Marvelous. Good old British common sense empirical engineering. Just love Mikes enthusiasm. Giving away hard earned 'trade secrets', not so sensible in a competitive world?
Lovely machine. Great engineering. Must be a very interesting experience to drive. I have tried to imagine how I would design a fast velomobile, and this is very close to it.
Oooh! That was such a great video. I love the Soup Dragon. Mike is great at naming things as well as designing them. The Soup Dragon was a character from the Clangers a TV programme from my childhood and I’m sure from Mike’s as well. It is always great to see Stuart as well.
Regarding the wheel spinning faster when enclosed around 10:30, it seems to me that when inside the box the air around the wheel will spin up in delayed sync, reducing air friction along with a very minimal flywheel effect. With little air exchanged, there isn't a constant energy loss from incoming straight airflow getting twisted by the wheel, even a disc wheel.
I'm curious about what Mike's take on a more practical recumbent would be. Something that can be used for touring, and every day use? At least I've never seen one of his recumbents with a compartment as large as a full set of panniers and touring bags, but maybe there is one?
One of the peculiarities of a streamliner is that without some sense of peripheral vision it becomes very difficult to tell whether you're leaning to the right or the left as you pedal. It takes time to fine tune your sense of balance and to trust it above even your view straight ahead.
Back in 1991 I was a spectator at the European HPV championships at Wolverhampton, and one of the events was a straight sprint on a closed road, I'm sure one of Mike's creations was there and set the top speed, ie The Bean. Is my memory correct?
Inside-the-tent insights into another bicycle designer archtype, the-designer-chasing-a-number rather than designer-with-design-to-save-the-planet. I wonder if among velomobile skeptics, might "shouldery" be a common attribute.
Acceleration matters for the hour record. You can't lollygag for the first 5 minutes slowly getting up to speed or you can plan on achieving a "not-as-fast-as-hoped" average speed. At the World Human Powered Speed Challenge at Battle Mountain, NV, USA, acceleration matters for the top speed attempts. The record is already "distance-limited" by the 5 mile runup. Riders in the fast vehicles are putting out plenty of power from time zero and could go faster if the course were longer. To get into the group that's allowed to use the 5-mile course, one must first qualify on the half-length course with a specified minimum speed. Acceleration matters for those attempts as well. The faster you go, the higher your seeding for selecting long course heats.
2018 video of the adventures of the Soup Dragon with Russell Bridge at the World Human Powered Speed Challenge. Russell managed the single gear and successfully got the vehicle up to speed. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-0a7usJV_xDo.html
2019 video of the London South Bank University effort with Russell Bridge at the WHPSC with Velociraptor (from the Soup Dragon molds). ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-RKR6ouY851w.html