| Phantom survive 12hour shakedown | ||
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Apparantly, there was a storm... While the rest of Victoria was bracing for the perhaps the largest deluge in decades, Phantom headed to their local testing ground unperterbed. Rain, wind, hail, and very slow queues at Kardina Cafe were braved by Phantom Team Members in their final 12 hour shakedown before the largest race for the year, the 24hr culmination of the Australian International Pedal Prix series. With several lesson's being re-learnt during the shakedown, Phantom have emerged from the test and training session confident of a far more consistent team across the entire rider lineup than at any race they've attended in recent history. Final touches will continue to be added to our existing race proven vehicle "The Newbi" over the next week and a half, in what promises to be the fastest and closest racing ever experienced at the 24hr Pedal Prix at Murray Bridge. Team Phantom wish all competitors the best in their final preperations over the next week and a half, and look forward to clean, competitive racing. |
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| Phantom TT | ||
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Tim Corbett is a very ambitious, if not eccentric individual. Always the man to try new and wacky things. It culminated in Tim briefly being the World 6 hour solo record holder in 2009, using the trusty S-Chair which has recently been sold on. Tim is ready to take his efforts to a new level in 2011 in the form of the Phantom TT Trike (Phantom T3 anyone?). The TT will consist of a metal chassis wrapped in the Phantom gt6’s super tiny composite body and many innovations packed inside. You can keep an eye on progress by joining the Phantom TT Facebook page. Tim would love to share his journey with you; “The Phantom TT is being created to go after a suite of HPV (Human Powered Vehicle) world records. This group is about keeping my friends, family and anyone else who is interested in my plight up to date with the latest info RE: progress, development, planned events, and anything else closely related.” The plan at this stage is to have a prototype up and running by later in the year and to contest the Lang Lang trials on Easter long weekend, 2011. |
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| Phantom 4th at Casey 6 hour | ||
 Team Phantom has taken their Cool NaNas vehicle to a strong 4th place in the latest installment of the Casey 6 hour in Melbourne. The race is a fantastic shake down event for many teams looking to be fast at Wonthaggi later in the next month and this was no exception for Phantom. Two new riders in Richard Campbell and Michael Micallef were given race time in the vehicle, while Team Manager, Tim Corbett watched progress from the pit wall. The race started well for Cool NaNas, with Tim Maquardt pushing the vehicle to its limits in pursuit of Tru-Blu Racing. Although the chase was fruitless it did net us a comfy 2nd position that we held on to for over 2 hours over the ExPats. Eventually a puncture and a vehicle rollover from Richard (he got that monkey off his back early!) put us behind, down to 4th place and in pursuit of Trisled’s “Son of Tiger”. Ron Purtle and Mat McCurdy put in some mega stints, with Ronny almost robotic in putting out 2’04 after 2’04. Mat was not far off! Michael had a lackluster stint, a little bit off the pace and ready to train his arse off for the upcoming Wonthaggi 24.  Todd Derrick brang it home with a 70 minute run that produced some impressive lap times and a nasty tyre blow out in the dying minutes. Overall Team Phantom were happy with the result, especially Tim Corbett; “We had the speed to win the race today but were unlucky with tyre wear and the like. With some futher fine tuning and stronger legs we should be a contender at Wonthaggi in 3 weeks time” Phantom would like to thank Deakin Uni Students Association and Congratulate Tru-Blu, ExPats and Trisled for their podium finishes. See you all at Wonthaggi!  |
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| Maryborough Time Trial | ||
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The boys at Team Phantom took out a 1-2-3 result at the 2010 Maryborough Time Trial all the way back on Australia Day. Considering the lack of community teams this was to be expected! This day for all intents and purposes was intended as a test session for some new parts installed in “the newbie” and to guage the fitness levels of whoever could make it on the day. 1st rider in was Michael Micallef, who struggled badly with the lack of ventilation and warmer then usual conditions. Michael still had a go of it however, traveling at 100km/h outside Avoca. He completed the course in a sweaty 1 hour and 21 minutes. Way short of his previous run in this event all the way back in 2007, but relieved none the less to have survived; “It was the toughest anything I’ve ever done. I nearly gave up so many times, but kept going because there was no other way to get the vehicle back to Maryborough but pedal!” Todd Derrick was the 2nd Phantom rider to have a run. Todd was new to this form of racing yet dealt with the high speeds with ease. He was keeping up with the pace set by Michael in the previous run yet blew up only a kilometer from the finish, suffering massive heat stroke. Todd put it bluntly when the lid was finally opened; “Its f#@%(^* hot in here”. Todd’s condition was so serious he had to attend the Maryborough pool to bring his body temp back down to normal! Team Manager Tim Corbett was the final run for the day and went out with all guns blazing. The data showed that at the 16km/ turn 1 mark Tim was over 2km ahead of both Michael and Todd. He slowed dramatically and mysteriously after this point, and eventually finished with a time of 1 hour, 36 minutes! “There is something either very wrong with this vehicle today, or something wrong with me. The only positive out of this for me is that I beat my PB I set back in 2007” Tim eventually found the cause of the slow run, with a rod end rattling loose from the tie rod, causing massive tire scrub depending on how the steering handle was manipulated at the time. Very disappointing. And so final results were; 1st- Michael Micallef- 1’21 2nd- Todd Derrick- 1’24 3rd- Sam O’dea- 1’28 4th- Tim Corbett- 1’36 Big thanks to OZ hpv for organizing the event. It’s a great event and it’d be great to see more teams out on the roads of Maryborough and Avoca racing the clock next year!  Some Time Trialing, yesterday. |
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| Team Phantom 3rd in the 2009 HPV Super Series | ||
 Team Phantom secured 3rd place overall in the 2009 Australian HPV SUPER SERIES, just 4 points shy of 2008 champions, TAFE SA Blueshift. The series began in May on the streets of Adelaide, kicking off with a 6 hour race in very poor conditions against some strong opposition. The S-Chair placed 5th after some visibility issues and a couple of rollovers. Further down the track in July, Round 2 was held. It was for the 1st time a 9 hour race and, like round 2, extremely wet. With better prep and a bit more luck on their side the S Chair crew managed the 2nd fastest lap of the race on their way to 4th place. A whooping 14 laps behind an as ever dominant Tru-Blu Racing but more importantly only 3 laps behind 2nd placed Trisled Fresh Racing, the eventual series champions of 2009. Round 2 was also the final race for the S-Chair. A breakthrough vehicle for Team Phantom, it was eventually sold to Strathdale Racing where it is still at the pointy end of the field in the 2010 series.  In September the HPV fraternity traveled to Murry Bridge for the final round of the super series, the Australian International Pedal Prix. Big races call for big changes, and Team Phantom joined the likes of Blueshift and Bendigo Youth Racing by debuting a new vehicle. Simply known as “the newbie”, it featured an all new carbon chassis and John Taylor’s “Bullet Canopy”, made famous by Tru-Blu Racing’s dominance while using it in previous races. Preparation was lacking at this stage, with the vehicle being rushed to the grid come Saturday afternoon. The team did put a huge effort in to get the vehicle to the grid and so a big pat on the back for that! Team Phantom eventually finished a grueling 24 hours with a hard fought 5th place out of 228 vehicles. The gremlins that were expected to rear their ugly heads did, with a LiPo battery exploding, much to the amusement of the crowds but not to Todd Derrick, who was riding at the time. By finishing 5th in the AIPP, Team Phantom placed 3rd overall in the series. A big thank you goes out to Deakin University Students Association and all the friends, family and collegues who helped Team Phantom to great successes in 2009! |
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| 2009 - The Year in review. | ||
