Neil Campbell breaks European motor-paced cycling speed record

sizbut wrote:

It does appear to be more a record for successfully slowing down from X rather than one for pedalling at or getting up to X. Like jumping off a low step and then claiming that technically your were flying. 

Well put.  Also the Brazilian record was achieved on a normal road bike as far as I am aware.  I know which one feels like the more impressive exploit.

BehindTheBikesheds wrote:

Er, the record is 166.944mph not 167, please bother to check facts Road CC and not rely on some idiots at ITV!

Also this is only over a 200m timed course which is a complete nonsense, the existing and previous record holders had to cycle and get an average of the speed over a mile. Typical 'modern' variant way of beating old records by bending the rules not impressive. It's far harder holding that speed over a mile than it is 200m ffs!

This twisting of the rules is perfectly shown in the breaking of Tommy Godwin's year record by using completely flat routes, driven back to a starting point to take advantage of terrain and weather, closed circuit routes and even recumbents. meh.

Nothing was stopping Tommy from doing any of those things? Just sayin'.

Although, being towed up to speed doesn't seem to be in the spirit of the record. 200m might be more for safety? Less chance of falling off compared to a mile. Also, how long would the runway need to be if you had to accelerate up to ≠167mph, do a mile, then deccelerate to a stop?

ChrisB200SX wrote:

BehindTheBikesheds wrote:

Er, the record is 166.944mph not 167, please bother to check facts Road CC and not rely on some idiots at ITV!

Also this is only over a 200m timed course which is a complete nonsense, the existing and previous record holders had to cycle and get an average of the speed over a mile. Typical 'modern' variant way of beating old records by bending the rules not impressive. It's far harder holding that speed over a mile than it is 200m ffs!

This twisting of the rules is perfectly shown in the breaking of Tommy Godwin's year record by using completely flat routes, driven back to a starting point to take advantage of terrain and weather, closed circuit routes and even recumbents. meh.

Nothing was stopping Tommy from doing any of those things? Just sayin'.

Although, being towed up to speed doesn't seem to be in the spirit of the record. 200m might be more for safety? Less chance of falling off compared to a mile. Also, how long would the runway need to be if you had to accelerate up to ≠167mph, do a mile, then deccelerate to a stop?

Recumbents weren't a thing in 1939 and are a completely different machine and have their own section when it comes to speed/distance records, they should not be allowed. if you think Godwin would have got away with being driven back to a starting point a la KS to take advantage of prevailing winds/terrain say to ride in the Fens on totally flat terrain you'll be kidding yourself. He would have been ashamed to do it as no-one else of that era or the record hoders before had done such a thing and certainly joe public would see it as cheating and it certainly wasn't within any spirit of what cycling was about. Riding on a closed circuit AKA a track that has zero elevation whilst using a recumbent just takes the piss, it's a totally different record to Godwin's, yet again the Ultra cycling lot make a mockery of the old records. In fact Guiness and indeed UMCR both ignore Godwins monthly mileage record of 8583, which eclipses Croker's effort by over 500 miles.

As I said, the modern rules allow virtually anything and the records and rules of old are ignored, just in exactly the same way the flying mile is ignored for a far more simplistic and easier flying 200m is for the speed record, that's EIGHT times less to maintain top speed, not even close to being the same record!