You may remember our report earlier this year on the Red Bull Mini Drome when it was temporarily installed at Bethnal Green’s York Hall – the spectacle was memorably likened by TR to watching “a cat on a bicycle, cycling around in your bath.” Now, track cycling fans in Scotland’s largest city will have the chance to see the Minidrome for themselves and even ride it when it visits Glasgow in October.
Built by Velotrack, who designed the tracks for the Atlanta Olympics and Delhi Commonwealth Games, the velodrome, on which riders can hit speeds of up to 80 kph, will be at the Old Fruit Market on 2 October 2011.
Anyone with a fixed gear bike can apply to take part in the event, with registration through the Red Bull website. More than 100 competitors will race against the clock, with those posting the ten quickest times going through to the finals, which will have an individual pursuit final.
Entry for spectators will be free – although donations to Glasgow Bike Shed or Wings for Life are encouraged – on a first-come, first-served basis at the venue, which has a capacity of 400 people.
The three winners will receive custom gold, silver and bronze Charge bikes, and Neil Cousins from the brand said: “We’re excited to be part of Red Bull Mini Drome once again. After a thrilling and successful night at the last event in York Hall, London, we wanted to help bring even more to Glasgow.”
The text at the end of the video says that the Red Bull Minidrome is coming to the Barrowland Ballroom on 25 June 2011 – don’t let that fool you, as we said earlier it’s 2 October and the venue is The Old Fruit Market.
6 thoughts on “Red Bull Mini Drome comes to Glasgow in October – and you can ride it! (+ video)”
80kph you are having a laugh.
80kph you are having a laugh. :)) I ride a 42:17 about 66″ which would need a cadence of 254! Don’think that’s what Chris Hoy uses =)) Is that sort of speed possible on such a short circuit? Might give it a go, should be a laugh but 80kph that’s 50 mph fgs!
I would guess 80kph is the
I would guess 80kph is the working limit of those corners – but that includes a considerable safety margin. I’ll be surprised if anyone can actually hit more than about 55kph without falling off or throwing up.
What kind of G-force is in
What kind of G-force is in effect on those corners? For example riding round a standard velodrome the G-force at the corners is sufficient to stop you falling off, however changing direction in such a short distance is going to mean much higher G-forces. Even if 80kph were possible in such a short space I would expect the G-force on the corner would cause you to black out.
Not as much as you’d think.
Not as much as you’d think. Assuming the turn radius to be 8m, I get 1.5G at 40kph. Even at the suggested 80kph, it’s 6.3G, which is completely insane on a bicycle but not enough to cause a blackout.
Consequently, I redact my comment above about riders throwing up.
Oops, hang on, got my radius
Oops, hang on, got my radius and diameter mixed up. Those values should be double what they are. 3.1G at 40kph, and a frankly insane 12.6G at 80kph – enough to cause blackouts. These are assuming a turn *radius* of 4m (and hence a diameter of 8m), which is actually generous, I think that track looks smaller. If it is smaller, then the forces are even higher than that. Gulp.
As much as i’d love to have a
As much as i’d love to have a go, i dont have a fixie PLUS and more importantly i value my elbows to much to have them ripped to shreds as i unbalance round the bends, lol