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Ok, so there's been a few people bugging me about updates for a while, and I've finally found some time to put something together. You're going to have to accept semi-blog style, that its primarily my perspective on the year, and my memory of the years events may be thin in places, but should be reasonably accurate I think... I've covered the major events for our team this year, including the Wonthaggi 24hr GP, racing during the South Australian HPV Super Series, development work that I/we've been working on throughout the year, and of course the OzHPV Lang-Lang world record trials for which I've got a heavy bias for in this update. Enjoy! (Some sections still to be completed, and pics to be added...) Wonthaggi My coverage here is sparse - I was living on the other side of the planet at the time! (so please forgive me...) I was surprised that the guys did as well as they did at wonthaggi this year (they might be unhappy with this synopsis?), but it seemed that we were down by about 4 of our usual suspects. Three with broken collar bones (Ronny, Phil and Sam), with myself MIA whilst overseas. If the season had been better in the states, I'd have considered flying back for the race weekend, but that's another story... Ronny did a great job of getting the trike together, especially considering he was working with a broken collar bone and was unable to use on of his hands. Even still, he managed to fix up all the stuff that didn't work at Murray Bridge the year before in 2007. To his credit, we had the most trouble free run (mechanically at least) that we've ever recorded at a race. Its an absolute credit that the guys made it through the heat to finish in a well deserved 4th place finish! Lang-Lang While the rest of the team were working toward a strong finish at Wonthaggi, I had been working and holidaying in Vail (Colorado - USA) during their winter ski season. Although it was meant to be a holiday, within weeks of hitting Vail I'd purchased a mountain bike to work on my base fitness for the following year. The plans quickly changed, and soon I was laying down big miles to make a solo endurance record attempt at the OzHPV session held and the Holden Proving Grounds in Lang-Lang, Victoria. Freed of the complexities of preparing a bike, team, finishing off a PhD, and all those other time stealers, I was regaining form rapidly. Life was interesting for the first month - adapting to the thin/dry air at 7000ft elevation in the Rockies leaves most breathless at the first hint of exercise, not to mention frequent blood noses and dehydration. Although the air was thin, the atmosphere was great and pretty quickly it was normal to be heading out for rides/runs/cross-country skiing (and plenty of downhill too!) in sunny sub-freezing conditions. It might seem dangerous to be heading out riding on frozen roads, but I found the local roads and drivers to be the safest environment I have ever ridden in. The outdoor culture is amazing in Colorado, and its a great change to be given ample room on the roads rather than being almost run over ever other day back in Australia. Probably the biggest learning curve for me was actually learning how to keep the fuel up for extended endurance riding. Its easy enough to go out and spend yourself for several hours, but the limiting factor after that became how food much I could digest rather than any of the usual physical boundaries. I tried a few different food and hydration combinations, and managed to hit the wall a few times. Note well that running out of carb's is not much fun, for anyone who hasn't been there before, and a wee-bit scary in sub-freezing conditions miles from home... Eventually though, I stumbled onto an eating plan to balance the energy expenditure. My return journey from the States was closely planned to make the most of the extra red blood you produce when living at altitude. Unfortunately for me, I managed to pick up a nasty cold before leaving he states, so any benefit I gained with the extra red blood may well have been lost with the cold. But never-the-less, I quickly picked up the trike when I got back, and spent a day and a half preparing it for the IHPVA specs required for world record attempts. This was conducted between attending my fathers 70th birthday (Congrats Dad!) and a couple of other obligations like graduating from Deakin University with my Doctorate. That's right, I'm now Doctor Tim... So the fans got cut out, and naturally aspirated cooling was installed with the aid of $50 worth of PVC piping from Bunnings - I had 36 hours to get the good old S_chair ready to roll for my record attempt. Thankfully, the work that we'd put in after Murray Bridge from the previous year, meant that we had the inlets and exhaust points setup nicely and we had a great cooling signal in the bike for the 6 hour run. My head got shaved for extra cooling - Brian was more than eager to help out with that - and with the odd splash of water on the head, the S-Chair was almost too cold at times. Who-ever said riding enclosed HPV's is too hot hadn't been for a ride in the re-plumbed S-Chair! Although the Easter session at Lang-Lang was pretty much over, I rolled up on the last morning, pumped up the tires, filled up the water bottles and my stash of gel-shots, did a quick warmup lap and some stretches. There was a quick inspection of the S-Chair for IHPVA compliance, stop watches were reset, and then I set-off with not much more than "See ya in 6 hours". Well, it was actually ever six minutes, which is about how long it takes to complete a lap of the 4.7km proving ground at 45-50km/hr. For a change, we actually had a functioning computer, and I also had a stop watch on board to keep track of my lap times. I quickly got up to the desired heart rate zone that I'd established while overseas, and got on with the job of churning out the laps. My first pit stop was just short of 2 hours, and was a pretty quick stop to take on more fluid and gel-shots (which I was burning through at the rate of three and hour), along with a quick stretch. I was on the verge of cramping coming up to the 2 hour mark and the first pit stop, so I backed off marginally for the next hour and half using the early twinge signs of cramp as my rev-limiter. My second pit stop was a bit longer, taking time to stretch out the legs. This proved difficult, as whichever muscle group wasn't being stretched would start locking up. The clocks were still rolling, so eventually I just gave up and got back in and headed back out on the course. Apparently, at this stage, Tim Marquardt had little faith that I would finish the 6 hour ride... But I'd done the math in my head, and I was well above the average speed required, so I backed off for the next stint. It was just a matter of keeping the laps rolling over and making sure I didn't stop, which was becoming a real mental battle more than anything else... "I've only got 2hrs, 40 mins to go", "I've only got 2hrs, 34mins to go", "I've only got 2hrs, 28mins to go". "After the next song, I'll only have XXX songs left to go" and so on... Although, having music was a bit of a waste of time. I could hardly hear my MP3 player over the rumble of the bike, even at full volume. The batteries ran out at about the 2 hours to go, so I just had the rumble left after that. Even my arms started getting sore, and the littlest things became annoying - the drain holes every 200m on the circuit had about a 2mm indent that was just enough to rattle the bike, and became a new obstacle to dodge every 20 secs or so. Anything to pass the time. Thankfully, the Tru-Blu boys turned up for a while to have a crack at the flying 200m, which added some variety to the 6 minute monotony. Although they cracked the Aussy Top speed record at just over 84km/hr, they were beaten in the end by an illegal head-wind that voided Steele's high speed pass through the traps. Thankfully, I was running complete laps on a continuous circuit, so there were no wind requirements to nullify my own run! Finally, I was coming up to my last pit stop with just over an hour left on the stop watches. I came in and made my quickest stop. More water and gel shots, along with a can of "V" to spark me up again. Stats of some sort were thrown at me, although I was pretty delirious and promptly forgot whatever they were. I just knew the lap times I needed to keep hitting to make the 252km mark needed to crack Jeff Neilson's 6 hour trike record (as part of his longer 12 hour ride at Disk). Once I got inside of an hour to go, I started picking the pace up again, and unsurprisingly, the cramps came back. I'm not sure how, but somehow I just kept riding through them. At 5hrs 47mins I hit the 250km mark, and figured I had enough time to get another 2 laps in. Everything hurt - legs, arms, back, neck, hands and even my mouth (I'm never using hard stem spouts ever again) - but this was awesome. My skins had dried salt on them everywhere and my nether regions were chaffed to hell. I couldn't feel my toes anymore, but I'd given up trying to keep wiggling them to keep the blood flow up to them. I blew through the last two laps and pulled up with about 40 secs still on the clock. Tim Marquadt yelled something at me about keeping on going, so I closed the lid and idled down the road a bit further while he climbed in his van and chased me down the road to mark where I finished after 6 hours. In the end, I managed to put together 262.7 km at an average speed of 43.7km/hr which is an outright Australian 