Low Racer plans - 1998
	Low Racer Construction - 1998-2002
	Theory and practice of fairing Design - 1998
	Coroplast fairing construction 1998  - Cuda fairing 1.0
	Fiberglass fairing construction 1999 - Cuda fairing 2.0 "modified class"
	Fiberglass fairing construction 2000 -> 2002  Cuda fairing 3.0, the streamliner
	Barracuda streamliner design 2001  - Designing a new fairing
	Barracuda tub bike fairing construction 2002 - The 'Cuda-W streamliner
	Barracuda tub bike subframe construction - 2003-2005
	Next generation Barracuda 2 titanium lowracer - 2002-2003
	The 'Cuda MOAT tailbox project - 2003
	Reg Rodero builds the Cuda-W molds and fairings - 2003-2005
	Cuda-W front subframe part II - 2006
	Cuda-W Construction  2005-2007 - all the bits come together
	Barracuda Streamliner racing highlights and  Scale Paper Model

History of the Barracuda
After racing the WISIL Missile lowracer/streamliner throughout the 1997 HPRA racing season, I decided that I should build or buy a new recumbent racing bike of my own. At that point in time, Ross and M5 were the only companies with viable lowracers. I looked into purchasing the Ross Festina lowracer, but it was not going to be in production before racing season began, which wouldn't give me very long to build a fairing for it. Because of this, I decided to design and build my own lowracer recumbent. 

After much discussion with WISIL members Bill Murphy, Len Brunkalla, and Rick Wianecke, I designed a low racer that was a cross between the WISIL Missile, and the Ross Festina. This lowracer became the "Barracuda". I raced the Barracuda starting in 1998, first as a bare lowracer, then in 1999 as a faired bike. Between then and 2004 I raced and and developed both the body and the bike to improve the bike's handling and my speed.  
 

Looking for even more speed, I decided in 2000 to build a full speedbike using the latest monocoque fairing technologies. Between 2003 and 2005, Reg Rodaro built the tub body from my design, and I built the front subframe/drivetrain. In 2005, I picked up the body from Reg, and began the final construction of the Cuda-W. In 2006, the Cuda-W was made race ready, but is still a work in progress. Dennis Grelk purchased the original Barracuda, and this picture shows us racing in the the fall of 2006.

Check out how I did in past races on the HPRA results and pictures pages.