Black out in Bendigo

Well, it turns out that you really can't win them all.

Below is a picture of our work session last night:

Yep, you guessed it - the power went out!
It has been over 43 degrees C for the past four days up here and black outs have been common across Victoria.
This doesn't really make a work session - particularly the use of lathes - very productive.

So, we went and swam in the dam.

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Prior to the outage, work has been progressing well on our rig for Wonthaggi.
This includes an extensive rebuild of BY-08.
We'll be fielding a great crew for the first 24-hour race of 2009 and it should be a lot of fun!

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An open letter to the AIPP

Back in December last year, we sent a letter to Andrew McLachlan and the Board of the Australian International Pedal Prix covering a few issues and recommendations.

You can read the full letter below and encourage you to provide feedback to event organisers (AIPP or otherwise) in the future.

As someone who volunteers with the Energy Breakthrough each year, we do collect some feedback via an online survey, but it's always good to hear from more people about what worked and what didn't.

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"Dear Andrew and members of the AIPP Board,

Firstly, congratulations on a great and successful Australian International Pedal Prix in September 2008. This 24-hour event remains the pinnacle of Community HPV racing and the amazing level of competition throughout the field make it one of the toughest to win.

As the year draws to a close and we reflect, I wanted to write to you to congratulate you on a number of areas that I felt went well, and offer four recommendations for the future.
With 223 vehicles taking to the track in 2008, the resulting racing is chaotic, messy, rough and slow. I would like to recommend a cap on entries at 200 teams for 2009. This could involve category caps similar to those loosely imposed on the Community Class. Bigger and busier is not necessarily better.
I believe you will see fewer serious track incidents and riders will enjoy themselves more with fewer vehicles on track.

During the 2008 event, I was stationed with a friend on a marshal point on the front straight. It was the hectic first few hours of the race and so whilst we had a great view of the start, we were very busy pulling vehicles out of fences on both sides of the track. My second recommendation is to provide 2 hi-vis reflective marshal vests at all marshal points. My third recommendation is to monitor rear lights through out the night period. There are several unlit sections of the track which make tail lights crucial to safe racing. I have witnessed a number of incidents caused by poor or non-existent rear lights.

My fourth and final recommendation is related to the cycling criterium. I would like to see it held prior to HPV Practice session on the Friday, in better lighting conditions.

On a lighter note, Paul Richards remains the premier HPV race caller in Australia. His preparation, knowledge of the sport and delivery is excellent. I know this view is shared along pit lane. Well done Paul.

Furthermore, the management of the lap timing and the posting of the results onto the AIPP website within hours of the event was an outstanding effort. Your scrutineering process and procedures is also second-to-none in Australia.

Best of luck for the 2009 Australian HPV Super Series.

Kind regards,

Bendigo Youth Racing Inc"

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2009 Regulations and Super Series Information Released

The 2009 Regulations and Super Series Information have been released on the Australian International Pedal Prix website.

This might not sound very exciting, but the details in these documents largely determine how wide, high (and low) we can build vehicles to race.

From first glance, the key changes to the vehicle specs seem to be:

• Rear tail light: Must have a minimum of 3 LEDs flashing at once and must be robustly mounted
• Lap seat belt mounting points should be 50mm forward of the 'normal' position to avoid the belts 'riding up'.
• Full floor coverage, apart from wheel openings, are recommended.
• Firm seat padding is recommended.

We're pretty happy about the modified rear tail light rule and not too phased about the other regs at this stage.

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Workshop Session - January 2, 2009

Our first workshop session for 2009 saw 12 members of the squad out at the 'Dream Factory' for a busy evening.
Above: Mark Anson refits BY-08 to the jig from where it once came. The trike sustained a smashed cross member during the 2008 Australian International Pedal Prix - ouch!

Below: Deven and Turny discuss the finer points of canopy / fairing preparation. We've received a number of orders for fairings from other teams across Australia.
For more info contact us.

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Training Ride: Daryl's Loop

This Training Ride, unofficially called Daryl's Loop is a great 40km hit out around Bendigo which includes a number of hills to test the legs and the option of a few sprint points if your crew is feeling frisky.

Despite it's length it is challenging to get a 30 km/h average on this course as the terrain is constantly up and down.


View Larger Map

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A story of a Training Ride: January 2, 2008

As we (Big Deano, Daryl, Deven, Cal, Mark Anson and Nige) rode our first group ride for 2009 today, we enjoyed some warm hit 20' degrees temperatures and a chance to catch up on all of the happenings over Christmas and the New Years.




Apart from the sprint point near the Emu Creek Tennis Centre, a highlight was Daryl breaking a spoke clean out of his rear wheel. Cal was volunteered to return back to Maccas to pick up Daryl's car and head back to pick him up. Nigel also scored a slow leak in his rear tyre, so not particularly good omens for the start of '09.

• Check out Daryl's Loop here on Google Maps
• Check out more training rides
  

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Some inspiration from John F Kennedy....

"We choose to do these things not because they are easy, but because they are hard."

- John F Kennedy
Rice University, Houston, Texas, Sept 12, 1962
Listen / Read the full speech here

We think JFK was onto a good thing!

Our first work session begins tonight out at 'the Dream Factory' with a group ride tomorrow in Bendigo.

Bendigo Youth Racing Inc is gearing up for a massive 2009...
stay tuned or subscribe to our RSS for all the updates

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About Bendigo Youth Racing (BYR inc)

We are...

• ... all about normal people joining together to overcome engineering challenges and strong competition.
• A crew of 20 young Bendigo men who come together to design and construct environmentally efficient human powered vehicles in our workshop in Axedale.
• These vehicles are hand built by us from carbon fibre and kevlar.
• enjoying the physical and engineering challenge created by 24 hour circuit races.
• a not-for-profit incorporated association, our ABN is 77 426 422 775
• aiming to proudly represent the Bendigo community and highlight what people in Bendigo can do.

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