6 hour solo record (on any type of bike or HPV), and believed to be a World 6 hour solo Trike record. The record books for trikes don't seem to have been kept that well, so I really can't say for sure but I'm claiming it as a World Record as well until someone proves otherwise! I'd been through 17 gel shots, 3 bottles of Poweraide, and something like 8 bidons of water. The powertap told me that I averaged 167BPM heart rate, and over 240watts average power - although the hub wasn't zeroed properly to start off with so I'll never know exactly what power I was sitting on for the last 6 hours. I think I spent about 18 minutes stopped during my three pit stops. I have to say that I think this was the single best sporting performance I've ever put on in my entire life so far. Surprisingly, I wasn't that hungry or thirsty at the end, so I think I've got my hydration and eating strategies just about perfect. Which is good to know for the future I guess - although personally I'm not planning any more attempts for the time being - I'm thinking 24hr solo MTB comp's could be fun... I'd like to thank Tim Marquardt for officiating, and Brian Roche for support crewing during the record ride. I'd like to thank both the Purtle's the Roche's for their accommodation and for access to Neil's shed and tools while modifying the S-Chair. Early testing and construction/development work in Benidgo During my stateside hiatus, I had organised to conduct some collaborative vehicle testing with John Taylor in Bendigo. Given that I had no work commitments, and enough money saved up, I headed up to bendigo the day after the Lang-Lang ride to begin testing. Although the specific details shall remain confidential, several days were spent making modifications to test out several ideas that we thought might reduce aerodynamic drag at higher speeds. It never ceases to suprise me just how long it can take to conduct what seems like simple modifications... Three days work just to get one comparison run with the Powertap! At this stage I also spent some time with John working on his lamination process to enable more efficent and effective vac bagging techniques to be used with his highly successfull "Bullet" fairing moulds. Although John had already successfully 'Taylored' a robust laminate architecture, quite some time was spent to finess the resins, gel-coats, vacumm equipment/materials, kitting arangments, application methods and critical activation/catalysation rates, and release agents. Some external modifications were also carried out to the Bullet moulds to further enable high quality vacuum bagged canopies to be produced. The result of several months of work and development is a reliable process that is simple and time-effective - two people can complete the key lay-ups without having to rush to meet resin gel time. As a result this allows better attention to detail and reduced errors. The end result has been a reduction in weight of over 3kg on comparable models from previous years. Throughout the year, a total of 7 Bullet Canopies were produced for various customers. Canopies ranged from light-weight to heavy-duty to suit particular customer's needs and budget limitations. Enquiries from interested groups are welcome, and should contact John Taylor directly for specific details. |
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| Updates at last! | ||
Team Phantom have finally found some time in their hectic schedules after the intense lead up to this year's Australian International Pedal Prix to update the website... The year has so far featured numerous HPV battles on the circuit, a world record for Team Manager Tim Corbett, and the construction of a new team vehicle. Expect more comprehensive updates of our season, a race report from the recent 24-hour pedal prix in Murray Bridge, early season involvements and construction of our new race vehicle, along with future plans for bettering our own 6 hour solo world trike record in the coming months, to be forthcoming in the following days and weeks. For now, people can see our photo gallery from the recent 24hour race held at Murray Bridge, at the following picasa address: Team Phantom Photo Gallery |
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| 2008 Australian HPV Super Series | ||
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The 2008 Australian HPV Super Series concluded last weekend, with the Australian International Pedal Prix, 24 hour race. Phantom was awarded third place in the three race series for 2008! Pedal Prix, race report: Phantom entered their new vehicle 'S-Chair' in the event. The lead up to the event was frantic, with a big effort to have the new vehicle race ready! Even the drive over to Murray Bridge included a stop for vehicle painting and window fitting! In particular, team manager Tim Corbett put in an amazing effort ensuring the new bike was race ready. Friday night The track was opened up for 2 hours of practice, from 5 to 7pm. This allowed Phantom to put all riders into the new S-Chair vehicle for familiarization with the bike, race and track. As no one had ridden the vehicle before, the team was focused on familiarization and not setting of fast lap times. Following the practice session there was a one hour road race held on the circuit. The pace was very high & competition fierce. Unfortunately the event traffic lights where switched off, perhaps contributing to one incident when a rider crashed straight into the light/fence in front of Phantom's pits! Luckily the rider's injuries where not as bad as they could have been, the traffic light however was completely smashed and could not be revived!!! Saturday Up early to put the finishing touches on the vehicle, preparations were running smoothly for the 12pm start. Jarrod was selected as the first rider and was keen to see what results he could produce in the new vehicle. Setting blistering times under 3 minutes a lap for the 2.15km circuit - an average approaching 45km/h. This was a vast improvement on last year and put the pressure on the rest of the riders who were to follow! The pace continued to be high, with each team member putting in solid stints. The vehicle was clearly a fast design, some riders complaining they were "running out of gears" despite the same ratio as previous vehicles! By the time Team Manager and rider Tim Corbett was due for his first ride the sun had set and the team had only been involved in one minor crash. So far things were going well. Night fall....  As Phantom continued into the night, some of the issues with having an untested vehicle began to show. The cooling system proved less than perfect and as the temperature continued to fall, the issues with visibility and fogging increased. Pit stops became more frequent and longer than ideal, costing valuable time. Some riders had to slow due to poor visibility. The severity of the fogging issue surfaced when Ian was involved in a rollover which left the bike looking a bit worse for wear! Luckily the damage was only cosmetic, with the team still posting solid lap times once the fogging issues were under control. Sunday  As sun broke it became evident the team was on track for the target set before the race - 950km. This was a fantastic achievement, and any other year would have won the race. However it was also evident the competition had stepped up once again this year. After some convincing to get back in the vehicle, a new rider to the team Ross finished the race and took out the final hour prize for fastest lap. His time of 2.35.7 equated to an average of 50km/h, proving that the vehicle was still in competitive condition till the end of the race. Race results Phantom S-Chair completed 446 laps - 958km, which placed the team 7th for the weekend. Tru Blu, from Mount Martha was the eventual winner, completing more than 1,000km in the 24 hours. Phantom congratulated the team, which share a strong relationship from past races. tafeSA team BlueShift placed second and Bendigo Youth Racing entry BY-08 third.  Thanks Phantom would like to acknowledge and thank everyone who supported us during the weekend and in the lead up to the event. This includes with vehicle construction, food, support crew and so much more. Once again the team stepped up, in particular professionalism of organizing and running of the pits. Story photos courtesy of moz.net.nz Links: New! Photos Set 1, Set 2. Courtesy of Foons Photographics Official Results |
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| Phantom GT-6 (S-Chair) prepares for AIPP 2008! | ||
Just three days from the Australian International Pedal Prix 2008, Deakin University Student Association has released some photos of the GT-6 - S-Chair in its final stages of development. While development has been a little behind schedule, Team Manager - Tim Corbett said today he was comfortable with preparations for this weekends 24 hour race. "The team is ready and we will be riding our brand new vehicle - S-Chair. The team is excited, I know its going to be a competitive and fast race!" said Tim.  Today Tim was busy putting the final touches and paint on the vehicle. He said after many late nights and lost sleep over the last few months, it was a relief to be rolling out the new vehicle. Tim did not give away too much regarding new features of the bike, but hinted at some innovations saying "one thing is for sure, everyone will hear us".   The Phantom team will travel to Murray Bridge tomorrow. Tim said he wishes all teams a fun, clean and memorable race!!! Watch out for the race report following this weekends race! Links: Official Website Pre-race forum discussion Race track |
