Day 22: Battle Mountain NV

On my way out to the course this morning and at the top of the hill before the 305 starts running along the side of the valley, I noticed something white on the shoulder of the road.  Stopped to investigate.  It very much appears to be the hatch from one of the competing bikes, so I bunged it in the back of the car and continued towards the course.  Where, near the 3 km board, I found ["a team member" - Ed.] looking for the missing bits of ["their bike" - Ed.].  These disparate wossnames were swiftly reunited, joining the cardboard crash panels which had also escaped from the back of their pickup truck.

The excitement at catch was too much for some of Toronto's PSOs

Neither Cal Poly nor Team Hermus were able to run due to Reasons (various); WooHoo Two having b0rked a Thing That The Nose Attaches To.  So the morning was a (mostly) Canadian affair, with Typhoon running three times on the short course.  Frank lost the chain yet again shortly before timing and laid the bike down gently.  Justin T clocked 38.33 mph.  Before Typhoon's third attempt Bill got a special dispensation to wang the Tesla through timing at full chat.  201.07 mph, though the speedo was reading 204 again.  Clicky here for wobbly video.  Frank followed us down the road for a 36.98 mph run.

Frank and Typhoon on final approach

Two heats on the long course followed.  Calvin and Ellen powered Titan to a 52.11 mph pass and are closing in on the 53.48 mph record set back in 2002 by Tanya Markham and Mackie Martin.  'topher in Eta Prime failed to finish, I think with transmission woes.  Bike and rider not hurt coz Eta Prime ran again in the next heat.  Ethan T completed the heat with a 47.21 mph run in Typhoon.

Ellen disappearing into the Belly of the Beast

Adam first off in the second heat with the fastest run of the week so far at 61.79 mph.  A change of stoker to Ethan E for Titan, which was running very nicely indeed until Calvin felt the front tyre going down.  They braked down to a walking pace and toppled gently over in the middle of the road.  We were able to get the machine off the road before Erin and Eta Prime were inconvenienced.

Rare opportunity to clock the air intake under Titan's nether regions

Erin went on to earn a 55 mph Hat with a 58.80 mph run.  This is the second time I've been in Titan's chase truck and on both occasions it's been visited by She Who Must Not Be Named, so Someone Else can have a go tomorrow.

Morning debrief.  There was CAEK. Om and, moreover, nom nom nom.

Only Titan and Eta Prime ran in the evening, all runs being on the long course.  Harrison went first.  The bike unshipped its chain again.  Another controlled flight into terrain.  Bill installed a plug-in module on the spaceship this arvo, adding more than a hundred horsepowers to the vehicle's already ludicrous 1000+.  He let me drive again.  Holy ["redacted" - The Invigilator]!  Then we sat around watching Erin fail to launch because, I'm told, Eta Prime had been left in 5th gear instead of first.  'topher decided not to bother until the current mechanical naughtiness can be sorted.

Which left only Calvin and Ellen.  Without me in the chase truck.  They duly smashed the mixed tandem record, leaving it at 65.06 mph.  That wasn't all they smashed as the bike went down in catch.  Calvin thought that the front tyre had gone again but I gave it a squeeze and found:

1. a rock-hard tyre, and
2. a non-rotating front wheel

A further clue as to the source of the issue were the plume of smoke emerging from the front wheel enclosure and the vast clouds of the stuff billowing from the cockpit when the hatch was opened.  On returning to the Civic Center it was discovered that this was the real culprit:

Brake rotors are not supposed to look like this...

They're made from some fancy-schmancy Stuffs instead of boring old steel and are not up to the task of stopping a cruise missile from 65 mph.  Calvin reckons it's an easy fix if they've got the bits and Ellen really wants that 75 mph hat.

Quandary of what to do about dinner solved when it was revealed that Holly from (IIRC) the Chamber of Commerce had provided a large ham and shedload of baked potatoes.  Collapse of stout parties ensues.