Press Officer Membership & Distribution Richard Ballantine Dennis Turner 30 Oppidans Road 7 West Bank, London NW3 3AG Abbot's Park ( 020 7722 6918 Chester, CH1 4BD e-mail: [email protected] ( Home 01244 376665 Secretary e-mail: [email protected] Steve Donaldson Librarian 15 Station Road Pete Cox Dyce, Aberdeen Belmont Cottage AB21 7BA Church Road ( Home 01224 772164 Saughall e-mail: [email protected] Chester, CH1 6EP Competition Secretary ( Home 01244 880574 gNick Green e-mail: [email protected] 79, Front Street, Newsletter Mangler Pity Me, Dave Larrington Durham, 166 Higham Hill Road DH1 5DE London E17 6EJ ( Mobile 07971 519811 ( Home 0208 531 4496 e-mail: [email protected] (after 19:00 weekdays Treasurer please...) Fiona Grove e-mail: [email protected] 7 Salmon Close or: [email protected] Bloxham, Banbury, Oxon, OX15 4PJ ( Home 01295 721860 e-mail: [email protected] Issue 72 closes March 1st 2003. Letters, articles, pictures,Stull, etc. are always welcome - please send to the Editor at the address opposite. Technology being what it is these days, we can cope with most file formats readable by a PC (text in ASCII, Lotus WordPro/AmiPro or MS Word easiest to cope with), but if you haven't got one, items on paper are just as acceptable. To reduce cheesiness, electronically-transmitted photos should be at a resolution of 300 dpi (or greater if you can afford the bandwidth). A Day At The Races BHPC Race Events · March 2nd Manchester Velodrome, 12.00-13.00 and 14.00-17.00 · April 13th Eastway · April 27th Thruxton, near Andover · June 1st Hayes · June 15th Castle Combe · July 6th Darley Moor · July 27th Abbey Park, Leicester (with Spokesfest) · August 16th Lancaster · September 7th Herne Hill velodrome · September 27th Milton Keynes · October 19th AGM, Eastway Some words from gNick We have a bigger season than last year despite losing two tracks, Curborough is getting more popular with the car-types so less chance for us; Kimbolton is off again due to Parish Council jobsworths. They (the kart club) got a letter from the district council complaining that there had been an extra event over their allotted number which apparently had a “swarm” of people. The spanner obviously drove past and didn’t stop to notice the incredible noise levels generated by gears whirring! · Manchester – We had a few spills last year and it would be best to avoid this again. Some pointers to help avoid slipping on the track and keep the Velodrome staff happy:- Don’t use brand new tyres on the track – there will still be release agent on the surface and they will be less grippy, do a few miles to bed them in. Clean your tyres before going on the track to avoid any road debris. Clean your bike, especially the transmission, coz we don’t want oil on the track! There will be a one hour slot for the fettling of machines and getting used to the track. We will probably also do some kind of short sprints like flying 1 laps etc depending on the numbers. The afternoon slot will comprise of more normal races – I will endeavour to get race start sheets done in the interval so we can get going ASAP with as little fuss as possible. If we can, we will run two sets of races though this will depend on people jumping when they are told to – so be warned. · Thruxton - the exact timing of this is not yet sorted so watch this space (he says pointing at a page of his diary). Unfortunately this event got moved after the calendar was more or less permanent so there is a big gap between Thruxton and Hillingdon and rather than adding another extra event I have decided to resurrect… The Old Crown Challenge – That wonderful pub-ride with altitude. Runs from Durham to Hesket Newmarket, home of the Old Crown via Alston. Hilly with big scenery (Pennines, Lake District) industrial history/dereliction (Weardale, Nenthead) and a jolly nice pub at the end. Will take a weekend and requires low gears and GOOD BRAKES. Current opinion favours either May 10th /11 th or May 17th /18 th . Contact me if you’re interested. · Helpers – this means all of you. YOU WILL offer your services. YOU WILL rush up to ensure that there are plenty of timers available. YOU WILL help to clear up afterwards. Otherwise I will baffle you with cabbages and rhinoceroses and incessant quotations from “Now We Are Six” through the mouthpiece of Lord Snooty’s giant poisoned electric head. So there. 