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| 500+ photos from AIPP Round 2 released! | ||
Thanks to Foons Photographics over 500 more photos from the Australian International Pedal Prix (round 2) have been added to our gallery. They include general and crash shots.       Tip: Best viewed in Slideshow view! |
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| Phantom GT-6 @ AIPP Round 2 | ||
 The Australian International Pedal Prix (AIPP) Round 2 was held yesterday at a Victoria Park street Cicuit, in Adelaide, South Australia. This was the second 6 hour event, in the lead up to the 24 hour Murray Bridge race held in September. Saturday night the team enjoyed a relaxing dinner out and headed back to the hotel to watch the second last stage of the Tour de France. While once again this meant much of the team did not get optimal amounts of sleep, at least this time it was by choice! Sunday morning everyone was up early and we headed down to the track to setup. The cold and wet conditions weren't the most motivating!    Jarod started for Phantom GT-6, luckily close to the front of the grid, meaning a relatively clear road ahead and avoidance of some of the crashes happening behind. At one stage a crash appeared to cause a traffic jam with 30+ vehicles with no choice but to stop while the road was cleared. In fact for the first hour or so the marshalls at the "bottom corner" - one of the most tricky were kept busy clearing crashes and incidents as vehicles entered it at speeds up to 50km/h. With over 170 vehciles on the 1.5km street circuit the traffic was challenging at times, but good training for the Murray Bridge race were there are over 200. Phantom managed to avoid any serious crashes, with just a couple of spin outs and some incidnets of accidental contact with other vehciles.    As the race progressed competition at the top end of the field heated up. Ballistic, BYR-08, BlueShift and ExPats all pushing hard for first position. While the lead changed a number of times during the day, with just a few laps to go Ballistic was narrowly in the lead but expected to win, with BlueShift just seconds behind. No one including the event commentator could believe what they were seeing when with just a few laps to go Ballistic dramatically crashed at high speed while trying to make a pass. Unfortunately for Ballistic this small mistake was all BlueShift needed to take the lead, holding on for the last few laps to win the race. Phantom GT-6 placed 5th, completing 141 laps of the 1.54km circuit - a total of 217km. Phantom HPVs would like to acknowledge and thank our support crew for an fantastic job! Congratulations to the winners BlueShift and everyone who competed.  Results Pos Team Laps 1 BlueShift 147 2 Ballistic 147 3 BY-08 147 4 ExPats 147 5 Phantom GT-6 141 Links Official Results Photos from the event Event discussion forum (free registration required) |
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| Development of new vehicle taking a different shape...! | ||
 For the last five months the Phantom HPV team have been planning, designing and building a new HPV for round three of the Australian International Pedal Prix (AIPP). At a team gathering earlier this year, the team decided to commit to developing a new HPV for this years race. To do this required all team members to invest hundreds of dollars each towards materials and now many late nights in the garage building the new machine. The shape of this years vehicle is different and may look familiar to some observers. This is because the faring has been built using a Weeroona HPV mold. While this allows us to significantly speed up this years development, it should be noted however that the entire bike - including the faring has been built in our garage... for the team, by the team. There will be differences as well, Phantom drawing on the teams combined 50+ years experience in HPV racing to ensure the bike is built to its maximum potential. In other news... Phantom HPV is heading over to Adelaide, SA for the second of two AIPP six hour events. The race kicks off on Sunday at 10am. Expect a race report on this site by late Monday... |
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| GT-6 2nd @ AIPP, round 1 | ||
At round one of the Australian International Pedal Prix (AIPP) super series, Phantom HPVs entry GT-6 came 2nd in a tight battle. Pre-race Overall race preparations were very smooth. After arriving in Adelaide (South Australia) Saturday, the team passed scrutineering without any issues. There was minimal work to be done to the vehicle, allowing everyone to focus on preparations for the event ahead. Race In an ongoing effort to ensure the race starts smoothly and on time Phantom GT-6 formed on the grid early, in position 10 (row 3). Following a parade lap and the playing of the Australian national anthem the race was soon underway. From the very start it was clear that competition would be fierce for the 6 hour event, held at Victoria Park. Ballistic and Blue Shift both paced very quickly early. Ian, GT-6's first rider reported difficulty controlling the vehicle in the wet. When approaching the bottom corner at speeds of 40-50km/h, Phantom Gt-6 along with others could be seen sliding sideways around the corner - Phantom Gt-6 lucky not to be involved in any serious incidents.  For the majority of the race the team lapped at a consistent pace, hovering around 4th to 2nd place. Some teams such as Expats - who recorded the fastest lap for the day (a new record) experienced bad luck and vehicle troubles. Phantom GT-6 was lucky not experience such issues, keeping up the pace into the last hour, emerging in 2nd place - but only just. With less than half an hour to go, the team made the decision to call on the fresh(er) legs of Jarrod to finish the race. Following an eleven second rider change and some great team encouragement (including a sacrificial chair!), Jarrod put in a top ride opening up the gap on Gary (Team Bluebird) who were just seconds behind to seal 2nd place. Post-race In the end Phantom GT-6 (2nd) and Team Bluebird Gary (3rd), finished on the same lap completing 140 laps (210km), Phantom crossed the line just a small margin in front. tafeSA BlueShift took line honours, completing 144 laps (216km).  Phantom HPVs would like to thank Deakin University Student Association (DUSA) and our fantastic support crew for their ongoing support. Links: Forum Discussion (free registration required to contribute) Photos (updated 25/5) Official Race Report Results |
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| Phantom HPV launches 2008 sponsorship drive! | ||
 At the Harwood Andrews Geelong Corporate Triathlon held at Eastern Beach Geelong today, Phantom HPV launched their 2008 sponsorship drive. The team was present to support the event, promote the team and drive support for new sponsors. Team member Jarrod (above) led the run leg as official lead bike, meanwhile team manager Tim Corbett was also competing in the 5km run leg! Anyone interested in finding out more about sponsorship opportunities should contact Tim Corbett (Team Manager). Congratulations to all participants and organizers on an fantastic event. Photos from the event. |
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| Phantom GT6 covers 782km - 2008 Wonthaggi Human Powered Grand Prix | ||
Deakin University Student Association (DUSA) team 'Phantom GT6' competed in the 2008 Wonthaggi Human Powered Grand Prix last weekend.  One thing Phantom was keen to improve was readiness to race this year. Lots of work during the lead up to the race ensured Phantom GT6 passed scruteneering on Thursday without incident, leaving only some minor vehicle preparations to be completed before the weekend race. This allowed the team to have a much needed rest the night before the race - a vast change from last year. The stage was set Saturday for a great race with fine sunny conditions and temperatures into the mid 20's.    In what was overall a very clean race, Phantom GT6 did not experience many major issues. There were some early lap counting issues, the odd few punctures and a couple of roll overs, however in each instance the teams Pit/Support crew reacted quickly, ensuring the vehicle was not off the track for an extended period throught the 24 hour race. In hindsight probably our biggest issue was one of vehicle efficiently, meaning rider power output had to increase significantly to maintain race pace.    A contributing factor to such a successful race was the race organization, with marshals and officials doing an excellent job running the race very professionally. They showed in multiple instances that they could deal appropriately with issues as they arose. As the night became morning and efficiency issues with the vehicle were rectified, Phantom GT6 held 5th position. Phantom held this position until the race end.  Congratulations to Bendigo Youth Racing entry 'The A-Team' showing great speed and consistency, completing an impressive 605 laps (847km) to win the race. Also not far behind was Easy Tiger from Tri-Sled HPV's, followed by Tru Blu from Tru Blu Racing in 3rd and The Grudge from Tenacious Racing in 4th. Full results can be viewed on the Wonthaggi SC HPV site. Thanks to our support crew, for pit crew, cooking, driving, accommodating, etc etc! Your support made the race a lot easier and was key to the distance achievement. Thank you also to our sponsors Melbourne Bicycle Centre and Deakin University Student Association (DUSA) More: Event Photos Event Discussion |
