Preview: 41st Michigan HPV Rally - June 20-21, 2026

Action at the 2025 Michigan HPV Rally

The 41st annual Michigan Human Powered Vehicle Rally will be June 20-21, 2026 (Father's Day weekend) at the Waterford Hills sports car racing track in Clarkston, the location since 1986.

 

Classes for streamlined, unstreamlined cycles, tandems, women, youth and tricycles.

The rally is conducted using Human Powered Race America rules. Go to www.recumbents.com, then under "recumbent racing," click on "Human Powered Race America," then on "racing rules," which includes definition of classes – stock, streamliners, streamliner, tricycle, multi rider, women, junior.  Conventional upright cycles compete in the stock class.

Note: HPRA rule require all vehicles to have a mirror or mirrors enabling rear vision to both sides.

The track, on the grounds of the Oakland County Sportsmen's Club, is 1.4 miles / 2.25 km around, with nine turns and one hill. Sunday races use a shorter course without the hill.

Free camping available at track Friday night after 5 p.m. and Saturday nights. OCSC clubhouse open for meals on Friday until 8:45 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from noon - 6 p.m.

Not a racer? Come see some unusual – and fast – 2- and 3-wheeled cycles. Spectators admitted free. The 40th annual rally in 2025 attracted about 40 participants – the best turnout in years – coming from as far as Quebec, Canada (about 621 miles / 1,000 km), Iowa, Florida and Pennsylvania.

We may add or subtract an event or two, but overall, the rally will be similar to past years. The rally will run morning and afternoon on Saturday, then on Sunday, we try to be done no later than 1 p.m.

In the meantime, if you have questions or suggestions, contact rally organizers Mike Eliasohn at mikethebike2325@comcast.net and / or Mike Mowett at mowett@aol.com.

Entry fees – ultimately depend on track rental fee and cost of insurance, but we hope to keep them the same as in 2025:  $30 for one day, $45 for two days.  High school & college teams, $40 for first vehicle and rider; $10 for each additional vehicle or rider.

To register in advance, which saves time on Saturday or Sunday morning, click here:

https://forms.gle/xnNot6vRXV74i1TMA

Registration can be made at rally. Payment still made when checking in, even if registering in advance. 

NOTE: We are not equipped to accept payment by credit or debit card, so please pay with cash or check.  Checks will have to be made out to individual or individuals who paid in advance for track rental, insurance, etc., so please don't make out check prior to arrival. 

EVENT SCHEDULE:

SATURDAY, JUNE 20:  Registration starts at 8. ONE-HOUR TIME TRIALS: Separate races for faster & slower vehicles, starting at 9:30 for streamliners, street liners, other fast vehicles; race for all other classes starts at 11. (Riders racing two vehicles can compete in both races.)

Concession stand will NOT be open.  Bring your lunch; Oakland County Sportsmen's Club clubhouse opens at noon; or eat at a nearby restaurant.

After lunch:  HILL CLIMB – COAST DOWN. Riders start at bottom of hill & race up it one at a time. At the top, stop pedaling and coast as far as you can.

Followed by STANDING START KILOMETER.

Not yet known if we will have catered trackside DINNER. If not, we could order

pizza, soft drinks, etc. to eat in the trackside pavilion.  Otherwise, eat at

nearby restaurants.

AFTER DINNER: A Pedal Prix tricycle activity.  See article below.

SUNDAY, 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. approximately.  SPRINT (top speed) EVENT – Racers start at top of hill, pedal down it one at a time, then are timed over 200-foot stretch.

Then ROAD RACES on short course, not including hill, usually faired classes in first event, 12 miles, then unpaired classes, 9 miles.  Then, AWARDS CEREMONY.

We will need volunteers to help set up and run events, so please be willing to help. 

If you have questions, suggestions or comments, contact rally organizers Mike

Mowett, mowett@aol.com, or Mike Eliasohn, mikethebike2325@comcast.net.

