Saturday, October 18, 2:56:06 PM: It's a new World Record for the Team from Politecnico di Torino!
With the Cerberus hand-trike, designed by the "Policumbent" Student Team of the Politecnico di Torino, Paralympic champion Diego Colombari passes in front of the photocells placed on the High Speed Track of the Stellantis Balocco Proving Ground for the fifth and final time, about one hour and four minutes after the start, thus recording 34.90 kilometers traveled in one hour, the greatest distance ever recorded for the category: “Men, Arms only, Single rider” of the International Human Powered Vehicle Association (IHPVA), breaking the previous record from 1999 of 33.11 kilometers held by the English athlete Kevin Doran.
During the day, there were two record attempts: one in the morning and one in the afternoon.
The morning one, which started around 10 AM, was interrupted due to a small mechanical problem with the steering, promptly resolved by the Team, but which did not allow them to take advantage of the excellent weather conditions.
The afternoon attempt, however, went perfectly, thanks also to the experience of Diego Colombari who, lap after lap, increasingly reduced his lap times:
- Lap 1: 13:51.87 min
- Lap 2: 13:15.29 min
- Lap 3: 12:57.62 min
- Lap 4: 12:48.96 min
- Lap 5: 12:23.67 min
The distance traveled in the hour was calculated as the number of complete laps covered multiplied by the lap length, plus the distance calculated as the average speed of the last lap multiplied by the time remaining until passing the photocell after lap 4.
Cerberus and Diego Colombari have reached their fourth season of races and "together" had already achieved, in 2024, the World Speed Record with 83.28 km/h during the World Human Powered Speed Challenge, but the hour challenge is completely different.
The result achieved is the perfect combination of the athlete's physical performance and the technical/engineering excellence of the prototype, which, with this second World Record, confirms the Team's very high level, capable once again of overcoming limits, transforming Cerberus, conceived for top speed, into an endurance machine, with new ventilation systems and a more efficient transmission.
The biggest challenge for the athlete and the Team was precisely that of ventilation: it was necessary to modify the vehicle's aerodynamics, creating air intakes that cannot be used in a "pure speed" setup because they would significantly increase aerodynamic drag. Diego Colombari also had to face changes in his training, shifting the focus of preparation to resistance to the conditions recorded in the cockpit during some tests, close to 50°C with 65% humidity.
All of this has been possible thanks to:
- Politecnico di Torino and the Contribution Commission, for supporting the Team for sixteen years;
- The Balocco Proving Ground and Stellantis, for the availability of the test track;
- The International Human Powered Vehicle Association, which certifies the record;
- The Italian Timekeepers Federation (Federazione Italiana Cronometristi), for support in recording lap times;
- The Comfort Lab of the Politecnico di Torino in Biella, for support in the studies of climatic conditions inside the prototype and the concession of the climate chamber for training;
- The entire Policumbent Team;
- All the Team's partner companies and sponsors.
Policumbent
Policumbent is a Student Team from the Politecnico di Torino, founded in 2009 with the goal of designing the fastest human-powered vehicles in the world. It holds the World Speed Record for an "arm-powered" vehicle with "Cerberus," with 83.28 km/h; while for the "leg-powered" category, it holds the Italian male (136.49 km/h) and female (123.88 km/h) records.
Cerberus
Cerberus is the Team's first hand-trike prototype, designed and built between 2021 and 2022. It was also the first prototype to break a world record fifteen years after the Team's founding, reaching 83.28 km/h during the World Human Powered Speed Challenge 2024.
Diego Colombari
A para-cyclist from Cuneo, already multi-medaled in international competitions, he won Gold at the Para-cycling World Championship in 2021 and was crowned Paralympic Champion in the relay in Tokyo 2021. He became the fastest man in the world on a hand-trike in September 2024 during the WHPSC with Cerberus, designed and built by the Policumbent Team.