# Kristina Vogel recently stormed to three world titles.
The helmet manufacturer Casco has made a name for itself in the last ten years, especially on the track. At that time, a small revolution began for the company, which is now based in Saxony, which has led to the majority of the international rail elite now relying on Casco's know-how: In 2004, the German sprint elite around the double Olympic champion Jens Fiedler took part in the anniversary games in Athens for the first time to the Warp at the start. The result is known. Brought up the pace by Fiedler, René Wolff prepared Stefan Niemke's gold round in the team sprint.
# The Olympic gold ride of the sprint trio around Jens Fiedler.
Even then, the maxim in the production of the idiosyncratic helmet Aerodynamics in action was, the consideration of the sport-specific movement sequences played a role. And she still does today. “We are convinced that the focus will continue to be on the aerodynamics of helmets in the future. In addition to body position and bike, the helmet is a decisive factor in increasing the athlete's aerodynamics.", says Alexander Aeschbach, who has been working for for some time. Until the end of his career last year, the Swiss was one of the leading track athletes in Switzerland, but he was also successful on the road.
#Alexander Aeschbach was one of the most successful Swiss professionals in recent years.
“Up to more than 70 watts can be saved by improving the aerodynamics. The construction of an aerodynamic helmet is not child's play. There is a lot of know-how and basic knowledge behind it, since a helmet has to perform in many more aerodynamic situations than a static object." Regarding the Warp the developers optimized this approach for the first time on Bahnsprint and Keirin. The basic concept behind this approach is very simple: Since a rider, and here in particular the rider's head, is moved much more often in the wind than is the case with a frame, for example, the streamlines have to be interpreted differently.
The Warp as so-called Ball Helmet is the result of these interpretations. Casco renounced it to an elongated tail, as known from other aero helmets, and thus allows the driver to move their head aerodynamically in this area neutral to stay. Instead of the rear you will find the Warp the patented air guides typical of Casco. And the numerous titles at the Olympic Games, World Championships and European Championships prove Casco right with this approach.
# Joachim Eilers became runner-up in the 2014 meter distance at the 1000 World Championships in Cali – with the Speedtime.
In the past two years, Casco has worked intensively on the further development of the concept. The aim was to transfer the know-how to helmets for road use. The result of this development is the Speed series, which consists of two models, the speed time and the Speedairo.
“Other helmet manufacturers seem to be discovering aerodynamics for themselves at the moment. A general problem here, however, is that some products on the market are aerodynamic by name alone and are very unconvincing in terms of function.", Aeschbach points out.
“We developed the concept of adaptive aerodynamics in the wind tunnel, but also in field tests. One of the many tear-off edges at the rear of the helmet ensures the best aerodynamics for the situation, depending on the current position of the head.” In this way, drivers should be offered excellent aerodynamics at all times. The concept itself also includes the visors, which are designed in such a way that they guarantee a wide field of vision, but are still subordinate to the helmet concept.
Because of this, the two are alike Speed-Models largely if you put them on top of each other. They only differ in the area of application. During the speed time primarily intended for use in time trials, the ventilation management of the Speedairo offer the best possible performance even over long distances. In our test report from last year, he knew how to convince [Link], not least because it has some other exciting features that contribute to the wearing comfort. "The goal is to create helmets that do not compromise on aerodynamics in practice and comfort without making compromises to the detriment of one side", concludes Aeschbach. So it will be interesting to see in which direction Casco will further intensify its focus.
Graphics and photos: Casco, Private (unless otherwise noted)