PAUL PANCELLA, above, of Kalamazoo raced his Volae at the Morris HPV race. Robert Palmer of Walled Lake also raced a Volae. In the one-lap time trial, Paul was 8th in the stock class; Robert, 9th. In the 30-minute race, Robert was 9th and Paul was 10th.
Below, more PANCELLA! Paul was featured in a local news piece about health and fitness. If you can't see the movie, download QuickTime using the link below.
AT THE NORTH MANCHESTER RACES, Warren Beauchamp of Big Rock, Illinois, debuted his Cuda-W streamliner, above and below. The body is carbon fiber and Kevlar and also is the supporting structure; there's no separate frame. It's front wheel drive, via a Rohloff 14-speed hub with an intermediate step-up gear. The drive wheel is 20-inch (406mm); the back wheel is a 700c. Cranks are 155mm. Minus the canopy, it weighs 50 pounds. It was designed for racing in a straight line at Battle Mountain, Nevada. The crank axle is narrower than usual to put the feet closer together for better aerodynamics and there's extreme overlap between the pedals and front wheel. The unfortunate result was Warren snagged the front wheel with a crank arm in a corner and crashed hard, sliding into the curb around the course. Fortunately except for some scrapes, he was okay.
Karsten Fabian (with new wife, Viola, above) moved from Germany to the Detroit area in January 2001 to work as an engineer for a German auto parts supplier.
He later moved from Wixom to North Carolina before returning to Germany about a year ago. While here, he was an active, and very fast racer in the HPRA series, originally on the Quantum Toxy he brought with him from Germany, intended more for street riding, and later on a Challenge Jester low racer he bought.
Karsten hasn't been spending all his time riding his bike since returning to Germany. He recently sent us this photo. Congratulations to Karsten and Viola!
DAVE BALFOUR of Marietta, Illinois, debuted his homebuilt carbon fiber low racer, above and below, at Morris, then raced it at the Michigan HPV Rally. He rode it 206 miles in the 12-hour Calvin's Challenge race. It weighs 29 pounds and is the first carbon fiber bike he has built. He started making it in November 2004. Front-wheel-drives usually route the drive and return runs of the chain around idler sprockets at the top of the fork. Dave has the return run going direct from the bottom of the chainring to the cassette. It works.
