RADIO CONTROL PYLON RACING
Duane Gall, 1267 S. Beeler Ct., Denver CO 80231; E-mail: stinger4@earthlink.net
AND THEN THERE WERE TWO:
Just in time for holiday shopping, I'm happy to announce that there is a reasonably priced Almost Ready-to-Fly (ARF) sport model on the market that meets the AMA Quickie 500 racing-rule formula. The new Great Planes Viper 500 ARF joins Lanier's Predator in offering up-and-coming pilots a chance to get the feel of racing—or even just racing airplanes—at minimal cost.
The release date for the Viper was August 2003. Although I haven't gotten my hands on one yet, initial reviews are positive. The Viper is reportedly quick to assemble and well engineered to handle the strong .40 engines used in racing.
For those who just joined us (and those who may be putting together a gift list for any hotshot pilots in the family), Quickie 500s are the simplest and most popular racing models ever. With a wing loading lighter than that of some sailplanes, they will easily ride thermals and land at a walk. But get two to four of them up together in a friendly speed contest and feel the adrenaline kick in! Now is the time to think about a bulk purchase for your club for next season.
RACE REPORTS:
To provide a little midwinter inspiration, following are two recent accounts of intraclub fun and games. Both happen to be from my local stomping ground, where I'm best able to sneak up on people and hide their extra glow plugs until they promise to submit something. But any and all notes from your latest contest are welcome here! The more geographical diversity, the better.
Let's go over to Kurt Bozarth in sunny Denver, Colorado.
Airpark Elite Q-500 Race, June 22, 2003. After an eight-week break in the schedule, we finally had our second race of the season. The weather over the last few days had been typical for Colorado this time of year—huge afternoon thunderstorms with rain, hail, and winds. But thanks to some of our contacts, the weather was perfect all day. In fact, the winds were even right down the runway this time. Nothing like a good old headwind to slow you down on the way to Pylon One; can you say "double cut," John, Hank, and Chuck?
Much to Hal Garwood's dismay, colored stickers on the wings were not used this time for identification. I showed up with a Neme-Q wing with all four of the fluorescent colors as part of my paint job! Hal grumbled for a while but soon forgot—he's pushing 50, you know.
Duane Gall, our local celebrity and club legal eagle, served as contest director and was immediately faced with a worker shortage—perhaps the result of Duane failing to follow Hal's lead in providing a "most deserving" award. (I had my reasons. The shameless annual lobbying for Oscar nominations pales in comparison, and you can guess whose efforts at cottoning up to the contest director were the most nauseating!)
Duane maintained control, analyzed the situation, and took the appropriate action: he decided to run the race without lights at Pylon One. This proved to be a great call and no issues resulted—and besides, who's going to argue with a federal prosecutor? (I am not a federal prosecutor, either. See above. Case closed!) Other than John Z. Williams' continual efforts to eliminate the competition in midair, carnage was minimal.
And just like every event at Airpark, lunch was terrific! Pylon racing and ribs or quarter-scale and quiche? The choice is clear! Local hero Phil Kenney fired up the grill at dawn and came through again with perfectly barbecued ribs, bratwurst, and burgers—all marinated in his own secret sauce containing just a hint of nitro.
A total of four rounds of AMA 428 (Quickie 500) and 424 (Sport Quickie) were flown, along with a few rounds of trainer races thrown in for fun. The winds were perfect all day and no refiles were needed. You could not have asked for a better day to race in Colorado! Here are the results:
AMA 424 (3)
- 1st: Gary Johnson
- 2nd: Steve Vaughn
- 3rd: Alan Thovson
AMA 428 (12)
- 1st: Brian Neff
- 2nd: Kurt Bozarth
- 3rd: Chuck Andraka
Trainers (3)
- 1st: Nick Smith
- 2nd: Alan Thovson
- 3rd: Mark Nash-Ford
See ya at the next one in three weeks!
Thanks, Kurt. (I think.) Chuck Andraka is a regular at these meets, although he has to drive six hours from Albuquerque, New Mexico, to get there. We're also glad to see Bob Dible, who lives in central Kansas and drives nearly that far in the other direction. That's dedication, and it clearly pays off since those two usually place high.
Now over the Continental Divide for a report from Bill Hayden of the Grand Junction Modelers in western Colorado.
