UK Sport, English Institute develop new drag resistant clothing

[MatParker117]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/ot...p-new-drag-resistant-clothing-and-helmet.html

Helmet Photo:

Explanation:

"The mechanism by which reduced drag is achieved is not fully understood, as the provision of a significant vent at the rear of the hard shell would seem counterintuitive.
"However, it appears that, particularly when a rider's torso is inclined at about 30 degrees to the horizontal, as is often the case in cycle racing, the flow of air from the rear of the helmet significantly improves the air flow patterns down the back of the rider, thus reducing drag."

Skinsuit Photo:

Explantion:

"It has been found that in cycling, air to the rear of an arm or leg flows upwards along the arm or leg and is a significant cause of overall drag on the cyclist.
"By including an air flow disruption device on the rear of the arm or leg, this flow is broken up, reducing the overall drag.
"The kicks can be made of any suitable material, but conveniently they are moulded plastic stuck onto a cyclist's suit. Alternatively they can be made by heat moulding the material of the suit."

Should be interesting to see what this does in Time Trials.

 

[avanti]

.........................
Should be interesting to see what this does in Time Trials.

It may be that the jersey does not comply with UCI rule 1.3.033

[It is forbidden to wear non-essential items of clothing or items designed to influence the performances
of a rider such as reducing air resistance or modifying the body of the rider (compression,
stretching, support).]

 

[oldcrank]

Okay, now I'm glad I haven't forked over my life savings for a
Kask Bambino.

Yes, I agree that at this time the skin-suit is possibly not UCI
compliant, but it might still be legal for tri's or RTTC events...
and that would still be a fair sized market.

 

[oldcrank]

Helmet Photo:

Hey, that actually looks very similar to one of my old
training buddies "head fairing" when they first started
enforcing a maximum length ruling and he just sawed
his helmet to length. Of course, those were simpler
times before there were "no tampering" rules regarding
helmets and such.

 

[StyrbjornSterki]

Seems to me, the hole in the tail of the helmet exhausts airflow into the low pressure area between the shoulder blades. This "normalises" the (low) pressure in that region so airflow is more likely to remain laminar across the back. If it were to become turbulent, the 'burbling' would result in increased drag. The "speed hump" motorcycle roadracers have on the backs of their leathers does the same thing, only it uses mechanical rather than aerodynamic means:


Since there is no void between their shoulder blades, neither can their be a low air pressure area there.

The welts on the backs of the sleeves probably function as vortex generators, which reduce drag by delaying the onset of boundary layer separation (boundary layer separation=>drag). The reason they form an upward-pointing 'V' is that Coandă effect will cause the airflow to follow the contours of the arms (upwards) as it flows past them.

Basically what they're wanting to do is manage the airflow stem to stern so it contains as close as possible to the same kinetic energy when it spills off the cyclist as it did when he collided with it.