Riding behind a ‘brick’ the air it pushed aside
would collapse behind me, pushing me along,
and I would have that vital slipstream pocket
to pedal in.

Jason showed me four different computer-

generated models of how the slipstream

behind the truck would work using different

kinds of fairings.

With the standard truck, the area of dead air
that I wanted to be in was too far ahead of me
and I was, instead, cycling though an area of
turbulence that was actually making things
more difficult for me. The second scenario
showed how it would work with a totally
square truck, the roof extended right to the
back and a flat rear end and sides extending
down almost to the ground – the ‘brick’ that

44    Britain’s Fastest Bike

Jason described earlier. This provided a good
slipstream envelope for me to ride in; pretty
much what we were after.

The only problem might be that

the screen would create so much

drag for the truck that it wouldn’t

be able to go fast enough.

Another possibility was to use a shed-type

canopy, a bit like the fairing that Mile-a-Minute

Murphy had on the back of his steam train. This

would create a slightly better bubble but, at the

sort of speed we were talking about, any slight

error or bump on the ground could take me into

the side walls without any chance of me being

able to recover control.

The fourth concept was a far simpler affair.

Basically, it was a flat screen attached to the

Above: Dave added a shelf at the bottom of the

fairing to stop debris flying up at me.

Previous page: Jason Hill

roughs out a few sketches

to show how the air will

flow around the truck.

Above: The flat screen

fairing was the most

effective way of creating

the slipstream pocket.