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battle mountain

orville and wilbur wright are generally regarded as the inventors of manned flight. as with many working at the cutting edge of technology such as it was at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, they were both excellent self-taught engineers. however, while modern-day engineering principles rely far more on systematic research, the wright brothers had more of a knack for tinkering with stuff in the process of getting from a to b. it is also no real secret that their tinkering with bicycles had great influence on the quest to achieve a stability of control with their flying machines through practice with balance.

in fact, while others concentrated on the means of propulsion in order to have their own aircraft achieve manned flight, orville and wilbur focused on figuring out a reliable method of placing the pilot in control of what was a seriously unstable device. their breakthrough in this particular field was their invention of a three axis control, enabling the chap in the hot seat to maintain equilibrium while steering. their method of control has subsequently become the standard on all kinds of fixed-wing aeroplanes.

in short, while others worked at the wrong end of the coal face, the wright brothers sussed out the more fundamental difficulties by means of their inveterate tinkering.

achieving untold speeds on land via human-powered vehicles incorporates several of the specific control difficulties experienced by the wright brothers in 1903. the most obvious contradiction to be observed is that the latter has need of remaining firmly affixed to the ground as opposed to the former's need to embrace the principles of aerodynamics of lift. while aircraft of even the simplicity of the brothers' device has finite available power, that on offer during any attempt on the human-powered land speed record is of a far lower order, thus aside from mechanical efficiency, the aerodynamics have to simultaneously reduce drag while preventing the vehicle from developing any lift.

i am no engineer, so i would have very little idea of where to begin designing just such a land-bound vehicle, let alone figuring out how to construct one. though software capable of assisting in such matters is relatively cheaply available, modern day tinkerers are more prone to figuring this all out in the kitchen of their one-bedroom flat in saltcoats. at least, that's the way it works if your name is graeme obree.

renowned for his athletic prowess in breaking the hour record on two separate occasions as well as world 4,000 metre pursuit champion, coupled with two subsequently banned riding positions, graeme obree's attempt on the human powered land speed record on the beastie bears more comparison to the wright brothers than it does with anything on the computers at boeing. obree's mechanical skills are impressive, though as his manager charlie milarvie says "using mostly recycled materials, his rudimentary analysis of physics, biomechanics and aerodynamics and nothing more than his mind and imagination, Obree is a purist in the strongest sense, placing absolute trust in his intellectual prowess to provide the optimum solution to overcoming the challenges posed by Mother Nature when riding a bike."

that might sound like something of an overstatement, but there's little denying the truth behind it.

the trials and tribulations of filing tubes of metal in a vice attached to his kitchen table, via speed tests at both prestwick and macrihanish airport runways, to the environs of battle mountain, nevada have been captured on film by producer and director david street in a movie rather obviously entitled battle mountain: graeme obree's story. featuring music by the delgados' alun woodward, the movie will receive its world premiere in edinburgh's fountain park cineworld on thursday 25 june. it signifies yet another chapter in the eccentric genius that is graeme obree.

it might be an idea to book some tickets.

thursday 28 may 2015