The Daily Telegraph

Cycling’s ‘Bletchley Park’ gives Britain the edge

- By Tom Cary

If the men’s sprint team get Team GB’s track squad off to a golden start at the Olympic velodrome in Rio tonight they will have a group of boffins from Cambridge University to thank. At least in part.

Professor Tony Purnell, the former F1 team principal who heads up the Research and Innovation division at British Cycling – or ‘Room X’ as it is known – still teaches one day a week at the university. And he has some of the finest young minds in the country contributi­ng directly and indirectly to his programme.

“It’s like our own version of Bletchley Park,” says Purnell, who used to run the Jaguar and Red Bull F1 teams. “I’m really lucky. They are all very bright. They have to do a fourth-year project – a Masters’ thesis – and I think I’ve had 15 students work on that. A couple of PhDs. All the professors have got behind it.”

What if they spilt the beans to rival nations? “I made them all sign the Officials Secrets Act,” he laughs. “Well, an NDA [non-disclosure agreement]. I’d put money on there being at least 10 students who will be waiting up to watch the cycling and feeling like part of Team GB.”

It appears that where ‘marginal gains’ are concerned, British Cycling continues to think outside the box. It has to. Purnell, who took over from Chris Boardman in May 2013, back when Room X was still called the Secret Squirrels Club, admits other nations are catching up, even with cycling’s £30 million of funding from UK Sport.

“I’m a little envious of Chris, because he approached this as a sort of pioneer and when you’re a pioneer there is a lot of lowhanging fruit,” he says. “I did feel he was giving me a bit of poisoned chalice because it’s more difficult to make significan­t gains now.”

He is trying, though. As well as the usual R& D projects concerning bikes and skinsuits and helmets, there have been some pretty wacky ideas. Sequins on the skinsuits was one idea that was dismissed pretty quickly. There was even a discussion about resetting Ed Clancy’s broken collarbone in a more aerodynami­c position.

More run-of-the mill projects have hogged most of the limelight in the build-up to these Games. The ‘burger van’ that now stands in the track centre in Manchester is

‘When suddenly we unfurl the helmets, shoes, suits and wheels, the riders feel invincible’

one, a bank of computers providing real-time analysis of what the riders are doing out on track. “An idea borrowed from F1,” he admits.

Developed in conjunctio­n with Canadian partner Cervélo, the new £10,000 track bike experience­d last-minute gremlins with brittle handlebars. “I’ve no apologies [for that],” Purnell says. “I wasn’t going to go for something bland. There’s no point in doing it unless it’s quicker. We pushed the envelope. And like with F1, you turn up at the first test sessions, there are issues and you tackle them.”

Then there are the new topsecret skinsuits with their raised, ribbed strips – or chevrons – on the underside of the arms that direct the air flow to improve aerodynami­cs. One source at British Cycling told The Daily

Telegraph that there was a “positive five per cent” performanc­e gain for the full package. “We try to build into a crescendo when they [the riders] feel they can’t do any more,” the source added. “Then suddenly we unfurl the helmets, the shoes, the suits, the wheels... And they feel this whole thing building. ‘------hell. I’m invincible’ ”.

Purnell, who has had contributi­ons from the students not merely on engineerin­g solutions but also “strategies; figuring out how to beat your opponents”, says the power of the Team GB brand is such that it opens doors everywhere. Bristol University have also made “big contributi­ons” while he mainly uses the wind tunnel at Southampto­n University. Former rider Jason Queally is the guinea pig.

Purnell has also had help from Mercedes and Red Bull while “Williams were particular­ly helpful for the Paralympic­s”. “Sometimes it’s just getting hold of materials or tools,” he says. “You know: ‘Come on you don’t need that for the next grand prix.’

“One thing which was a huge surprise is that I spent all these years in the ‘glamour’ world of F1 and you talk to these guys and all they want to talk about is bikes. They are all cycling nuts.”

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Kingdom