A couple of pilots in our club have an interest in racing, but with limited local interest in racing, nobody wants to invest in a dedicated racing airplane. After all, if you don't have anybody to compete against, it's just flying around in a circle. But our monthly fun-fly competitions are usually pretty well attended, so we figured that if we could somehow combine the fun-fly with racing, we could get enough pilots to make the event worthwhile.
Club president Art Smith told us about an event held annually by a club he had previously belonged to. They called it a "Century Race" because it involved flying 100 laps. We figured we could apply the same principle, add a couple of required pit stops, and make it a fun-fly event.
So the rules we came up with were that any airplane was allowed, and each pilot had to fly 100 laps around a two-pole course. There were to be two mandatory pit stops in which the pilot had to land, shut down, get his airplane to the pit area, refuel, restart, and get back in the air. The clock would be running the whole time.
We positioned judges at the sideline opposite each pylon (see the racecourse layouts in the AMA rule book, available from HQ), and if a pilot cut the pylon he would have 10 seconds per cut added to his total time.
Rather than call it a "race" we called it an "endurance event."
Club vice president Dave Dickey affixed a GPS (Global Positioning System) under the canopy of his airplane during the race. When it was over, the GPS told us that the race had covered a linear distance of 19.1 miles for the entire 100 laps. Most pilots chose to pit on roughly laps 35 and 70.
A traditional racing airplane would do you no good here, as it would not carry enough fuel to make it this far. Also, without steerable tail/nose gear, aircraft recovery for the pit stop would be a real problem for a full-blown racer. Out of eight entrants, four were Tiger 60s, with a variety of power plants. Remember, all-out speed would not win this event. The pilot's ability to land accurately, refuel, and get back in the air quickly were equally important factors.
Grouping like aircraft together, some of the flight times were amazingly close. Two pilots (Bill Wright and Mike Carbonell) entered airplanes that were beginner sport-type airplanes, so they flew the first heat. Their flight times were 53:33 and 36:00 respectively.
That's right, only 27 seconds separated them at the end. Imagine 36 minutes straight of flying around pylons, with two pit stops, and knowing the whole time that a 30-second delay in retrieving or pitting could make the difference. Those guys were really whipped at the end of their heat!
Fast time of the event was 24:15, flown by Bruce Hayes who flew a Tiger 60 with a piped YS 61. Two other Tiger pilots (Art Smith and Bill Hayden) came across the finish line nose to tail, with Art only slightly ahead. After 100 laps and two pit stops, it was very exciting to be this close at the end.
We are planning to make this an annual event for our club, and we may juggle the rules prior to each event just to keep everyone honest. It's a good way to have a race that is not really a race and attract participants that might not be interested in our traditional view of racing.
Thanks, Bill!
Speaking of rules, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that the deadline is coming up for the final vote on rules changes for the 2005–2007 rule book. Please, please, please, dear readers, pay attention to this! Any "bad" proposal that passes the February balloting will be staring us in the face for the next three years. Any "good" proposal that fails in February will be missing from the rule book for the next three years.
So what are the proposals? There are only three issues pending in Radio Control Pylon at the moment, and two deal with Sport Quickie (event 424).
- RCR 05-1 would prohibit all-molded composite wings and instead require that all wings be made from wood or wood-sheeted foam. The goal is to avoid the appearance that a person "has to" go high-tech to win this low-cost, low-key, entry-level form of racing. (Event 428, also known as "fast" or "expert" Q-500, would not be affected by this proposal.)
- RCR 05-2 would create a five-member national committee to test sample engines and publish an annual, national, approved engine list for Sport Quickie. This would smooth out the existing patchwork of conflicting local engine rules.
- RCR 05-3 would establish unofficial but recommended ("provisional") rules for racing medium-size sport Scale models such as the Great Planes Shoestring, the World Models Midget Mustang, and similar designs.
Regular readers might know that I favor RCR 05-3 because it could help promote grassroots racing, even in clubs with smaller fields or where "nobody wants to invest in a dedicated racing airplane," as stated in Bill Hayden's report. We already have one provisional event (1/2A—AMA event 423) which is working well in a few areas, and there's a hole in the rule book since the old Formula I went away in 1999. It just makes sense.
Rule proposals may be obtained from AMA Headquarters or viewed online at www.modelaircraft.org/Comp/2005rulesprop.html.
The names and addresses of the Contest Board members are published in every issue of this magazine on the first page of the "Focus on Competition" section. If you don't know which one represents your district (or even if you do), write to all 11 of them; this will cost you less than the cover price of this magazine.
MA
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
