times they’ve made me do daft things like

borrowing someone’s bathroom scales!

We had a timing system set up on the slope

that gave a readout of my speed, and as I got

more confident the speed began to creep

higher. Apart from having my chin inches

from the ground, the prototype felt nothing

like the bucket on the Cresta Run. It was solid

and controllable, with none of the bucket’s

twitchiness. The sled held its line going down

the slope and I didn’t have the feeling that it

wanted to slither off sideways.

I managed speeds of around 30 mph, but

never actually felt that I was going very fast,

which tended to make me think that the sled

was going to be capable of far higher speeds.

Considering the length of the Snozone slope

and the fact that I would be on a far longer and

steeper run when I was going for the record,

riding a sled that had far better slipstreaming,

I thought that the test session was really

encouraging. Onwards and upwards!

indoor snow    241

Left: The briefings here

weren’t quite as serious

as in St Moritz!

Following page:
Touching the brakes at
the end of a run.

Top: Feet up for speed

on the first run.

Middle: Leaning right
and cutting into the
snow.

Bottom: We had a timer

set up on the slope to

find out just how fast the

prototype would go.