Schools have been taking to practice tracks in Casey, Cobden and Bendigo over the past month to prepare their riders, practice their changeovers and hone their vehicles. Through each session, the excitement is building for the trek to Maryborough for the 23rd RACV Energy Breakthrough.
In-vehicle practice is a vital part of preparing for the Energy Breakthrough and clocking up enough hours for our VicRoads Log Book and Licence requirements. More information on the Log Book and License requirements can be found in the school’s handbook, available from our Downloads page.
Here’s a quick wrap:
Bendigo 12 Hour Training Event
Over in Bendigo, an impressive 30 teams from 14 schools participated in a 12 hour practice session around the Bendigo Sale and Stockyards. The quality and quantity of the teams in Bendigo suggests that this city could now be considered the epic-centre of Human Powered Vehicles in Australia – though I’m sure that there would be some that might dispute this claim!
This looks like a well run show if this impressive footage captured by Brendan Cherry of Mile Creations is anything to go by:
(Video courtesy of Mile Creations)
The spring weather welcomed riders and their pit crews, which was a nice change from a bitter winter.
One team manager noted to event organiser Ashley Steel of Victory College:
And another:
(Image courtesy of: Ashley Steel)
Casey 6 Hour and Night Test Session
Further night time testing took place at Casey Fields over the weekend of October 12 and 13 as the Casey Cycling and HPV Club held their final six hour event of the year and obstacle race.
This was the first trial of night practice at Casey Fields Circuit and the club gathered some excellent feedback to refine it in the future.
The Sunday six-hour event featured 84 teams battling each other and persistent rain in the final race of the year for the Community teams. Team Trisled took overall line honours, with the leading school team from EDEC with their ‘Fire Breathing Rubber Duckies’ just ahead of Woodleigh’s ‘Danger Zone’.
(Image credit: Katie Harris)
A photo gallery is available on the Victorian HPV Series Facebook page >
Full results are available here: http://www.racetiming.com.au/RESULTS/results_2013.html
Cobden Challenge
The now annual Cobden Challenge was scheduled for late September and hosted by Chris Brooks of Cobden Secondary College. The College has a rich hybrid and Energy Efficient Vehicle (EEV) history and this event provides them with an annual opportunity to test and tune alongside other teams.
For more information about future track days and preparation events, join our online community on Facebook or Twitter.