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| Phantom HPVs @ the Geelong Show! | ||
Over the past 4 days, the Phantom HPV team has been on a promotion drive with a stall at the Royal Geelong Show 2007.  According to Team Manager Tim Corbett the purpose of the stall was to generate community interest, as well as interest from potential sponsors. The stall, manned for the 4 day event by team members included the 2007 Phantom GT6 vehicle and another training vehicle. There was also an array of information from our event partner Deakin University, including information on engineering courses. According to Tim the event was a great success, generating alot of interest from the community and allowing the team to show and explain what they do. Children who visited the stall found the vehicles very interesting, many opting for a sit in the vehicle. Unfortunately some did not meet the height requirements to actually ride the vehicle! The show was also an excellent opportunity to once again promote and thank thank our current sponsors including Deakin University Student Association (DUSA) and The Melbourne Bicycle Centre (Prahran). Anyone interested in sponsoring the team should contact Tim.  |
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| Australian International Pedal Prix 2007 | ||
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The Phantom team competed well in the 2007 The Australian International Pedal Prix, held late September this year in Murray Bridge, South Australia. Unfortunately Phantom experienced more than its share of problems during the race, which itself had its share of drama, eventually being called off with one hour to go due to severe wind and weather. Phantom 'GT6' placed 6th overall, completing 406 laps - 872.9km in 23 hours. While this is clearly a good effort, Team manager, Tim Corbett said the team was somewhat disappointed with the result after solid performances in round 1 and 2 of the series. Unfortunately while vehicle preparations were completed well in advance, most team members' preparation was less than ideal. A number of events in the weeks leading up to the event hampered their training preparations during the critical period leading up to the race. On race weekend, things only got worse. During the practice session on race eve the GT6 vehicle was involved in an nasty crash, resulting in a badly damaged fairing nose and roll cage. It is worth noting the structural integrity of the bike did however ensure the rider sustained no serious injury. This meant many hours were spent during the night ensuring the vehicle was prepared, rather than qualifying for position and resting. Things started looking up at race start, with clean racing from surrounding teams, Tim showing the vehicle speed with a 2.42 lap on lap 1. Unfortunately just hours into the race, things once again took a turn for the worse with another heavy crash. Repairs cost the team 40 mins of race time. Unfortunately this set the tune for the race, with another crash just hours later. Some time after, well into the night it appeared the team had finally found some consistent form, able to ride consistently without incident. The team set themselves a goal of catching "Sardine" another vehicle lapping well. GT6 did catch Sardine, not long before the race was called off. Post race anaylsis showed that crashes were the key issue for the Phantom team. The average pace maintained was close to that needed to reach a pre-race goal of 448 laps. On a positive note Tim reported Phantom benefited from a "great team structure this year, with an awesome support crew". The faith the team had in them was shown by the fact that support crew conducted much of the team management duties during the race, allowing the riders to focus on their job. The Phantom team would like to thank everyone who has provided support in one from or another over the year, including our major sponsors Deakin University Student Association (DUSA) and The Melbourne Bicycle Centre (Prahran). While it may seem like an overwhelmingly negative result, at the end of the day the team still proved it is up with competition, finishing 6th place. There are a number of aspects of the race which the team can learn from and the this is the most important result. The team will now focus their attention on the post race team BBQ and drinks, an opportunity to reflect on the year and discuss plans for next year. Photos from the event can be viewed in the gallery. |
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| Phantom performs at the Casey 6 Hour! | ||
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Deakin University Students Association (DUSA) raced - P3 and GT-06 today in the Casey 6 hour. The event, which is part of the Casey-Cardinia HPV and Cycling Club - 2007 Cycling Festival saw some great racing with tough, but clean competition on the purpose built track at Casey Fields, Victoria. Throughout the event while strong winds played havoc for some vehicles, both DUSA teams performed well, holding positions within the top 10. At days end Phantom GT-06 placed 4th, completing 107 laps of the 2.2 km circuit and covering a distance of 240 kilometers. Meanwhile Phantom P3 placed 9th, completing 94 laps and covering a distance of 210 kilometers. Phantom would like to congratulate all competitors, including Ex Pats Racing - Ex Pats who placed first completing 112 laps. Thanks goes once again to our support crew and sponsors DUSA and Melbourne Bicycle Centre Prahan for their continued support. You can discuss the race and your experiences on our forum (registration required). Photos from the event are available in the gallery (more coming). YouTube videos of both GT-06 and P3 at the event. Results are available from the RaceTime website. Phantom will now begin preparations for the second round of the Australian International Pedal Prix, to be held in Adelaide, South Australia in July. |
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| Second place & fastest lap for Phantom GT6 in Adelaide! | ||
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Phantom GT6 (Deakin University Students Association ) set a blistering pace on Sunday at the first round of the Australian International Pedal Prix, held in Adelaide, South Australia. The start of the race saw Team Manager and rider Tim Corbett lead the race, starting from poll position. During the race the lead alternated between team Ballistic and Phantom GT6, while teams including Bluebird, Das, the Barossa Boys and Trisled were never too far behind. Riders put in good efforts, some even demonstrating the policy to "leave it all on the track" by requiring assistance to get out of the bike following their stints. Demonstrating the vehicles speed and cornering ability, Tim Corbett completed a blistering 2 minute 11 second lap (average speed of 42.5km/h) to cerment the fastest lap for the race. However at the end of the day with both teams on the same lap, it was Ballistic who crossed the line first, Phantom GT6 finishing about 1 minute back in a respectable second place. In what the team hopes will be a sign of the year ahead Phantom GT6 was a strong competitor for the entire 6 hours of the event. The team did not suffer any notable incidents or mechanical problems which can make a large impact on the end result. Team Manger, Tim Corbett indicated the teams thanks for a clean race. He congratulated Ballistic on the win and reported the Phantom GT6 team is "incredibly happy with how things went over the weekend". The team would like to acknowledge and thank the support crew for their assistance and the support of our sponsors DUSA and Melbourne Bicycle Centre Prahan. You can discuss the race and your experiences on our forum (registration required). Photos from the event are available in the gallery. More photos are available via the links in the forums. Phantom GT6 is now preparing to race this weekend at the Casey fields 6 hour community event. |
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| Gt-6 & P3 2007 Wonthaggi HPV Grand Prix Race Report | ||
