Self-waxing skis provide a faster ride

Tests show they dramatically improve the speed of a skier on dry slopes and artificial snow, and provide a less marked, but measurable, improvement on the mountainside. Skis used in downhill racing are normally waxed to reduce friction. Skiers can also select different waxes to suit particular weather or slope conditions. But this performance improvement drops as a skier goes down the slope and the wax wears off. So chemical engineer Peter Styring at Sheffield University, and colleague Alex Routh, now at Cambridge University, both in the UK, developed a pair of skis that constantly replenish their wax, using the wearer's weight to squeeze new wax onto the undersides. A hollow section between boot and ski, known as the race plate, is replaced with a reservoir of liquid wax. This feeds into a small tube about 250 microns across that runs along the top of the ski and down through the front.

Source: newscientisttech.comAdded: 19 January 2007