Pedal Car Racing - Information

A quick-start guide to Pedal Car Racing

Great Central breaking from Ride and Drive
Great Central Racing making a break for the lead, Rugby 1998.
Pic: Jeremy Featherstone

Pedalcar racing is a demanding sport with up to six drivers per car and races of up to 24 hours duration. In addition to the drivers, many teams have a collection of non-racing support personnel. These can include technical support staff for the car (pit crew) or the drivers (catering staff, masseurs, etc.) or both, as well as transport drivers, etc.

Scoutcar racing is basically the same sport, but entry is limited to scout teams (Doh!). The rules and regulations of scoutcar racing are slightly different, however the regulations governing Pedalcar and Scoutcar vehicle design are now the same, being the International Pedal Car Specification.

Good teamwork is crucial to success as each driver spends a relatively small amount of time actually driving, with the remainder spent acting in a supporting role. This teamwork extends to resting or sleeping when necessary and trusting others to "get on with it", particularly vital in the case of a 24-hour race.

A Pedal Car is an HPV (Human Powered Vehicle) with four wheels - most HPVs have only two or three and some HPVs are commercially available. Cars are generally designed and built by some or all of the people in the racing teams, although some are built by none-racing team members; most notably Yello Velo's excellent machinery, primarily engineered by Geoff Brown, one of the most prolific and accomplished car builders in the sport. Sales of "used" pedal cars are infrequent, although this can provide a relatively easy way of getting started in the sport, albeit with a car that might not be quite the right size and shape for your team, or may not be built in the way you'd go about things.

Cars are powered purely by the driver via a bicycle-derived drive train, usually driving the rear wheels for simplicity. Most cars are single wheel drive, again for simplicity and weight considerations, although several cars have been produced with two-wheel drive, with varying degrees of success.

Suspension systems have also been experimented with, but here again some teams have had more success than others. For most courses the surface is good enough to render suspension an unnecessary additional mass to accelerate.

Teams are made up from various walks of life, including scout groups, cycle clubs, student groups, apprentices, etc.

Racing itself is a fabulous experience, particularly if you get into a close battle with your nearest rivals. It's at this time when teamwork is most vital - the driver may need to know where the opponent is on the track and whether the gap is closing or widening. Often the pit crews are the only ones who can supply this information and a decision to change drivers or keep the same driver out for longer can rest on it.

As a team-building exercise, a 24-hour race is the ultimate test anyone could face. An entire day and night of pain, stress, sleep deprivation and (frequently) heavy rain mingled with a lack of hot food.

Forget building bridges over imaginary crocodile-infested swamps; if you want to test your management team, enter a 24. At the end of the race, if they're all still talking to each other nicely, you've got an unbeatable combination. If they're still just talking, you've got a respectable result. If they're all at least still on site, that's a good starting point.

You'll know if the team thing didn't work out.

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