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Last weekend Phantom (Deakin University Students Association) competed in the 2007 Wonthaggi HPV Grand Prix 24 hour HPV (Human Powered Vehicle) race. This was the first time the team has run two vehicles in a race and just getting both vehicles to the start line proved a challenge. While the race proven P3 was close to race ready, the week leading up to the race proved a hectic one for team members preparing the new vehicle GT-6 which was to debut at Wonthaggi. Team manager Tim Corbett summed his week leading up to the race: "I am looking forward to the race, so I can get some sleep!" Team members including riders spend Friday night working on the vehicle, finally race ready at 6am Saturday (race day).  Following one and a half hours sleep the vehicles were taken up to complete scrutineering. Both vehicle passed following some minor adjustments and an increase in the size of the vehicle number backings. P3 hit the track during the qualifying session, trying to allow as many riders as possible to familiarize themselves with the track and posting a solid 2:28.0390 lap in the process. Final adjustments to GT-6 left time for only a quick two laps in qualifying for the team, Matt taking the vehicle for its first test and posting a blistering lap time of 2:13.6360. This time ranked second just marginally slower than Bendigo Youth Racing - BY-06, placing GT-6 second on the grid for the start of the race.  Throughout the weekend Wonthaggi weather threw in some challenges, ranging from heavy rain to sunshine. Both teams were completing consistent laps for most of Saturday afternoon, apart from a couple of flat tyre incidents. GT-6 lost vital time following a crash which caused the derailleur to stop functioning. Nightfall was eventful with both teams experiencing crashes to varying degrees, as well as problems with their lighting and horn systems. Unfortunately time was wasted fixing these issues with replacement systems not available as expected.   Both teams completed the rest of the race consistently, but found it very difficult to make up lost time due to issues including those mentioned above. GT-6 completed 487 laps in 12th place and P3 completed 445 laps in 19th place. Results can be viewed on racetime.com.au.   Team manager Tim Corbett said it was preparation which beat the team however is looking forward to the rest of the year to "troubleshoot all the small things, and put in a solid year of racing." More: Discuss the event on our forum (registration required) Photos from the event (adding more daily) Race Report by Nigel Preston - RACV Energy Breakthrough Other event photos 1, 2, 3, 4 Sponsor: Melbourne Bicycle Centre (Prahran) |
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| Results Released! | ||
 The official results from Round 3 of the Australian HPV Super Series (Australian International Pedal Prix) have been released on www.pedalprix.com.au, after more than a week. According to the official results, Phantom GT placed 10th, completing 375 laps of the 2.15 kilometer course. This equates to over 805 kilometers over the 24 hour period and an race average of 33.5 km/h. The first lap appears to have been the fastest, with a time of 02:54.1 recorded by Team Manager Tim Corbett, an average of 44.46km/h in some intense heat. While the official lap count is approximately 13 laps less than Phantom GT's own data this may be explained by the loss of data with the official system. Loss of official lap counting data  According to an email sent from the Pedal Prix to team managers today, more than 40 minutes of race lap counting data was lost, including the: - "First lot at 18 hours 26 mins 49.03 secs race time (10 mins 41.5 secs of data corrupted)." - "Second lot at 22 hours 39 mins 43.72 secs race time (33 min 48.93 secs of data corrupted)." According to the email this loss of data was not due to the initial failure, but rather human error. "The Board is understandably embarrassed by this failure in what should have been a fail proof system and asks that you accept their apologies." The board also acknowledged the disadvantage to some teams with the yellow flag / course car intervention: "As is the case during a course car intervention, some teams will benefit from this some will be disadvantaged " The eventual race winner was 132 Ballistic completing 430 laps, closely followed by Bendigo Youth Racing completing 427 laps. Congratulations to the winners and all teams! You can comment on the 2006 AIPP on our team forum. Note: Registration required. |
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| Photos from the 2006 AIPP | ||
While results are still not officially announced, Phantom GT has released photos from the 2006 Australian International Pedal Prix.         You can view the all the photos including larger sizes in our gallery. Thanks to Bondy, Brian and Ben for supplying the photos! We have also started a new thread on our team forum if you would like to comment on the 2006 AIPP. Note: Registration required. |
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| AIPP 2006 | ||
Last weekend Phantom 'GT' from Deakin University competed in the 2006 Australian International Pedal Prix. The team performed well completing 389 laps over the 24 hour period, covering a distance of 836.35km at an overall average speed of 34.8km/h *.  Although not without incident... The Phantom GT team experienced its fair share of mechanical problems. Some nasty crashes and roll overs caused damage to steering, flat tires and other problems. A strong vehicle combined with quick and efficient responses from the teams support crew (as well as assistance from other teams) allowed the vehicle to return to the track with a minimal amount of lost time (approximately 40-50 mins). Given the circumstances this could have been much worse. Incidents such as these highlight the importance of support crew, the team would like to thank all members of our support crew for their hard work and dedication shown in the lead up to and at the event. Phantom GT was not the only team to suffer from crashes and roll overs. Team Dragon III - Sage entered the event with some innovative design concepts, however unfortunately due to a number of incidents the full potential of these ideas was not seen at this race. Team manager Al Mc Bride said he believes the team will be back; in full force, however at this stage he was not sure if this would be at next years event. Due to a failure in the events official timing system the official results have not been announced. This caused confusion and disappointment for many teams, especially those at the front of the field. Teams such as Phantom GT found it difficult to know exactly which teams to chase, however kept a solid pace regardless. When the timing system failed at 06:40am on Sunday 17th September two teams, vehicle number 161 - "BY-06" from Bendigo Youth Racing Inc and vehicle number 132 - "Ballistic" from Team Ballistic where leading the race on the same lap. At this time Phantom GT was on 289 laps of the 2.15 km circuit and in 10th position. Phantom GT has its own automatic lap counting system which is used for monitoring rider performance, lap time feedback and post race analysis. Using this information the team completed 389 laps over the 24 hour period, covering a distance of 836.35km at an overall average speed of 34.8km/h.  For the first time the team has decided to make this information public ally available. You can view the lap monitoring system information using the links below: - Practice Session (Friday 15th September 2006) - 2006 AIPP 24 Hour Endurance Race (Saturday 16th September to Sunday 17th September 2006) Please note: times may differ slightly from the official system due to different counting positions on the track and all times shown are displayed in Victorian times (GMT +10 hours). Saturday at 8:45pm the race was stalled with the entire course under yellow flag conditions. Yellow flag conditions involve a pace car slowing vehicle and a "no passing" rule. Due to the multiple incidents three ambulances where required to attend on the track. The yellow flag conditions halted the race for over 1 hour and 10 minutes. Luckily, members of Phantom GT and Team Dragon III - Sage where more than happy to provide some entertainment to riders during this period, with some sidelines shenanigans. Meanwhile many riders in the vehicles chatted amongst themselves. The event received Australia wide exposure through an interview by Phantom GT team manager Tim Corbett on the ABC National Radio show Sports Factor. You can view the transcript for the interview or download the mp3 (note third segment).  Phantom GT shared camping and pit facilities with Team Dragon III - Sage and would like to thank them for their support and encouragement during the event. Thank you also to other teams who were more than happy to lend support during the event including Bendigo Youth Racing for lending their generator to assist in preparations for scrutineering. Photos and further updates (including results) will follow as they become available. Comments on Event Management While there were some improvements to the management of this years event including powered pit lanes, it is the opinion of Phantom GT that some aspects could be improved: - The management of the yellow flag conditions. In our opinion any incident which requires attendance from an ambulance should be an automatic red flag. All vehicles should be moved by marshals to the left hand side of the road or returned to their pits. In multiple instances during the events main yellow conditions ambulances where prevented from attending the scene of the accident and leaving the track quickly because of moving competitor vehicles. - Event timing. The event timing system clearly needs a review. It is vital to an event such as this that not only results be available during the race but be available immediately after the race. Phantom GT also believes event organizers should make individual lap times available during and following the event similar to Race Time who previously managed the events timing. This promotes openness, transparency and trust in the timing system. - PA system coverage. While the coverage of the events PA system has improved, we would encourage this to include the Category 4 pit lane. * Note: The race statistics above are based on unofficial information. |
