*But* the tour did give me lots of insight into what a lengthy tour like that will do to me both in body and mind, as well as point out all the little problems that the prototype Wildcat fairing had.
With that info in mind, I set out to build a 'next-generation' version of the Wildcat fairing and here it is, fitted to the *same* Steintrike Nomad. I present the Nomad Wildcat!
 |
| From Nomad Wildcat |
Here is the prototype for comparison:
 |
| From Copenhagen to Cornwall |
Still have the orange top and windscreen to attach, and in the coming weeks i'll fabricate side panels to keep out the coming fall rain and winter snow, but at least you get to see how it's coming along.
It's certainly faster than the prototype, with the covered front wheels somewhat improving aerodynamics. My normal travel time from the Leitra velomobile shop to home (25km) was 1 hour and 20 minutes on average. With the new fairing (and without the top or windscreen) my time dropped to 1 hour 7 minutes! And this is a route that has rolling terrain on one half, and traffic intersections every kilometer on the other half (lots of stop-n-go). A colleague speculates that with the windscreen and top cover, my time over the same route should drop below one hour with the same energy effort.
