Phantom menace: Tim Corbett after his failed records attempt.
By John Van Klaveren
IF ANYONE has access to two or three kilometres of glass-smooth track, Geelong engineer Tim Corbett would like to know.
Mr Corbett said a rough surface and broken equipment defeated his attempts to set four world and Australian records on his aerodynamic tricycle at Geelong Showgrounds on Wednesday.
The Deakin engineer spent two years designing and building the Phantom TT as part of the records attempt.
He intended to spend six hours pedalling non-stop around the showgrounds circuit.
“My timing crew noticed the lap times coming down by three seconds yet my heart rate was going up,” Mr Corbett said.
“Breaking the front fairing mount meant we lost a lot of the aerodynamics, so we had to break off the attempt after the first hour.
“We recorded some fast times in training at Geelong West velodrome, so we expected to achieve some good results.
“We’ll have to explore alternative venue options. We’ve talked to Holden and Ford to try getting some time on a proving ground.”
Mr Corbett said he would use the time before his next record attempt to improve the tricycle with increased drive train efficiency and using discs on the wheels.
