Another day, another dickhead trying to force their way through out road closure. This one at the catch end of the course. He didn't get past catch and fortunately there was only one vehicle on the course - Niklas in the Milan RS, which is a bit easier to stop and steer than for e.g some of the bikes or the Sprocket Rocket. This one was a truck belonging the Bureau of Land Management and thus driven by someone who ought to know better. His presence was "urgently" required at a fire. In Tonopah. TWO HUNDRED MILES away. But he couldn't wait five minutes. Twat. Anyway, we've go our own firefighters this year:
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| Ace catcher Barclay Henry and #1 son Oliver |
So, to business. Favourable winds for all save Niklas, but then he was one of the few to get a legal run yesterday morning so fair's fair. First up were the two Italian machines qualifying on the short course; Enzo in Phoenix and Diego in Cerberus. Enzo had a couple of failed starts before getting away for a 34.81 mph run, hampered by chain issues and a not-quite-seated tyre. Diego reported his three-headed doggo to steer much better than last year and did 37.70.
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| Diego & Cerberus depart on their successful qualifying run |
Next to run was Alyssa Miller (12) in Teardrop, from the 600 metre mark. She's grown quite considerably in the last twelve months and only just fits in the machine now. In spite of not being able to clip into the pedals her 22.72 mph is a World Record for Women's Multitrack age 12-14.
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| Alyssa (12) receives her traffic ticket from last year, having fled the jurisdiction before it could be awarded in person. |
We then moved out to the five mile start for a sparsely attended series of runs - the French, the Aussies and velomobilists Peter and Wild Bill wall sitting out the morning sessions. Daniel was first off in the Milan, clocking 54.74, followed by the Sprockettes. Their 59.69 mph was not only a fair bit faster than the men had made the beast go in 2019, but also some 14 mph over the previous Women's Multirider World Record. In fairness to the chaps, the machine has had some aero improvements since 2019, but a jubilant captain Denise Mueller says their after the outright Mutiltrack Multirider record next - if memory serves this stands at around 62 mph. Mike Mowett? Help!
One rider only in each of the last two heats; Matilde in Phoenix was fastest of the day with 60.33 mph while Niklas managed 51.65.
We were then joined in catch by a Snek:
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| SNEK! |
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| SNEK encore! |
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| Italian PSOs when shown a GBFO blown V8 |
Shelby GT 500, a supercharged Mustang, belonging to volunteer Cobus Burger. He's promised to let me ride shotgun when we use it for sweep tonight. I also go a brief spin in a Saturn Sky belonging to a spectator/volunteer who I think is Lynn from Colorado, wot is a little 2-seater job with almost 300 horsepowers. First time I've I've driven a LHD manual but managed not to stall it or put it in the wrong gear so he's going to let me drive it for a sweep run. Even though I was tending to drive it like a diesel and change up at 2000 rpm rather than 6000. This is all good, because it means I spend less money on petril. Lunch at the Colt again. Chili burger of such vasty proportions that I won't need to eat tonight.
In fact, I won't need to do anything tonight as Al Krause has just pulled the plug on tonight. Thunder, lightning, wind, rain and all sort of other portents of the Pockyclypse. Early night beckons.
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| Five o'clock and all's, er, wet, windy & 'orrible. |
It'll be interesting to see what the Sprockettes can do with that behemoth this year. The boys hit a wall at 62mph that they just couldn't get past, despite the 5 of them putting out over 5000W.
ReplyDeleteImproved aero and fewer tyres this year. Denise is confident, but that's Denise for you.
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