Fastskin LZR Racer Elite: Technology Behind It

Definitely, the revolutionary Fastskin LZR Racer was one of the top inventions of 2008. The suit utilizes many forms of high-tech technology to give the wearer as many benefits as possible. It is nothing like other performance swimwear. It does not use a full polyurethane coating, but still gives the advantage of reduced friction.

The fabric is designed to trap air, improving the buoyancy of the athlete and reducing drag. Furthermore, the fabric optimizes muscle compression that reduces fatigue by stopping your muscles from vibrating. As well, the innovative fabric facilitates optimal blood circulation and slows the build up of lactic acid (this acid makes it harder to move oxygen to the muscles and this causes fatigue and pain) in your muscles. A lot of these technological breakthroughs were developed based off of comprehensive researches of bio-mechanical movements in water and the skins of various sea creatures, such as sharks and dolphins. The final product was the ultra lightweight fabric called LZR Pulse. Finally, this fabric was used to create hydrodynamic performance racing jammer and recordbreaker kneeskin. These suits were developed in the Speedo Aqualab.

These performance swimsuits offer low skin friction drag and are fast drying, so there will be no worries. The bonded seams make an ideally smooth, on the other hand flexible surface. Furthermore, the suits have Speedo’s one-of-a-kind 3D, 3 piece pattern that has been dynamically developed in order to optimize the shape of the wearer. Their engineers came up with a unique design which put panels of polyurethane over parts of the body that create the highest drag. Obviously, besides the fabrics the important part is the swimsuit design. No one wants a swimsuit which traps water as it flows around the wearer. So, one more important innovation is to use fabrics that squeezes and slims down swimmers in order that the skin does not wobble around as they glide through the water. Small pieces of fabric were put through wind-tunnel tests in order to check for drag. Developers used computational fluid dynamics to model the suits' aerodynamic qualities, as if they were trying to find out how a new jet will fly. Next, athletes put this new revolutionary design to real-world tests in swimming pools. No wonder it is considered to be the best in both competitive and performance swimsuits.

Luckily, the LZR Racer Elite has not been banned as a result of the new FINA 2010 restrictions, which claimed that polyurethane based swimwear were making swimming a sport based on too much sophisticated technology and not the skill of professional swimmers.

Because of the great results the Speedo LZR Racer Elite swimsuits won in the Beijing Olympics some competitor swimwear manufacturers responded designing swimsuits that one-upped the Speedo by using nothing but polyurethane.

At the moment (as we already discussed in this Blog), there is a great deal of controversy in the swimming world surrounding polyurethane suits. A lot of strict rules banning these types of swimsuits in professional swimming have already been put in place; on the other hand have not yet gone into effect.



Some interesting facts about Beijing Olympics:
- 23 world records were broken by the athletes who wore LZR Racer suits,
- 2 world records were broken by athletes not wearing these suits.
- 89% of all the medals in swimming and a total of 94% of the gold medals were won by Fastskin LZR Racer athletes.

If you wish to add something regarding FastSkin LZR Racer Elite swimwear, do not hesitate to post your comment.