Paris Olympics: Hong Kong cyclists’ bodysuits ‘best in world’. How fast can Ceci Lee go?
- ‘If public goes to Marks & Spencer, this is Savile Row,’ says professor leading aerodynamic research that produced the city’s kit for Paris
Mannequins, a flying Scotsman and a wind tunnel claimed to be the world’s best have all contributed to Hong Kong’s cyclists being kitted out by the “Savile Row” of sportswear for the Paris Olympics.
The city’s newest track star, Ceci Lee Sze-wing, will compete in a suit designed to reduce drag by around 3 per cent, and described by Professor Xin Zhang and Professor Zhou Peng, from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), as “the best in the world”.
They estimate the new suit makes a 1 per cent time saving over the old one – translating to 1.5 bike lengths for every 250-metre loop of the track. It was designed with the aid of HKUST’s cutting-edge wind tunnel and jointly developed by HKUST and Bossini.
“It is marginal … but it makes a discernible difference,” Zhang, the Swire Professor of Aerospace Engineering, said.
“The suit has several types of fabric and pattern. Nothing is there without consideration for aero design. Each athlete’s suit is individually tailored. If the public goes to Marks & Spencer, this is Savile Row.”