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| Final Countdown! | ||
With less than five days until the 2006 Australian International Pedal Prix (AIPP), Phantom GT team members are now in the final stages of preparation for the event. Although the latest Phantom HPV will not be racing, the team still believes it has a chance to be up with the race leaders. Team manager Tim Corbett said yesterday that he expected some aerodynamic improvements to the vehicle will have a signification impact. The team is grateful to have even more race support this year from support crew who have signed up for the trip to South Australia. Tim said he believes this kind of support is "vital" for a strong team. Tim also noted: "Expect to 'hear' from us at the event - we will be LOUD ...and loving it!"  The 2006 AIPP will have some strong competition. Wonthaggi team - "Team Dragon" (who have been working with Phantom) recently reported that their preparations were also on track. Good luck to all competitors. The team expects to update www.phantomp3.com on the 19th with reports and photos from the event. |
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| New Human-Powered World Hour Speed Record | ||
Nissan track in Arizona: Fred Markham has just set a new World Hour Record by covering an amazing 85.4 km in a fully faired recumbent bicycle in one hour at the 2006 Dempsey-MacCready One Hour Record Attempts. This beating Sam Whittinghams' 2004 record by 1 km. This is especially impressive given Fred's age - 50. Fred Markham at 50 years of age, new world record holder. |
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| 2006 Phantom Vehicle Launch | ||
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The Deakin University Phantom Pedal Prix team have today announced the launch date of the their 2006 vehicle, the Phantom GT. The team has set the release date to co-incide with Deakin University's Open Day - August 27th. Fittingly, the vehicle will be also be unveiled at the university. The date is also the same weekend as the 2006 Maroondah 6 hour HPV event, which will be the vehicle's first competition race. With vehicle construction now back on schedule after early moulding problems, the team has settled on the launch date. The team captain also added - "This won't just be static display, the Phantom GT will be ready to race..." |
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| Bicycle Victoria - Ron Shepherd Memorial Prize | ||
| Phantom P3 team manager Tim Corbett was recently awarded a commendation award for the development work on the monocoque design recumbent trikes that the Team have been racing for the last two years. | ||
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| Team Dragon 111 | ||
| The Phantom team have also been working closely with the Wonthaggi Dragon team. Team Dragon's team manager Alister McBride recently compiled the following newsletter, which is being made publicly available with their permision. | ||
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| Vehicle Construction Update | ||
Construction of the long heralded 2006 Deakin Univeristy Vehicle, the Phantom GT, is now well underway. As the team passes 200 hours of construction, the first two (of three) moulds have emerged from a humble garage in St Albans Park. Spy camera's revealed the following picture of the lower fairing mould (inverted): The Deakin team is preparing to manufacture its chassis for 2006 in the comming weeks, using the tried and tested vacuum bagging lay-up process refined in 2005. Although still tight with information, it is believed that Team Management will be releasing more details and photos of moulds very soon. "If everything goes according to plan, we will be racing our new vehicle at Round 2 of the super series..." |
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| Casey Cardinia 6 hour event | ||
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3rd in cat, 8th outright. AWESOME venue. Looking forward to coming back for some REALLY fast racing in the future... |
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| Wonthaggi 24hour HPV event | ||
| This was long overdue... | ||
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| Phantom P3 wins Maryborough Invitational | ||
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The Phantom P3 team yesterday brough home the line honours at the 3rd Annual HPV Enthusiasts 63km Time Trial. Three team members attended the event, Alistar Mc Bride and Tim Corbett rode the pioneering 2004 vehicle "Phantom Stealth" and the 2005 "Phantom P3" respectively, while the venerable Brian provided mobile support for the team. In sweltering conditions touching on 40 oC, the ability to call for more water made all the difference - the P3 vehicle finished almost 10 minutes in front of the nearest competitor, completing the 63km in 1hr 36mins at an average speed just short of 40km/h. Despite vehicle problems, Alistar also finished strongly in the Phantom Stealth taking out 3rd postion outright. |
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| 2006 Vehicle Design Complete | ||
.............. ..............The Phantom P3 team has confirmed their updated vehicle design for 2006, moving towards a much sleeker airfoil profile with minor additions to improve airflow around the rider's head. Team Manager Tim Corbett said that the monocoque design would be retained, but that they also expect to save upto another 2kg off their current vehicle weight of 22kg. "While acceleration from corners and uphill speed will be better, what I'm really excited about is the new aerodynamic package... our average and top speeds should be at least 10% faster!" - although you got the feeling speaking to Mr Corbett much larger gains are to be made. Although the vehicle design has only just been finalised, development work in several areas is already well underway, including composite moulded lenticular wheel covers, re-routed brake cables to for extra simplicity and weight savings, and resurection of the deceased seat mould from 2005. |
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| 2006 Event Calander Released | ||
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The Phantom P3 team has announced its competition calander for 2006, adding three new events to their cometition season for the year. The team decided early to make the pilgrimage to Wonthaggi, with the Maryborough time trial early prepartation for the 24hour event. The team is also excited to add the Salamanca 6 hour event in Tasmania, bringing the competition tally to 6 events in three states. Commitments pending, the team will probably also attend the OzHPV Championships , held on the 1st and 2nd of April this year at Broadford. PHANTOM P3 RACE CALANDER Jan 22 - Maryborough HPV Enthusiasts annual 63km invitational time trial Feb 24-26 - Wonthaggi 24 Hour GP Apr 30 - Salamanca 6 Hour HPV event - Tasmania May 21 - Round 1 Australian HPV super series July 30 - Round 2 Australian HPV super series Sep 15-17 Round 3 AHPVSS - The Australian International Pedal Prix Subject to meeting vehicle development deadlines, the team is also interested in adding the remaining two victorian events - Berwick and Maroondah - to complete a comprehensive calendar. |
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| Phantom P3 goes around the bay... | ||
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Along with almost 6000 other cyclists (on normal bikes mind you) team member Tim Corbett piloted the Phantom P3 trike, riding just over 230km to complete the journey, around Port Philip Bay in the 2005 Portfolio Partners "Around the Bay in a day". Interest in the HPV was phenominal, with plenty of good humor flowing "you got a motor in that thing?" or "gez, its a long way to bob sled down here isn't it?". No it doesn't have a motor. Really, it doesn't. Yes, I am actually pedalling. It is in actual fact much faster than a normal road bicycle. It wieghts 22kg. Going down hills is fun. Going back up is not. ...the answers to FAQ's And a few pics for good measure to follow -->   Croozing along the princess, to catch up with my riding buddies   Cresting the westgate, and an intrigued rider checks out the trike |
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| AIPP Photos Released! | ||
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More photos from the 2005 Australian International Pedal Prix are now online. Click for a larger image (opens in new window).                     Thanks to Ben, Shane and Tim for providing these photos... |
