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DIY Replicas of 1930s Race Cars
April 9, 2010 by Filed Under: DIY, Low-tech cars, Racing, Random, Travel
CycleKarts are small, lightweight, nimble machines made by their drivers for the pursuit of motoring sport. They’re not serious speed-machines or status-generating show cars. They’re purely for the gritty fun and satisfaction of tearing around in a machine you’ve built yourself. Their name originated from the use of bicycle or motorcycle tyres. More.
Related: How to make an adult soapbox kart.
High-tech Bike or Low-tech Car? The Sinner Mango Sport
The Mango Sport is a new recumbent tricycle by Dutch manufacturer Sinner. The emphasis is on light weight (27.5 kg) and high performance. As is the case with other velomobiles sold by Sinner, the 20 gear drive-chain remains entirely enclosed for low maintenance, all three wheels have suspension, and the luggage capacity is generous (70 litres). It has built in front and rear lights. A weather-proof top is available. All this comes with a price tag of 5,950 euros, including sales tax.
Detailed specifications / More pictures / More Sinner bikes.
Low-tech Snow Scooters: Kick Sleds
“Kick sleds are the Scandinavian answer to winter bicycling. Kick sleds look like Zimmer frames on runners, or like a dog-less dog sled. Like bicycles, they increase the rider’s speed and freighting capacity while demanding very little extra physical input. Unlike bicycles they have no moving parts and are very easy to maintain”.
Kick sleds are sold by Esla, Kickbike, Norax en LjusdalsSparken.
Anti-skid detachable safety soles are a useful accessory.
London Traffic Improvements (the Bressey Report, 1938)
In 1935 Sir Charles Bressey was appointed by Hore-Belisha, Minister of Transport, to make a comprehensive and systematic survey of the roads of Greater London. It was clear that the infrastructure required radical improvement to keep up with the expansion of traffic and Belisha said that Bressey’s report “would stir the imagination of the whole country”.
The report was published three years later and laid out a reconstruction scheme for London based on a detailed 30-year plan for highway development. Bressey’s plan to deal with traffic involved tunnels, overhead roads, new arterial and circular highways and ‘parkways’ linking the city to the rest of the country. Before any of this could be implemented the plan was interrupted by war and aerial bombardment. Nevertheless, many of Bressey’s ideas would influence post-war reconstruction and subsequent schemes for the capital’s reorganisation.
Source (if you’re in a UK school or library, you can access a movie about it).
Via Ptak Science Books, where you can see more illustrations of the “traffic improvements” outlined in the “Bressey Report”. Check out this blog, by the way, there is much more to be found (about 900 posts on the history of ideas and technology, to be precise…). It is written and illustrated by John Ptak, an antiquarian science bookseller.
Related: Magic Motorways, a similar plan for US cities.
Copenhagen is not the Bicycle Capital of the World
I am a fan of Copenhagen Cycle Chic, because it combines two of my favourite inventions ever: bicycles and, well, women. However, reader Rogier forwarded me a link to a well-researched post that clearly shows that the popular Danish blog (or rather its sister site Copenhagenize) is exaggerating the success of cycling in Copenhagen. David Hembrow argues that many Dutch cities have much higher cycling rates and that cycling in the Danish capital actually faces some serious obstacles. Related: Cars, out of the way.
