| Warp
Drive Pictures and verbage
by Eric Warp |
| The following pictures are
construction details of the "Warp Drive," my Lightning P-38 with 2mm Coroplast
body, 4mm Coroplast cargo shelf, and bubble fairings created thanks to the WISIL guys
being so damn smart (and being generous enough to post their construction secrets for the
rest of us). My friend Gary Souza rode this bike to take third place in the Open Category
in Eppie's www.thegreatrace.org, a major
northern California regional triathlon event held in late July. |
| Side view of "Warp Drive," the
Coroplast-clad P-38 that helped win third place in a field of 360 triathlon teams and over
100 individual entrants at Eppie's Great Race (Sacramento, California) June 29. |
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3/4 view of "Warp Drive." Two
homemade bubble segments are topped with a Karl Abbe Zzipper fairing donated without
permission from my wife's Rotator Pursuit. |
| Detail of front fairing support I brazed
together out of chromoly. It slips over front boom extension tube and 2 bolts hold it in
place at the rear. |
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Cargo shelf underside. This piece supports the
weight of all my gear, and is zip tied to a standard cargo rack. |
| Cargo shelf top. The blue piece is to keep my
Blackburn pack with my Camelbak from sliding back into the back of the fairing. |
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Front fairing support. 1/4" chromo stays
keep the vertical piece rigid in relation to the horizontal piece that slips over the
front boom extension. |
Front fairing support as it's attached to the
bike. I leave the "door" attached to the front fairing when it's removed from
the bike to make reassembly easier.
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The entire Coroplast fairing, except for the
door, comes off with the snipping of about 10 zip ties. It reminds me of an insect
shedding its
exoskeleton. |
Gary Souza (cyclist) and Phil (kayak pilot)
with trophies. Gary passed pacelines of roadies (about 100 riders) like they were standing
still for the entire 12.5 miles of the cycling portion of the
triathlon, keeping a steady speed of about 30mph. |
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Race standings. Gary's team (#380) came in
third. If you look at the other standings, you can see how far ahead they were-- and this
after their runner had a bad start and came in later than his training
times. By the way, the first place finishers used a ringer for their runner, a guy they
pulled from the Olympic trials being held at the time here in Sacramento. |
Gary dismounting as the "catchers"
try to figure out what it isthey're catching and where to hold it. Gary was the 17th rider
in out,of a field of over 500. Right after this picture was taken, he ran across the
American River pedestrian bridge and handed off to the kayak pilot.
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Gary Souza at the finish line, ready to
whup open the door to the
Warp Drive. He was relaxed and happy-- wasn't even breathing hard.
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