Jack
Brenton
AshishSporting Equipment Breakthroughs
September 21st 2009 02:20
Just as technology is always improving in all aspects of our lives, the same happens with sporting equipment make things faster, easier and more accurate for participants.
However, sometimes a technological breakthrough is developed that’s so advanced, it threatens to change the very nature of the sport. What happens next can vary depending on the governing body in charge. Such breakthroughs can be adopted by all who wish to remain competitive, or it might be banned altogether for devaluing the sport in some way. Thanks to Popular Mechanics, here are some Equipment Breakthroughs which shook up sports. Read more here.
Until 1977, there were no limitations on the size or shape of tennis rackets—the wooden construction placed a de facto limit on gear. Then Howard Head introduced the aluminum Prince racket with a head that was 110 square inches, compared to the 78 square inches of a conventional wood frame. The International Tennis Federation scurried to cap racket size at 127 square inches. While the initial fears were that oversize rackets would give an unfair advantage to serve and volleyers—like Pam Shriver, who made the U.S. Open using one—the reality is that the new sticks have allowed baseliners to hit returns and passing shots with more topspin, rendering the serve and volley game all but extinct in singles.
Once upon a time, ski racers simply used the longest skis they could find. In the mid-1990s, a young phenom named Bode Miller started experimenting with the shaped skis that were used mostly by beginners. He took the effort a step further, using slalom skis that were so short—155 cm—they looked like they came out of the rental shop. Miller's skis also featured a radical hourglass shape, which allowed them to carve ultra-tight turns. The ski police at the International Ski Federation took action, instituting a minimum length for a set of skis—now 165 cm for men's slalom races. They followed that up with minimum widths, which effectively placed limits on a ski's turning radius.
In 1993 a Scotsman and his unlikely bike shook up the world of cycling. Riding a bike that he built in his basement for $200, with his arms tucked awkwardly under his chest, unheralded Graeme Obree broke the sport's premier mark, the World Hour Record, riding 32 miles. The "praying mantis" position he used was deemed illegal by cycling's governing body, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), but Obree wasn't done. He devised a new "Superman" position, in which he reduced his frontal area by keeping his arms extended straight in front of him. In 1996, a British rider, Chris Boardman, set the World Hour mark of 35 miles, using the Superman position. The UCI banned this position too, and set aside Boardman's now-untouchable mark, opening record attempts to riders on more conventional bikes.
In 1967, Jim Hall's Chaparral 2E became the first car with wings. The wing was movable from the cockpit so that the driver could tilt it to provide downforce in the braking zones and corners and flatten it for top speed down the straights. Racing's international governing body, the FIA, immediately banned the Chaparral's movable wings, and the next year, after a series of serious Formula One crashes caused by sudden wing failures, also outlawed the tall struts. Lower, body-mounted wings have been a mainstay of open-wheel racing ever since. For his part, Hall pushed the envelope one step further, installing a vacuum cleaner to suck his Chaparral to the ground. Another ban ensued, but the idea later morphed into the so-called ground effects bottoms that help to keep modern race cars glued to the track.
Wrap your brain around this bit of baseball trivia: Babe Ruth could have played with a metal bat. The patent for the first non-wooden bat was issued to a man named William Shroyer way back in 1924. However, it wasn't until the 1970s that the first commercially available aluminum bats were introduced by Worth. While the bats were initially touted for their unbreakable durability, it quickly became apparent that they also provided awesome power. Professional baseball rules, in both the majors and the minor leagues, prevent the use of anything but one-piece wooden bats. However, aluminum bats are allowed in amateur play, even in Division I-A, where the top players are pro-caliber prospects. Scouts worry that these high-tech bats encourage bad habits in pitchers and hitters alike. In continuing to regulate bat construction, NCAA officials worry that line drives rocketing back at a defenseless pitcher as fast as 114 mph could be a tragedy waiting to happen.
In early 2008, during the ramp up to the Beijing Olympics, Speedo introduced the LZR swimsuit, which turned the sport upside down. Made of an advanced material called Peretex, the $500 full-body suit, reduced hydrodynamic drag, forced the swimmer into a more streamlined position and trapped air to increase buoyancy. Swimmers wearing the suit broke 25 world records at the Olympics and 93 records overall. This summer, manufacturers like Jaked and Arena countered with suits that were even faster; In the 200* meter freestyle, Germany’s Paul Biedermann beat Michael Phelps and took four seconds off his own Olympic time wearing an Arena Glide-X suit. Sensing that the sport had turned into a de facto swimsuit competition, FINA, swimming’s governing body took action. Starting in 2010, body length suits were banned and all competition swimwear must be made of a woven fabric.
However, sometimes a technological breakthrough is developed that’s so advanced, it threatens to change the very nature of the sport. What happens next can vary depending on the governing body in charge. Such breakthroughs can be adopted by all who wish to remain competitive, or it might be banned altogether for devaluing the sport in some way. Thanks to Popular Mechanics, here are some Equipment Breakthroughs which shook up sports. Read more here.
Oversize Tennis Rackets
Shaped Skis
Aero Time-Trial Bikes
Winged Race Cars
Aluminum Baseball Bats
Next-Gen Swim Suit
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