RADIO CONTROL: PYLON RACING
Bill Hager 4 Holly Springs Dr., Conroe, TX 77302
Phoenix Race Report
Here is the report promised, taken from the NMPRA newsletter: Phoenix, February. I stopped off at the ProFlyers site to enjoy a race run by Bill Schoenemann (CD), ably aided and supported by his wife Kathy. Great Phoenix weather (despite gloomy forecasts), excellent officiating, favorable breezes, and lots of great racing have become the trademark of this kick-off event—this year was no exception. When the final results were tabulated, 27 entrants from the east, the west, Canada to the north, and various places in between had shown up—and they weren’t just there to sun themselves.
Right out of the gate in the first heat, Dave Shadel posted a 1:09.70, but Travis Flynn fired back with a 1:08.55, setting the tone. This race was one where the new kids on the block challenged the establishment and took no prisoners. In the third heat, Mike Helsel looked like he might save the honor of the older gang, but fate intervened. Mike led by one point over two youthful upstarts but didn’t get off the ground in the last heat. It brought back memories of the October Formula One Championship when his engine went lean and a younger competitor stole the prize.
Now that we’ve done a little rationalizing, let’s give credit where credit is due. This was, I’m told, the first win for Travis—and it looks like there will be many more. Another young flyer already known in Q500 circles who will likely make waves in Formula I is Jim Allen. In his first time in this event, Jim notched seven straight wins and looked like a shoe-in—but the fickle goddess of Pylon Racing stepped in. She rattled Jim’s cage in the next three heats and dropped him to a solid third-place finish. Jim did hold the Fast Time of 1:06.93, set in the third heat. Congratulations to both Travis and Jim for rising to the challenge.
Some interesting observations: the best spirit of racing was exemplified when Lloyd loaned his just-completed Toni to Stu McAffee—Stu flew it about a second faster than Lloyd could. Maybe the airplane was surprisingly speedy, or maybe Stu has been learning more than we realized. Speaking of Lyle, he discovered he could get several flights on a glow plug even in a Formula I setup—I overheard him tell Bob Smith about it. Bob, by the way, wiped out his airplane on the starting line so he could get home early to see his first granddaughter—well worth it, I bet.
Darrol Cady wants everyone to know you can still take off even if you throw your spinner—though he didn’t when he threw his in the first heat and had a rough weekend. Who would have believed we’d see five entries from Harold Sattler and Roy Andrassy’s home base in Canada? It was wonderful to have them here—keep the numbers growing, Canada. Harold’s best time of 1:10.41 and his fourth-place finish prove there’s serious racing talent north of the border.
Last, but not least, is proof that Formula I is alive and well and that racers will go wherever good races are held. Norm Johnson brought a nearly finished Left Turn Exit and finished it in his hotel room—resulting in thoroughly epoxied bedspread and pillow, a soldered hole in the night table, and towels turned green-yellow—colors matching his airplane. After all that, he posted a 1:10.21 before the fickle lady nudged him back at Pylon One. I’d heard about that lady of racing before, but she showed up again in Phoenix!
When all was said and done, Travis was number one and Jim Allen had the Fast Time in his first outing. That sends a message to some of us: talent usually rises to the top. Drew Jerina once again proved his finishing skills by winning Show Dog—yet another time.
The winners received some of the most beautiful trophies I’ve ever seen—outstanding work by Kathy Schoenemann, the CD’s wife. Her works of art, portraying local scenes and flavor, made the winners proud and the rest of us envious. Thank you, Kathy, for a very special effort. That spirit typifies Formula I racing and keeps us looking forward to coming back to Phoenix.
Top Ten Results
- Travis Flynn — 1:08.55
- Mike Helsel — 1:07.09
- Jim Allen — 1:06.93*
- Harold Sattler — 1:09.99
- Darrol Cady — 1:09.79
- Dave Doyle — 1:11.72
- Lloyd Burnham — 1:11.82
- Stu McAffee — 1:09.10
- Hank Kauffman — 1:16.76
- Roy Andrassy — 1:13.45
* Fast Time
QUARTER 40 / "THE WOODIE" (Jerry Salisbury)
I’ve been told by several Quickie guys that they’d like to try Quarter 40 but don’t know how to build a fiberglass fuselage or glass a wing—and don’t want to learn. Jerry Small of Small Creations has come up with the perfect solution: a Toni he calls “The Woodie.” It’s a balsa box-type fuselage with a fiberglass nose piece and ABS turtle deck and cheek cowls. It’s designed to build just like a Quickie and the plastic parts glue onto the wood fuselage to make it look like a Quarter 40.
Jerry sent me one and I have it ready to fly. It came in at 3 lb 8 oz with a standard battery pack. I hoped to test-fly it before this report was due, but the weather in North Carolina hasn’t been cooperative.
When my kit arrived I was impressed. I expected wing cores, plastic parts, and some plans; what I got was a framed-up fuselage with the spar installed in the wing. There’s no need to go into building technique here—most of you have your tried-and-proven methods. This builds just like any Quickie you’ve built, except it has double-tapered wings.
The slickest part is the nose piece—Jerry has done neat engineering. Both the Nelson and Jet backplate mounts snap in place, so alignment is set by the nose piece itself. It’s virtually impossible to misalign anything. Snap in the backplate mount, hold it to the light and mark screw holes, then bolt the nose to the fuselage and mark the firewall holes.
The hardest part for me was painting the ABS parts; at 28 degrees outside my spray-can paint job wasn’t perfect, but it looked good from ten feet. After the plastic parts are glued onto your MonoKote’d airframe, you have a Quarter Forty. I can’t wait to fly the Woodie. It looks good, weighs well, and is easy to build. I saw Ken Howell fly one at the Tangerine meet—he said it flew great, and it looked like it did. Best of all, Mike DelPonte of Revolution fame is going to kit this Toni. It will come with the wing cores sheathed but not joined and the fuselage jig built for $165. That makes it about a three-weekend airplane for me (or 45 minutes for Lyle).
I spoke to Jerry last night and he has a QM40 kit in the works. It is a 1920 Curtiss-Cox Texas Wildcat—a high-wing, different-looking design—and it will be kitted by Norm Johnson of Wing-It.
I also got a call from Chago in Dayton, Ohio. He is working with Don Stackhouse of B.J. Aerotech on a new Spitfire QM40 kit. It will have a composite wing and fiberglass fuselage with firewall and engine mount installed. Don is a glider guy and an airfoil expert, so this should be...
(Note: the original newsletter excerpt ends here.)
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
