 "Photo: Sara Wilmot")
A piece of artwork and a mode of transportation that is human-powered, glides across sand, floats on water, and maneuvers through thick brush: this is exactly what a kinetic sculpture racing machine can do.
Kinetic Sculpture Racing was started 40 years ago in Ferndale, Calif., by Hobart Brown. The race used to consist of a three-block voyage down Main Street in Ferndale. Today the Kinetic Grand Championship is a 3-day, 41-mile journey.
When walking into the Kinetics Lab in Arcata, you would never guess that the 10-foot-long, brightly colored sculptures hanging from the ceilings and protruding from the walls were once attached to peddle-powered machines that have crossed the Samoa Dunes and sailed Humboldt Bay.
In addition to the Grand Championship this year, the race host Kinetic Universe will be holding for the first time the Kinetic Klassic, held on Mother's Day, May 11. This event brings back the original style of racing and is open to all ages. It will consist of a 3-block race, the same distance as the first Kinetic Sculpture Race held in 1969,and starts at Fireman's Park in Ferndale.
The Kinetic Klassic was started as a tribute to the creator of the sport, Hobart Brown, who passed away last November of pneumonia.
The Klassic is "open to anyone who can build anything that can move," Shaye Harty, president of Kinetic Universe, said.
Ken Beidleman of Eureka has been participating in the Grand Championship for 27 years. This year he and his team are building what they like to call "the Hippie-potamus."
The 'Hippie-potamus' is more than 15 feet long. The body is constructed of recycled aluminum roof flashing and the head has been constructed and carved out of foam. The pilots and peddlers sit inside the body of the 'hippie-potamus'. The pilot can see in front of them through the mouth and peddlers can see through transparent bubbles in the sides.
"We thought that a gray hippo would be boring," said team member Robert Thomane. "So we decided to paint it psychedelic. Like an old hippy bus."
To qualify for the event all vehicles must be able to travel on the streets, across the Samoa Dunes and float across Humboldt Bay.
The noon whistle in Arcata signifies the start of the race on May 24. Each vehicle must circle the Plaza three times before embarking on the race course. The race is broken up over the course of three days. Racers must cross each finish line to continue on the next day.
Thomane has been a member of Beidleman's team since 2001. He saw his first kinetic sculpture race in 1971 and watched every year for 30 years before becoming a member of a team.
Thomane explains that the hippie-potamus has four pilots who peddle, and operates in four wheel drive.
He says the most time-consuming part is constructing the chassis. This is the actual machine with the peddles, seats and frame.
"Once a team has a really good chassis, they keep using the same machine and build new art body sculptures each year to attach to the chassis," Thomane said.
Last year Beidleman's team won the Grand Championship race. Their sculpture was a reconstruction of the truck from the movie The Beverly Hillbillies, complete with a moving replica of granny and her shotgun on the back.
June Moxon has been racing in the grand championship for 27 years. She captains a team of 16 people. This year their vehicle is a giant rooster, which they have been working since March.
"The best part is showing up the first day with your sculpture before the hard part starts," Moxon said. "You get to see what everyone else has been working on and the sculptures are still in good shape."
Each competitor constructs their vehicles to be human-powered. Harty says the most common method of powering the machines is with peddles. Yet over the years, people have developed other methods such as rowing motions and a push-and-pull motion to propel the vehicles forward.
The first leg of the race starts at the Arcata Plaza. Racers then head toward Manilla, where they cross the Samoa dunes and go down the strand to Dead Man's Drop- a steep and challenging sand hill.
The second day of the race starts in Eureka. The Sculpture machines launch into Humboldt Bay near the Wharfinger Building and make their way up the bay. Racers then get their machines out of the water and race through the town, behind Bayshore Mall and toward College of the Redwoods. The second leg of the race ends in Loleta.
Racers then camp along the Eel River and prepare for the last leg of the race.
The final day of the race, participants sail up the Eel River, and then make their way toward the city of Ferndale. Exhausted and covered in mud and bug bites, racers make the final stretch to the finish line at Main and Brown Streets in Ferndale.
Each vehicle must pass an initial inspection before the start of the race, which includes a brake test and a safety check. Each vehicle is then judged by an art judge and an engineer judge.
There are five general rules for the Grand Championship that have not changed since the first race in 1969.
Sculptures must be powered by people, no engines, feet must not touch the ground, must complete to qualify, each sculpture must have at least one driver, but no more than five, and the sculpture may not be dangerous or harmful to others.
The Grand Championship begins May 24 in Arcata and ends May 26 in Ferndale. The Kinetic Klassic will be May 11, starting at 1 p.m. in Ferndale.
"These vehicles are amazingly engineered," Harty said. "For these sculptures to manage to travel across all the different terrains is incredible."
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