Landracing Forum
Thrust-powered Land Speed information => Discussions on absolute land speed records => Topic started by: J79 on September 19, 2018, 10:49:29 PM
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I know she's not thrust powered, but she is the fastest on a bicycle while riding behind another vehicle to break the wind drag. https://www.bicycling.com/news/a23281242/denise-mueller-korenek-breaks-bicycle-speed-record/ (https://www.bicycling.com/news/a23281242/denise-mueller-korenek-breaks-bicycle-speed-record/)
The top speed for a human-powered bicycle without any vehicle assistance is 89.6 mph, set on a recumbent bicycle fully enclosed by a bullet-shaped fairing. For a traditional upright bicycle without any aerodynamic assistance, the closest analogue to Mueller-Korenek's record is probably the 200-meter track time trial, which the current world record holder completed at a speed of about 48 mph.
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That is a great accomplishment because so much could have gone wrong and she could have crashed big time. The dragster that was blocking the air friction was probably also providing rear thrust due to the vortice effect of the wind blocking fairing. So it is not so much as a great bicycling feat as it was precision riding and great engineering of the bicycle and dragster.
Don
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ahh she was doing with a lakester what they were using a train to do nearly 150 years ago! They were riding on planks laid between the rails.
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Being pelted with all the salt being kicked up would be no joke. I've followed a car shooting video that was going 40 out there and even at that paltry speed the salt shower was uncomfortable.
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Basic math. If the top speed for a standard bike is 48mph and she went 183mph, she got 135mph increase in speed using drafting and the wind break from the vehicle in front of her. 135mph difference between 48mph and 183mph.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CFTqHbgsKs (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CFTqHbgsKs)
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How did Bicyclist and the Driver maintain proper distance? Easy for the Driver to speed up and slow down. Much more difficult for the Bicyclist to speed up and slow down. Did the Driver have a knob which he turned to dial in his exact speed or did he use a standard gas pedal?
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Was the device that she was riding behind designed to have a pulling effect or was is just designed to break the wind and the vortice were the effects?
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It looks almost exactly like what they built on the back of a train car-- but if I remember correctly the train ha some escape grab handles so they could "bail off"
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Her Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denise_Mueller-Korenek (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denise_Mueller-Korenek)
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Denise was tethered to the tow vehicle until a certain mph was reached. Prior to reaching tether release speed, Denise began bringing up pedal cadence to eventually be at full pedal power before going it alone. From this point, she must generate enough power (Watts) to stay in the draft. Now, the flying 200 meter World Record at 48 mph was done with massive watts generated by the rider. These watts are in the 2300 plus instantaneous watts range and maintaining close to that for 200 meters. What would be of great interest is knowing how many watts Denise had to generate to reach and hold 183 mph.
Also, there was likely a roller (out of video sight) that she could bump without putting her off the bike. This roller is common practice when motor pacing behind a track derny (motorcycle).
I take nothing away from this remarkable and amazing accomplishment. It required high levels of skill and courage.
John
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Would she have waited until the hottest part of the day for thinner air to ride or does it not make a difference on a bicycle whether it's hot or cold?
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Would she have waited until the hottest part of the day to ride or does it not make a difference on a bicycle whether it's hot or cold?
My guess is Denise would opt to make this run in the coolest part of the day. She is in full leathers and helmet, pedaling at maximum effort, with little to no air flow and in a vacuum. That had to be very uncomfortable. The upside for anyone looking to beat this record is that body size is likely not going to be an issue as it would in open air. So, if a beast like Great Britten's Chris Hoy in his prime, would give up nothing aerodynamically to a much smaller Denise.
I think it goes somewhat unnoticed that it was a female driver in the tow vehicle.
John
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A couple of the previous contenders...
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Here is the video from her youtube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPEgG-T3zMI (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPEgG-T3zMI)
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Her website:
http://theprojectspeed.com/ (http://theprojectspeed.com/)
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Denise was tethered to the tow vehicle until a certain mph was reached. Prior to reaching tether release speed, Denise began bringing up pedal cadence to eventually be at full pedal power before going it alone. From this point, she must generate enough power (Watts) to stay in the draft. Now, the flying 200 meter World Record at 48 mph was done with massive watts generated by the rider. These watts are in the 2300 plus instantaneous watts range and maintaining close to that for 200 meters. What would be of great interest is knowing how many watts Denise had to generate to reach and hold 183 mph.
The answer is here
"Once up to speed, she pedaled at more than 700w for a minute in the draft of the specially designed vehicle to set the record."
https://www.bicycling.com/bikes-gear/a23305843/what-went-into-creating-this-record-breaking-bike/ (https://www.bicycling.com/bikes-gear/a23305843/what-went-into-creating-this-record-breaking-bike/)
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A video about the a record fairing bike not related to the Bonneville Sept 2018 record:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsmpDudEUo0&feature=youtu.be (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsmpDudEUo0&feature=youtu.be)
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Holding 700 watts for one minute is quite an accomplishment in and of itself. The kind of training required to get to this point must have been brutal.
John