39th Michigan HPV Rally - June 15-16, 2024

 Action in Sunday morning's 25-lap race for streamliners and streetliners. In front is Jonathan Walters in a built-in-Romania Bulk velomobile. He finished second in the race, but first in the street liner class for the weekend. (Mike Eliasohn photo)

COMPLETE RESULTS, VIDEOS AND MORE PHOTOS CAN BE SEEN on the HPRA: Human Powered Race America Facebook page. For results only, click on:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1fVg3sPRuCqgc2vH8u_uAXnWqX-ypaqb5bMjcl5x23ns/htmlview

By Mike Eliasohn

The 39th annual Michigan Human Powered Vehicle Rally at the Waterford Hills sports car racing track in Clarkston – the location since 1986 – drew its best turnout in years with 33 competitors.

The big turnout was due in large part to 14 students from the University of Toronto HPV Design Team, of whom 13 raced (someone has to take the photos). There also were at least four newcomers, including Thomas Bergeron and Charles-Antoine Daignault, who came from Quebec, Canada – about 1,000 kilometers (621 miles), they said. Another first-timer, Larry Seidman, came from Colorado, but he flew.

Other competitors came from Michigan, of course, Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, Wisconsin, Ohio,  Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Maryland. (Apologies to any states I missed.)

Here's the top three finishers in each class:

Streamliners (8 entries) – 1) Dennis Grelk, Donnellson, Iowa, 290 points; John Simon, Portland, 275; Bryce Warren, Univ. of Toronto, 202.  Streetliner (5 entries) – 1) Jonathan Walters, Cincinnati, Ohio, Bulk velomobile, 300; 2) Rick Toler, Dayton, Ohio,  W9 velomobile, 275; 3) Jeff Hunn, North Manchester, Ind., DFXL velomobile.

Stock (20 entries) – 1) Daryl Hanger, Mooresville, Ind., NoCom Velocraft, 265; 2) Dennis Grelk, homebuilt low racer, 264; 3) Rob Lloyd, Whitmore Lake, homebuilt low racer, 215. 

Daryl Hanger of Mooresville, Ind., on his Velokraft NoCom won the stock class over 19 competitors. His 265 total points from five events was only 1 point more scored by Dennis Grelk. (Dan Glatch photo)

Women (1 entrant) – 1) Peggy Thompson, Bel Aire, Md., G4 front-wheel-drive recumbent, 300. Note: Jane Hunn of North Manchester participated in a Bulk Mk1 velomobile with electric assist, so points were not counted.

Tricycles (4 entries) – 1) Larry Seidman, Colorado Springs, Colo., TerraTrike Spyder, 280; 2) Craig Siebe, Dayton, Ohio, ICE Adventure, 275; 3) Marshall Randall, Rockford, GreenSpeed Aero, 60 (one-hour only).  No entries in junior or multi-rider classes.

Almost ready to start the first one-hour time trial on Saturday morning. (Mike E. photo)

Following are the top two in each class in each event. If only one name is listed, only that person participated:

SATURDAY:

One-hour time trial (two separate time trials were conducted. The track is 1.4 miles around.):  Streamliner – 1) Dennis Grelk, 24 laps, average speed 32.75 mph / 52.71 kph RALLY RECORD, 2) John Simon, 21 laps. Streetliner – 1) Jonathan Walters, 21 laps, 28.67 mph / 46.13 kph CLASS RECORD, 2) Rick Toler, 20 laps.

Stock – 1) Jonathan Walters, NoCom low racer, 19 laps, 25.99 mph/ 41.82 kph, 2) Dennis Grelk, 19 laps, 25.59 mph / 41.18 kph. Tricycles – Marshall Randall, 16 laps, 21.45 mph / 34.52, 2) Joe Pixley, 15 laps.  (Note; Marshall also raced his GreenSpeed Aero in the first one-hour for mostly streamliners and streetliners, 18 laps, 23.23 mph / 37.39 kph.) Women – Peggy Thompson, 14 laps, 19.32 mph / 31.10 kph.