TO GET TO THE RALLY:  From I-75, get off at exit 91. Take M-15  south to Dixie Hwy. (US-24). Turn left, continuing south about 1 mile and turn left onto Waterford Road, then proceed to track. If coming from  the west, take U.S. 23 north (or south) to M-59 (Highland Road). Go east on M-59 to Airport Road, then left (north) to US-24. Turn left, then  immediately right onto Waterford Road. Go about a half-mile to track. CAMPING Free camping available overnight Friday and Saturday in the infield of  the Waterford Hills track, starting at 5 p.m. Friday. Restrooms, showers and electrical hookups.  Oakland County Sportsmen's Club clubhouse open for dinner Friday until 9 p.m. STATE CAMPGROUNDS (www.michigan.gov/dnr, then click on "make a reservation," then camping. Highland Recreation Area, 5200 E. Highland Road (M-59), White Lake, 248-889-3750. Two miles east of Highland. Holly Recreation Area, 8100 Grange Road, Holly, 248-634-8811. Five  miles east of Holly. Pontiac Lake Recreation Area, 7800 Gale Road, Waterford, 248-666 -1020. Closest to Waterford Hills track, about 4 miles west. OAKLAND COUNTY:  Groveland Oaks County Park, 14555 Dixie Hwy.,  Road, Holly, northeast of Holly, 248-634-9811. HOTELS / MOTELS (with approximate distances/direction from Waterford Hills track): Clarkston - Olde Mill Inn of Clarkston, 5835 Dixie Hwy., 248-623 -0300. Across Dixie Highway from Waterford Road leading to track. Closest motel to the track. (NOTE: As of mid-March, fully booked for June 19-20). Hartland - Best Western of Hartland, 10087 Highland Road (M-59) at US-23, 810-632-7177, 61 rooms. About 18 miles west. Waterford – American Inn and Suites, 7076 Highland Road (M-59),  248-666-8555, 111 rooms. About 3 miles southwest. Waterford – Holiday Inn Express & Suites, 4350 Pontiac Lake Road,  248-674-3434, 83 rooms. About 7 miles southwest. Whitmore Lake - Days Inn, 9897 Main St. (off US-23, exit 53), 734-550-0105, 60 rooms. About 33 miles southwest. PEDAL PRIX TRIKES ON SATURDAY EVENING Ray Mickevicius' two Pedal Prix trikes at the 2025 Michigan HPV Rally. Riding position is more horizontal than on "conventional" velomobiles. This year he's bringing four of them. At the 2025 rally, Ray Mickevicius of Wasaga Beach, Ontario brought  two of his made-in-Australia Pedal Prix tricycles for people to  examine and test ride. The trikes are fullly faired, but unlike  “conventional” velomobiles, are designed strictly for racing, not for  daily use on roads. This year, Ray plans to bring four of his trikes, for an activity after  dinner Saturday evening.  What that will be is yet to be decided, but he’s thinking of something that will give people a chance to try his  Pedal Prix trikes on the track. He’s what he wrote to Mike Eliasohn (some editing by Mike): “For instance, if we invited people to form relay teams of four, we could have the riders each complete 15 minutes (or X number of  laps) on the short course, then swap to the next rider on their team and continue that for an hour.  “Setting aside a couple hours on Saturday evening could allow for  two sessions and up to 32 people to get a ride in using the four trikes.  “I fully appreciate there would be a wide range of power and speed.  We could consider trying to balance the teams a bit with a handicap based on the Saturday race results, or just not worry about it at all.  I’m frankly more interested in giving people a sense of the team relay approach in Pedal Prix and a chance to try out the trikes,  rather than a formal race. If other velomobile riders want to be on the track with their own vehicle at the same time, that’s OK with me.  “In summary, I wasn’t contemplating a race that would meet official  requirements, as much as an opportunity to give people a bit of team bonding/fun riding the trikes, outside of the usual race event schedule. In 2027, we’ll aim to be back with eight trikes and then it could start  to look a bit more like an actual race!”