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| 2005 AIPP race results | ||
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The 2005 team are proud to announce our final placings at the 2005 Australian International Pedal Prix. 2nd - Outright (endurance + design & construction + presentation) 2nd - Design and Construction 2nd - Vehicle and Team Presentation 4th - Australian HPV Super Series 6th - AIPP Endurance event Miscellaneous details: -388 laps completed -Average speed - 34.9 km/h -Fastest lap of 02:56.3 (6th fastest outright) at an average speed of 44.2km/h -Total number of rollovers - 5 -Impact on vehicle structural integrity - nill -Impact on vehicle aerodynamics - approax 10% -Impact on lap times - approax 5-7% -Total number of unforced rollovers - nill -Total number of wheel changes - 6 -Total number of other mechanical failures - nill -Total run time of headlights from 3 AA batteries - 10 hours -Total number of half empty water bottles retrieved from the tail of the vehicle - 8 (I couldn't help myself, I had to put that last line in...) |
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| 2005 AIPP Event Photos | ||
 The team gathers before heading out onto the track for the 2005 AIPP   Some final preparations, as Jarrod models our aero helmet  Please - No more photos!  Some of the "WICKED SICK!" team members  Team captian heading off for the last stint to bring home 6th place - note the 'modified' angle of the roll cage! Thankfully it was as sturdy at the end of the race as it was at the start.  A Layten Hewit style "Cummon!", or as we prefer - A duffman "Ohhhh Yeaahhhh"  Some peace and quite at last... Stay tuned for a full event run down in the next couple of days. |
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| 2005 AIPP | ||
The Phantom P3 HPV team from Deakin University Geelong left today to travel to South Australia for the final 2005 Australian HPV (Human Powered Vehilce) Series event. The team will join over 200 other competitors in the major event of the calander - the 2005 Australian International Pedal Prix to be held this weekend at Stuart Reserve, Murray Bridge, South Australia. The team consists of 8 riders who will ride the new recumbent HPV over the 24 hour period and a number of support crew. While the number of support crew is smaller than most teams competing, these dedicated team members will all contribute to various activities vital to a successful race including Pit Crew, Rider Support, Event Marshalling and Catering. Check back here on www.phantomp3.com for a comprehensive race report and lots of photos of the event from next Wednesday, September 21. |
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| New Vehicle Hits The Road | ||
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With the Australian International Pedal Prix - a 24 hour endurance race just days away, the PhantomP3 team are continuing preparations behind the scenes, and putting the final touches on the new vehicle. Team Manger, Tim Corbett said he is very happy with the way the new vehicle has come along. The new vehicle weighs an considerable amount less than last years vehicle which has been used for the previous 6 hour races and training this year.  Much to the interest of some local residents, the new vehicle hit the road today. Very impressed with the new vehicle following a ride, one team member reported "this vehicle feels really good, and it is going to be very fast". The team leaves this Thursday to travel to Murray Bridge. |
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| HPV Super Series - Round 2 results | ||
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Our final placings for the second round are: --- ROUND 2 (6hours) --- 4th Outrigth 4th in Category 119 laps completed 7th Fastest lap time of 02:41.5 (Lap 65) 201 km completed in 6hours:02minutes, at an average speed of 33.2km/h An excellent weekend of racing, with a special thank you to Adelaide for turning on the fantastic weather! |
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| HPV Super Seriers - Round 2 Event Run Down | ||
The Deakin HPV Phantom P3 team again placed well in the second race of the HPV super series. While still feilding an incomplete team of riders, this time around the team line up was bolstered with two extra riders, and what proved to be extremely valuable support crew.  Utilising the benefit of instant lap time feedback and rapid pit changes, the team was able to shorten rider stints and better manage the intensity of racing at the highest possible level.   By incorporating a vehicle shake down test after saturday's scrutineering, the team successfully avoided the mechanical mishaps of round 1. This time a slow flat was rectified before it could cost valueable time in Sunday's Race. The race was completed without missing a beat: the team successfully avoiding carnage and mishaps that slowed some of the other front runners early in the race. The team has successfully defended its outright 4th place, and amoungst a stronger feild decreased their gap to the leaders from 4 laps after the first round event, to only 1 lap after the second round event!   Once again a great weekend of racing for all! |
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| Monocoque Design | ||
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In 2004 the Deakin University team Phantom P3 were believed to be the first team on the Australian HPV circuit to successfully adopt a Monocoque style design HPV. Team Manager Tim Corbett estimates the seat structure accounts for 70% of the stiffness and strength of the vehicle, while the lower fairing accounts for the other 30%". This feature article explains what a Monocoque is, and why more and more HPV designers will look at Monocoque designs in the future.  "Monocoque (French for "single shell") or unibody is a construction technique that uses the external skin of an object to support some or most of the load on the structure. This is as opposed to using an internal framework (or truss) that is then covered with a non-load-bearing skin. Monocoque construction was first widely used in aircraft, starting in the 1930s, and is the predominant automobile construction technology today."  Adoption of Monocoque designs for air craft has resulted in "a structure that was just as strong as ones made with older methods, but weighed considerably less". These are the key advantages to this style of design, and further development of a new vehicle this year will reduce the overall vehicle weight considerably.  Article Information Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monocoque |
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| HPV Super Series - Round 1 results | ||
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Our final placings for the first round are: --- RACE 2 (3hours) --- 4th Outrigth 4th in Category 59 laps completed 3rd Fastest lap time of 02:31.3 (Lap 51) --- RACE 1 (3hours) --- 14th Outrigth 6th in Category 55 laps completed 7th Fastest lap time of 02:31.2 (Lap 40) Well done to everyone who travelled to Adelaide for the weekend, and for the excellent race results despite early mechanical problems. |
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| HPV Super Series – Round 1 update | ||
Phantom P3 competed in Round 1 of the AIPP HPV super series over the weekend at Adelaide’s Victoria Park. For the first time the event attracted a field of nearly 100 teams from across SA and Victoria. Although rain threatened during scrutineering on Saturday, Adelaide put on fine and sunny weather for the two 3 hour sprint events on Sunday.   The team competed well in both 3 hour events, finishing especially strong in the second event, narrowly missing a podium finish and placing well up the top ten. This was a surprise for most team members, no-one expected to place so strongly in what was originally planned as a fun weekend. Additionally, rider training had only begun several weeks prior to the first round event. |
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| AIPP Round 1 Photos Released | ||
Phantom P3 has released photos from the 2005 AIPP Round 1, including photos of the Phantom P3 vehicle, competitors and some crashes!   The full photo collection from the weekend can be viewed here    |
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| Phantom HPV competes at International Pedal Prix (2004) | ||
What a weekend! All those who travelled to Murray Bridge in SA with the Phantom HPV (Human Powered Vehicle) team will attest that there wasn't a dull moment from Friday morning all the way through to Sunday night. For the uninitiated, the Australian International Pedal Prix is a 24 endurance event where teams of eight riders take turns to ride a recumbent trike around a closed loop circuit (complete track distance of 2.04km), competing against up to 200 other trikes on the same course. Similar to F-SAE, the event also incorporates judging of a design and construction component, along with a vehicle presentation element. The event is the largest of its type in the world. |
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