3 · Timing systems. At the request of a few members I have had another look at these and they are still ferociously expensive - £6k-£10k. I am looking at simpler ways of doing it wot doesn’t entail standing around in the rain as per Eastway but time and the appropriate experience is not on my side. Andrew Sidwell is investigating the data logging side of things but we are not too sure about the transpondery Stull. If anyone can contribute ideas, technical expertise, time, bus tickets autographed by the Pope, it would benefit the general happiness of the world. Failing that the helpful donation of part of your lottery winnings would mean we could go and buy one. Other People’s Race Events · August 29th-31st European Championships, Friedrichshafen, Germany. Still nothing concrete from HPV Deutschland, but I believe the event is still set to coincide with the big trade show wot they have there at that time of year. Given that Friedrichshafen is about as near to Switzerland one can get while still being in Germany, there may be scope for a Joint Effort in transporting people and machinery there – watch this space for details, · September 29th-October 4th International Human-Powered Speed Championships, Battle Mountain, Nevada, USA. The fastest bikes on the planet going for a new world record, and hopefully the $25000+ .deciMach prize for exceeding 82 mph. Only being eaten by a dangerous wild animal will prevent me from returning... Unrace Events (Mostly Stolen From Velovision) BHPC Unrace Events · Geoff Bird writes: Some of you will remember the very successful Oxfordshire Social Tour in 1999. We have just about recovered from the stress and trauma of organis- ing it and are planning a similar, less structured, event in 2003. It will be on the weekend of the 28th and 29th of June. Make a note in your new diary now! The event will most probably be based around an excellent cycling- friendly campsite just south of Chipping Norton. The schedule will be along the lines of a choice of two routes on Saturday of about 50 and 20 miles, meeting at a pub for lunch, followed by a 20 or so mile ride on Sunday morning. We will not be organising a formal gathering on the Saturday Night but there are a number of options nearby for hosting the almost inevitable ad hoc beanfeast. I will post further details, including contact details for the campsite and other local accomodation, in the next newsletter. In the meantime expressions of interest or enquiries are welcomed by me, Geoff Bird, at [email protected] or (01295) 721860. Other Unrace Events · 24-26th February: 14th International Cycle History Conference. The Australian Cycle History Resource Centre in conjunction with the Canberra Bicycle Museum invites you to attend the 14th International Cycle History Conference. Join us to examine the theme “…an Australian perspective”. However, papers on other cycling topics are also welcome. More http://info at: HistoricCyclesDownunder.info · 8th-12nd March: FietsRAI, Amsterdam. The Netherlands’ national bike show 4 · 25th-27th April: The Bike Show - NEC, Birmingham. They say “The largest cycle show in the UK is becoming even bigger with more area dedicated to road and specialised bikes - including Spokes Room and large component manufacturer area.” See: www.thebikeshow.com · 27th April: The Bike Show RIDE. They say “Join thousands of people taking part in a new national charity bike ride on the 27th April. With six start points and distances from 45 to 120 miles you can match the route to your fitness and ability. In aid of the British Heart Founda- tion.” All routes end at the Bike Show, NEC Birmingham as above. See: www.thebikeshow.com · 26th-27th April: 8th SPEZI Special Bike Show, Germersheim, nr Karlsruhe, Germany. The definitive European show for the specialised cycling market: all sorts from recumbents to load-bikes to special-needs machines. See past reports in Velo Vision issues 2 and 6. More info at: www.spezialradmesse.de · 24th-26th May: The London Bicycle Messenger Association is pleased to announce that its bid to host the International Federation of Bicycle Messenger Association’s event the European Cycle Messenger Championships 2003 has been accepted.