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UPDATE COVID-19

Following the COVID-19 containment measures inside the Prime Ministerial Decree of 9 March 2020, Team Policumbent has suspended all activities that cannot be carried out remotely. We are aware that this suspension could compromised our projects for the World Human Powered Speed Challenge 2020, however we believe that out priority is now to protect the public health. Once the situation is over, we will re-evaluate deadlines, project trends and priorities.

About us

Since ten years ago we design and build the most efficient vehicles in the world.

Who are we?

Policumbent is a Team made of students from the Politecnico di Torino.

What do we do?

We are oriented towards the design and the realization of human powered vehicles and the riding of the created prototypes.

What is our mission?

The Team keeps its mission towards technical and management education of its members, the study and design of innovative solutions and the approach to the sport.

What do we use to work?

The interdisciplinarity is one of the main characteristics of the activities of the Team Policumbent. Every day the students meet in the Laboratory of the Department of Mechanics to work together. Continuous exchanges of ideas, know-how and practices enrich every member both as a person and as part of the Team.

What is our goal?

Beyond the appealing world of competitions and records, the aim of Team Policumbent is to underline the importance of cycling as a real opportunity of creating a new perspective of living a territory, to travel on it and, of course, to respect it. A significant increase in using human powered vehicles for the daily mobility and for the tourism is not an utopia, on the contrary it is a simple cultural issue, as it is shown by positive experiences in some of the European countries.

Can we use these technologies?

We believe that the presence and the growth of a team of students and professors willing of studying, designing, realizing and using human powered vehicles is a bet for the future, above all in a University as the Politecnico of Torino. We hope that Policumbent can develop and carry on the research and the team work with the same enthusiasm and passion.

Prototypes

Prototypes from the origin to this day

126

Pulsar (km/h)

136

Taurus (km/h)

123

TaurusX (km/h)

See our story

WHPSC

WORLD HUMAN POWERED SPEED CHALLENGE

How does it work?

Every year, in September, Teams from all over the world try to overcome human speed limits in the middle of Nevada desert.

The stretch of the SR 305 (which from Battle Mountain leads south to Austin, on a desert plateau at about 1400 meters above sea level) offers a very curated and fast asphalt and an average slope of 0.64%.

Sessions and qualifications:

The total duration of the challenge is one week.
The race is divided every day into two parts: the first one in the morning (at about 8:00 a.m.) and the second race in the evening (6:00 p.m.). These are the best moments of the day with minimum wind and greater chance of validating any record (the regulation requires that the wind is less than 6 km/h in any direction).

Evening sessions are the most sought-after because of the wind and temperature conditions. These are accessible only to those who exceed the threshold of 60 miles per hour (96.6 km/h).

WHPSC – THE RACE

START

Prototypes are brought to the start, where each team helps their cyclists to start. The prototype can be hold by a single person for no more than 15 meters.

RUN

Cyclists begin their 8-kilometer run-up. The power profile to be followed is carefully calculated by analysis performance algorithms.

TIMING

Once the 8 km run-up is up, the cyclists pass through the speed trap. This is a stretch of road 200 meters long and contains laser detectors that perceive the passage of vehicles by calculating the average speed.

CATCHING