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BORA-Hansgrohe Gave Red Bull Wings… Literally

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The Red Bull stunts are getting ridiculous. A few weeks ago, Matt Jones jumped his bike through a gap between two semi-trucks moving in opposite directions. Last year, Dawid Godziek did an entire slopestyle run across multiple train cars. Godziek starts his run, flips between ten different train cars, and lands in the same spot on the railroad tracks.

And these are just Red Bull’s special projects. Rampage and Hardline are now just “regular” events we anticipate every year.

Now, the Red Bull BORA-Hansgrohe race team has tried something never done before. Or, even attempted, for that matter. Can nine elite races generate enough speed and watts to be able to launch a plane? To do so, they will need to reach speeds of at least 45km/h, with each bike connected to another, towing a plane.

What could go wrong?

Check out the video above. And, as a final thought, is anyone getting Santa/reindeer vibes from this? I mean, they released the video just before the holidays. Reach out to me, Red Bull, I’ve got ideas.

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Frank
Frank
23 days ago

A very contrived stunt filmed for maximum “emotion”.

Some facts:

  • the ultralight glider is an Archeopteryx weighing ca. 60kg
  • the guy in the cockpit comes from paragliding, not gliding
  • with some educated guesses re. weight and sink rate, I estimated the power required to launch as 750 W (less if there is a headwind)
  • each cyclist thus contributed about 85 W for the launch and 400 W to propel themselves through the air.

A much more sensible way to launch a glider with human power would be to build a light winch. Winching (with an engine) is often preffered by gliding clubs that have a site of their own, as it is far less expensive than using towplanes.

A light winch manned by just two professional cyclists would easily launch this ultralight. But where would be the drama in that?

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