- [Man] We have been lucky
enough to be invited along
to the very final stages of aero testing,
the brand new Kask Valegro helmet.
Which, Team Sky are using
for the first ever time
at this year's Tour de France.
Now behind me is the
Loughborough University
aeronautics technology wind tunnel.
It's huge, I've no idea what to expect
from a helmet testing day,
I've never been to a wind tunnel before,
I'm fascinated to find out what goes on.
Let's take a look.
(upbeat music)
- So we're joined by Carsten
Jeppesen from Team Sky
who's had a big hand in
the Kask Valegro project.
Carsten, when did the project
for this helmet start?
- We started talking about a light,
really well ventilated helmet
already in the tour 2014.
So really from that on, that time on
the idea was there and we spoke
to our long time partner
Kask about what could we do
and looking at different things and, yeah,
now finally we are getting there.
- This project's taken almost three years,
so is that a typical
length of the projects
that you work on with the
team or with the partners?
- I can guarantee we are pushing hard
but yeah and we would have
liked it a year and a half ago
but yeah sometimes things just takes
a little bit longer than we expect.
Almost every time it
takes a little bit longer,
there's always things that
comes up and we also want to,
you know, have we looked at
this, have we looked at that,
is it, could we do it a little bit better?
So I think it's our own fault sometimes.
- Can you quantify the sort of benefit
that a helmet like this
might give on a hilly stage,
is it a percent, half
percent, something like that?
- Now in the middle of testing
we are here at Loughborough
at the wind tunnel today
to see where we're at and I must admit
we are a little bit surprised
with the aero part of it,
it's better than we expected it to
but obviously there is the cooling effect
that has been spot on and
a big improvement, so yeah.
- Big benefits.
- Big benefits and
obviously weight as well.
Carrying a helmet that's X
amount of grammes lighter
for 250k stage in the mountains,
that makes a difference.
- So Kask have actually
got a couple of days
here at this wind tunnel,
so all that means is that
they can test, test, and test again.
So behind me they're just
making a few modifications
to the Valegro just to see if it can get
a little bit more aerodynamic
without losing any of
the cooling properties
and without gaining too much weight.
And this is a process
that they will repeat
possibly tens of times a day
during the testing process.
So what can we see on
the screen here, John?
- So this is the outputs we get
from the CFD simulations
we did of the Valegro.
So basically the yellow areas here
where the heat transfer coefficient,
which is the amount of energy
that's being emitted from the surface,
so on this helmet you can see
you've got really good cooling
around the front of the head,
because the head sweats
most at the front, so,
obviously humans have evolved
to cool most at the front,
but then also at the lower speed
it's important to have cooling
around the back as well.
- So it's an incredibly complex thing
with a load of variables.
- Yeah.
- At every stage basically.
- Yeah lot's of things to consider
I mean obviously first and foremost
it's a crash protection device
and that really influences
a lot of the decisions
that are taken in the design process.
From an aerodynamics perspective
you would like to make it thinner.
But it's gotta do it's
first job, so (laughs).
(slow music)
- So the brief from Team Sky
was to create a super
lightweight cool climbing helmet.
And Kask came up with the
Valegro and this is phase zero.
So in phase zero, we've got
the three hand drawn sketches.
From phase one, we go to phase two
where we've cut down from
four potential designs
of the Valegro to two.
We then go from phase two
obviously to phase three
where again we've still got
two potential designs here
and then for phase three we go to these
and now this is phase four
which is the final design
of the Kask Valegro.
And actually just over here
we have got fresh from the
wind tunnel test study,
a mould of the final
design of the Valegro.
But why are we even at a wind tunnel
if the brief from Team Sky
was just to make a lightweight,
cool, climbing helmet?
Let's speak to Kask and find out.
So Luca, what's the answer?
- Well the answer is
that we have to consider
the speed that Team Sky
athletes carry on climbs
which is totally different
from the speed that we carry.
And of course also after
climbs there are downhills
and between climbs there
must be some flat bits
where aerodynamics are really important.
And the most important
reason why we are studying
the aerodynamics of this helmet is because
the final purpose of it is
to be used by a huge amount,
hopefully, of people,
of cyclists around the world
in any possible condition.
- When do you bring this
helmet into the wind tunnel?
So we've seen all these designs,
so from phase zero through to phase four,
at which point does it start
getting wind tunnel tested?
- Well we want to make sure
that when we go to the wind tunnel
we have already performed
a bunch of CFD testing,
so simulation on a computer.
So that we are kind of sure
that we are in the right direction,
but then the real wind tells
you different things sometimes,
so we are ready to modify the shape,
to change aspects of the helmet
to improve the aerodynamic,
the real aerodynamic in the end.
- And is there any real world
testing that you can do?
- Yes of course,
then the final green light
will be given by riders.
So hopefully everything will work out
'cause the time is tight
also in this project,
but we're always ready to modify
anything that is possible.
- From the wind tunnel at
Loughborough University
to right here in the GCN set,
we have got the final
boxed Kask Valegro helmet,
and it's so light that
it's hard to believe
there's actually a helmet inside this box.
But there is, here it is,
the finished Kask Valegro.
Incredibly light, it's
actually very thin as well
despite what John Pittman was saying
about wanting to make it
thinner for lightweight,
heat displacement aerodynamics.
This is a very thin helmet,
fits very tightly on the head too.
It's going to be interesting to see just
how much the Team Sky riders
do choose to use this helmet
at the tour this year.
Now from the GCN set, back to me,
dribbling in a wind tunnel
at Loughborough University.
So there we go, an
absolutely fascinating look,
it's quite windy in
here, trying not to cry,
at the process of Kask just
optimising their Valegro
which is their new lightweight
and cool climbing helmet,
and of course
because of the speed that
professional cyclists climb at,
it also needs to be incredibly aero too.
See a video where we explore
the benefits of aerodynamics on a climb
just click right there, my eyes,
and to see a video where we explore
the effect of body weight
while you're climbing,
click down there and to subscribe
to GCN click on the globe.
