Kite Buggy…
A great letter from one of our customers:
Hello Online Metals,
I wanted to send you a picture of our Ivanpah Full Race Kite Buggy.
Most people don’t know what a kite buggy is so I will explain. A kite buggy is (normally) a 3 wheeled trike style buggy that a rider sits in and uses a large kite to pull them around. (They’re sometimes referred to a power or traction kite.) There are no motors, no engines…no brakes. Just the rider, the kite and the wind. Power kiting is a relatively new sport to many and consists of a completely renewable carbon free footprint and totally green sport as we use no fossil fuels of any kind. Power kiting is one of the fastest growing extreme sports in the U.S. and can be found on land, snow and water.
Our Ivanpah Full Race Buggy was designed specifically for the extreme conditions of the Ivanpah dry lake bed located appx. 45 miles south of Las Vegas along Interstate 15 on the California / Nevada border. The lake bed is appx. 5 miles wide and appx. 15 miles long and has a surface that is like sandpaper, abrasive for excellent traction but amazingly flat and free from any obstacles which makes it perfect for high speeds. Ivanpah is home to many wind powered functions including the North American Land Sailors Association World Cup (NALSA) and the North American Buggy Expo kite buggy event (NABX). These are the largest wind powered events in North America. The Ivanpah is also the home to the newest land speed record for a wind powered craft, set earlier this year by the Greenbird project land sailor at 127 mph. It is also the home for the unofficial land speed record set for a kite powered buggy at 77.6 mph. Screaming across the barren desert at 50-60 + mph with your backside sitting just inches off of the ground is a rush that can only be imagined by experiencing it….all under the power of the wind.
The kite buggy shown here, and built using Online Metals material, has set preliminary test runs at 69.6 mph. If conditions cooperate, we should be able to break the 80+ mph barrier for a kite powered craft. The buggy pictured is a Chrome Molly & carbon steel frame. We also produce a fully polished stainless steel model. More pictures and information can be found on our website at the address below:
http://www.awindofchange.com/ivanpah.html
Thank you for all your superior support and supply of excellent high grade materials.
Happy Winds!
Kent
www.awindofchange.com