their knees, they can avoid being thrown off

course and off balance. Building any kind of

suspension system into the sled would make it

more complex and probably end up adding too

much weight, so my only shock absorber would

be the foam padding on the sled’s seat, but

making the whole sled robust enough would

help to hold me on course.

With that in mind, we decided to use

box-section steel tubing to create a simple,

square chassis. At the sides, the steel cross

members would stick out a bit to allow us

to mount the two skis that were to act as

our runners as far apart as we wanted. This

was important to give us the ideal weight

distribution. If you watch someone skiing for

fun on an average slope, they will have their

skis quite close together, especially if they are

on a slope where they are negotiating humps,

called moguls, in the snow. They want to keep

their skis together so that they can easily

transfer their weight from one ski to the other

in order to turn. If you watch a downhill racer,

you will see them stand taller, with their skis

closer together, when they are turning, but

when they are cruising down a straight section

they adopt the ‘tuck’ position, hunkering down

with their chest on their thighs, and their skis

further apart for even weight distribution and

to keep the skis flat on the snow. Flat means

less drag, more speed. Speed skiers, who go

straight downhill, use the tuck position all the

time. We needed to find the ideal width to set

our skis for the best weight distribution and

stability, hence the longer cross members,

which would allow us to move the mounting

Top: Looking through the

very familiar motorcycle

fairing on the supersled

during construction.

Bottom: Taking a few

rough edges off the

carbon fibre bodywork of

the main fairing.

building a record breaker    231