Francis Faure

Francis Faure (1910, Ambert – 1953) was a French bicycle racer who captured the world hour record in July 1933 on a Vélocar.[1][2][3] This prompted the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to restrict bicycle designs for all future competitions.[1][2]

Early life

Francis was brother of Benoît Faure and Eugène Faure.[4]

1933

On July 7, 1933, Faure rode a Vélocar developed by Charles Mochet in the Vélodrome d'Hiver in Paris, and he beat the hour record of 44.247 km set by Oscar Egg on August 18, 1914, by 0.808 km.[1] At the time, Faure was considered a "second-rate" cyclist[2] and was not Mochet's first choice.[4] The unfaired, or "stock" recumbent record stood until it was broken in 2007 by an "unclassified" racer Sean Costin, who covered 48.80 km (28.46 mi) on the 382m outdoor concrete velodrome in Northbrook, Illinois[5]. He rode a recumbent made by the Polish manufacturer Velokraft (model name NoCom), which he converted to a fixed-gear for the indoor event.

1938
Francis Faure in his streamlined Vélocar in 1938

In 1938, Faure rode an updated, streamlined Vélocar to become the first cyclists to exceed 50 km in one hour, but this record is unofficial because of the UCI ban on non-traditional designs.[1][6] This record was not broken on a conventional bicycle until Francesco Moser rode one for 51.151 km in 1984.[1]

Postscript

Faure moved to Australia when WWII started, and died there in 1948.[4]

References
  1. David V. Herlihy (2004). Bicycle - The History. Yale University Press. pp. 388-389. Retrieved 2017-10-14. Francis Faure.
  2. Tony Hadland and Hans-Erhard Lessing (2014). Bicycle Design. MIT Press. pp. 483–485. ISBN 9780262322225. Retrieved 2017-10-14.
  3. David Gordon Wilson (2004). Bicycling Science. MIT Press. p. 448. ISBN 9780262731546. Retrieved 2017-10-14. We honor racers Francis Faure, who rode velocars in the 1930s to their place in history.
  4. "Best History of the Recumbent – Why it's Faster & How it Came to be Banned". National Bicycle Greenway. June 30, 2013. Retrieved 2017-10-14.
  5. "Unfaired recumbents and One Hour record". Wikipedia.
  6. "Best History of the Recumbent – Why it's Faster & How it Came to be Banned". National Bicycle Greenway. June 30, 2013. Archived from the original on September 15, 2019. Retrieved June 2, 2021.


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