High and low – Ishtey Amminger of Memphis, Tenn., on his CruzBike Vendetta and Marshall Randall on his GreenSpeed Aero in the second one hour for unfaired vehicles.  (Dan Glatch  photo)

Riders line up, ready to start the hill climb. At right is Charles Brown of Southfield, Behind him is Peggy Thompson of Bel Aire, Md. (Mike E. photo)

In the hill climb / coast down, riders start at the bottom of the hill, are timed getting to the top of the hill (a distance of about 605 feet), then stop pedaling, then see how far they can coast before their vehicle comes to a stop. (Riders mark where they stopped, writing their vehicle numbers with chalk on the pavement.) Thus, it's a test of a vehicle and rider's hill climbing abilities, followed by a test of their vehicle's aerodynamics and rolling resistance.

Hill climb: Stock – 1) Ethan Elbaz, U-T, 18.803 seconds, 2) Daryl Hanger, 20.573. Streetllner – 1) Jonathan Walters, 21.012 CLASS RECORD, 2) Rick Toler, 23.172. Streamliner – 1) Bryce Warren, U-T, 24.916, 2) Dennis Grelk, 26.673. Women – Peggy Thompson, 38.612. Tricycles –  1) Larry Seidman, 40.19, 2) Craig Siebe, 47.762.

Coast down: Streamliner – 1) Dennis Grelk (1st overall); 2) John Simon (7th overall). Streetliner – 1) Jonathan Walters (2nd overall), 2) Rick Toler (3rd overall). Stock – 1) Dennis Grelk (6th overall), 2) Ron Thompson (10th overall). Women – 1) Peggy Thompson (15th overall). Tricycles – 1) Craig Siebe (23rd overall), 2) Larry Seidman (28th overall).

All five velomobiles competing at the rally were made at the Velomobileworld.com factory in Romania. From left: Jane Hunn (Bülk), John Burrell (Bülk), Jeff Hunn (DFXL), Jonathan Walters (Bülk) and Rick Toler (W9). (Dan Glatch photo)

Events on Saturday ran behind schedule, resulting in cancellation of the standing start kilometer and the urban transportation contest.

The three streamliners from the University of Toronto HPV Design Team. Students have a fourth streamliner under construction (plus a two-rider pedal-powered airplane), but didn't get it done in time for the rally. (U-T photo)

And a rear view. 

SUNDAY

Flying start 200-foot sprint: Streetliner – 1) Jonathan Walters, 45.139 mph / 72.644 kph (1st overall), CLASS RECORD, 2) Rick Toler, 40.119 mph / 64.565 kph.  Streamliner – 1) Dennis Grelk, 43,428 mph / 69.981 (2nd overall). Stock – 1 tie) Daryl Hanger and Dennis Grelk, both 37.753 mph / 60.758 kph. Women - 1) Peggy Thompson, 25.652 mph / 41.282 kph. Tricycles – 1) Larry Seidman, 23.430 / 37.707 kph, 2) Craig Siebe, 20.737 mph / 33.372 kph.

In addition to competing in the stock class (shown here) on his home-built bike, Dennis Grelk of Donnellson, Iowa, completed in his Cuda W streamliner (built by Warren Beauchamp). And, he operated the scoring system for all events. He won the streamliner class and finished second in the stock class, "losing" by only 1 point. (Dan Glatch photo)

Two road races end when the winner completes the set number of laps. Following riders complete the lap they are on. Course does not include the hill:

20 lap road race (12.5 miles): Stock – 1) Dennis Grelk, 29:39.680, 25.25 mph / 40.63 kph, 2) Daryl Hanger, 20 laps completed. Women – 1) Peggy Thompson, 15 laps, 18.65 mph / 30.02 kph (8th overall), CLASS RECORD. Tricycles – Larry Seidman, 15 laps, 17.75 mph / 28.56 kph. 2) Craig Siebe.

25 lap road race (15.6 miles): Streamliner – Dennis Grelk, 25 laps, 28.012 mph / 45.08 kph, 1st overall, 2) John Simon, 24 laps, 26.316 / 42.35 kph, 3rd overall. Streetliner – 1) Jonathan Walters, 24 laps, 26.342 mph / 42.39 kph, 2nd overall, CLASS RECORD, 2) Rick Toler, 22 laps, 24.296 mph / 39.10 kph.

