Spoiler Alert: Don’t read the last paragraph if you don’t want to discover whether Martin beat the world record he was aiming for
Anyone who saw the 2011 documentary TT3D: Closer to the Edge would have spotted that one participant was definitely a ‘colourful character.’ Channel 4 obviously noticed as well and signed up Guy Martin to front a series of programmes about breaking speed records. Having witnessed the horrendous crash he suffered in the 2010 Isle of Man TT race you would be forgiven for thinking that all he wanted now was a comfy chair and the chance to reminisce about the old days. But Martin is made of sterner stuff and still loves a challenge. This week he was trying to break the world record for fastest speed achieved in an HPA.
What’s an HPA? It’s a Human Powered Aircraft, and there are enough of them about that in 2013 the Royal Aeronautical Society held the Icarus Cup to allow the various teams to compete and try and beat the current world record of 27.5mph. Conveniently for the film makers this is held by Gunther Rochelt, enabling the attempt to be portrayed as a battle to wrest the record back from our arch-enemies the Germans.
The programme was able to show some of the ridiculous attempts at human-powered flight that have been caught on (usually grainy black and white) film over the years. Then we met the boffins and students at Southampton, who were going to provide the brainpower. The last time the record was held by the British it was by a team from Southampton, so Martin was able to go and call on the old-timers and get advice for his attempt. Back in 1961 the students had managed to fly at 20mph. Things haven’t progressed far, and simple but informative graphics explained some of the reasons why. To cut a very complicated story short let’s just say that in doubling the speed, the drag quadruples and the power required increases by a factor of eight. And fit though he is, Guy Martin isn’t eight times more powerful than the original students.
The design chosen was based on a bike with added wings. The plan was simple. Martin would be cocooned inside, pedalling like billyo whilst an expert pilot controlled the flight by remote control. Some unnecessary but exciting footage showed Martin learning to fly a glider. All he actually had to do though was pedal. Very fast. Non-stop for three minutes.
Convenient plot points fitted in with the advert breaks. By the second break all was looking bad. Martin wasn’t pedalling fast enough, the plane wasn’t ready and there were only three months to go. The narration would have you believe that the world as we know it was doomed. Somehow though there was enough time for Martin to get fitter and the plane to be finished. They made the starting line at the Icarus Cup, but Martin had lost some of his confidence. The original aim had been to beat the world record. Now he said it would be nice to be the fastest in the competition. Or even, he admitted, it would be nice just to get the bike up into the air and fly.
Martin makes an ideal presenter for this type of programme. Maybe it was clever editing and he is actually really boring, but he seemed to say something amusing every time the camera was stuck in his face. The result of the Icarus Cup came at the end of the programme. Everyone seemed pleased with the result, although the record books won’t have to be rewritten.
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