Former Olympian Graham Bell has announced plans to become the fastest ever man on skis, aiming to break the current record of 156mph set by Italian Simone Oregone.
But rather than going by the conventional route of unpowered downhill skiing on an ultra-steep flying kilometre track, Graham will aim top set his record next year skiing horizontally, towed behind a Jaguar car and with extra power provided by ‘micro engines’ built in to a special ski suit.
Graham has already begun training for the record by ski-joring behind a Jaguar XE AWD at over 100mph in the Austrian Alps.
“I approached Jaguar to become my lead technical partner due to their experience in aerodynamics and love of all things involving speed,” said Graham, “As lead technical partner in the attempt, Jaguar will provide the aerodynamic expertise to develop the Iron-Man-style suit I need, as well as helping me acclimatize to speed and external forces using high performance vehicles including the Jaguar XE AWD – designed to provide maximum traction in adverse conditions including snow and ice.”
Graham will make his Guinness World Record attempt, aiming to break the 160mph mark, at Jaguar Land Rover’s cold weather testing facility in Arjeplog, Sweden on an as yet undetermined date in 2017
“As engineering challenges go it doesn’t get more unique than this,” said Ian Anderton, thermal and aerodynamics manager, Jaguar Land Rover, “In many ways, it’s very similar to the car design process, necessitating the perfect balance between aerodynamics, engineering and design for ultimate performance.”