Mike Mowett of Detroit not only competed on his Morciglio M1, finishing 4th in the stock class, he also was co-organizer of the rally, compiled the results, set up timing traps, traffic cones, etc.for events and did other tasks. (Dan Glatch photo)

Ron Thompson of Bel Aire, Md., competed on two of his innovative G4 front wheel drive bikes and his wife, Peggy, on another G4 (below). In the stock class, he finished 6th with the old bike and 13th with his latest version, shown here. The new bike has a steel frame, with wheels, seat and faring made of carbon fiber. For more information, www.g4bikes,com. (Dan Glatch photo)

Coming all the way from Quebec, Canada, were Charles-Antoine Daignault (left) from Laval on his Optima Baron and Thomas Bergeron from Granby on his Optima Lynx. (Mike E. photo)

The dates of the 2025 Michigan HPV Rally – the 40th annual – probably won't be known until January. Car events get priority in setting the schedule at the Waterford Hills track. After the 2025 schedule is set for the car events, rally organizers Mike Mowett and Mike Eliasohn get a choice of still open weekends (usually three). 

Thank you to all who helped conduct the rally, plus those who competed; some did both. In addition to Mike Mowett and Dennis Grelk, already mentioned, Garrie Hill did the technical inspections and arranged the insurance, and Dan Glatch helped with some events and took photos, in addition to competing.

If you have any thoughts about next year's rally, or related topics, please contact Mike E. at mikethebike2325@comcast.net or Mike M. at mowett@aol.com.

If you spot anything that needs correcting, please contact the author, Mike E. And I'm always looking for articles or topics for this blog, so submissions or suggestions are welcome.

After the competition was over, all 14 members of the University of Toronto HPV Design Team posed for this photo, with some of their vehicles. This was the 12th year the U-T has participated in the Michigan rally (not all years were consecutive). (U-T photo)

RECORDS SET at the 2024 Michigan HPV Rally, by Mike Mowett

Dennis Grelk ONE-HOUR STREAMLINER, 32.75 miles (52.71 km), in Warren Beauchamp's old Cuda-W streamliner.  This broke the old record of 32.52 miles set by Dennis in 2011 in the Barracuda. That mark was just ahead 0.02 miles (some could say a tie depending on how they navigated each turn) with the 32.50 miles ridden by Rick Gritters' 32.50 miles in 2005.  

Note: there are racers held by upright riders on the track several times a year. The fastest packs have averaged 28-29 mph for races lasting about an hour. So I think it's safe to say that Dennis holds the track record. 

Then after this, Dennis raced the Unfaired One hour, where both he and Jonathan Walters set one-hour records last year, breaking the long-standing SuperStock and Stock records of Frank Geyer. 

Jonathan Walters ONE-HOUR STREETLINER, 28.67 miles (46.13 km), in his new Bulk velomobile acquired only a month ago. This broke Tony Levand's 26.97 miles record set in his self-built Carp Coroplast liner, set in 2019. Jonathan has done an incredible course record over 35 mph for 10 miles at the long-running Cleves time trial near his home. The previous record holder is the current USA national 40K record holder. Jonathan also says he was "saving some energy" for the unfaired one-hour that followed this race, where he again raced Dennis. 

Jonathan Walters, 200-FOOT SPRINT STREET-LINER (VELO), 45.14 mph (72.64 kph) in his Bulk velomobile (see above). He broke the record of Michael Hinterseher 41.15 mph set in 2018 in his Milan velomobile. (Michael made a guest appearance on Sunday.)  Jonathan also tied the Strava KOM over the segment that starts from the top of the hill to the end of the back straightaway which is used for this event. He averaged almost 40 mph doing that stretch in 40 seconds. The other guy who did that was likely in one of the strong upright racing groups that flew over the top of the hill in a pack. This was opposed to a standing start used in our event. 

 Peggy Thompson 20-LAP WOMEN, 18.65 mph on her husband's Ron Thompson's self-built G4 front-wheel-drive recumbent. This broke Jane Hunn's record of 17.87 mph on a Sunset lowracer set way back in 2004, when we used that course on a regular basis. Jane is now riding a velomobile with e-assist. 

Jonathan Walters, 25-LAP STREETLINER (VELO), 26.34 mph in his Bulk velomobile, breaking Jeff Hunn's 23.73 mph set in his DF velomobile in 2023. 

Jonathan Walters, HILL CLIMB - STREETLINER (VELO), 21.01 seconds kind of broke my own hill climb record of 18.50 seconds set on a Trek upright with bodysock. I'll have to give Jonathan this record because he DERAILLED LIKE 4 TIMES trying the hill climb with his NoCom (STOCK CLASS) before discovering the boom was cracked, causing the issue.