RV's and Rockets at 2011 Reno Pylon Racing Seminar!

This week is the 2011 Reno Air Racing Association Pylon Racing Seminar (PRS), and there are 4 RVs and 2 Rockets participating! I thought I'd blog a little here this week, to try and give our VAF family a taste of what its like to turn props on the biggest Air Racing Stage in the World!

PRS is where pilots earn the qualification to run in the big show in September. Pilots that have raced in the last 3 years or have completed PRS in the past 2 years do not need to complete PRS to compete in September. However, if you do not meet those criterion, you must complete PRS to race in the show.

Our group of Sport Class Racers consists of two Rocket drivers that have competed in the past, 1 RV pilot that is a Formula racer, and 3 RV pilots completing PRS as Rookies.

The RV and Rocket Bro's that are running in PRS are (L-R):
Terry Brennan (RV-8A, Rookie), Me (RV-S6, Rookie), Dave Leonard (RV-6 Turbo Rotary, Rookie), Steve Senegal (RV-S8, Formula Racer); Mark Frederick (F1 EVO, previous racer) and Greg Nelson (F1 Sport, previous racer)


PRS officially began today, but many aircraft and pilots arrived earlier in the week to do formation training, and current and qualified racers were able to make early practice runs on the course. A lot of test flying was conducted as well. Steve, Greg and I were able to do formation work with the Sport Class vets, and it was fun and challenging to fly with fast Lancairs and Glassairs!

Today, Mark, Dave (RoDoc) and Terry arrived, and while vets practiced on the course, we Rookies and out of qual racers were given General and Class-specific ground school sessions. Here are some pics of the aircraft and pilots, and a few of the ground school:

My 6 and Terry's 8A:


Greg and Mark and their Rockets:


Steve's Super 8:


RoDoc's 6:


The General Session of ground school covered administrative items, general rules and concentrated heavily on safety. Saw some compelling safety videos from some of the Reno Racing Hall of Famers. Here's a pic of the class:


The Sport Class session covered more specific procedures, including briefing, launch, entering and exiting the low-level race course, racing, passing, and emergencies. Here's a pic of the much smaller Sport Class Rookie group:


Of course we were surrounded by some pretty cool airplanes of all varieties, and here's one sample pic:


And on the way home for the day, while showing Mark and Greg the Rare Bear Hangar, my kiddos were invited in for a "Rare Treat"!




We're all very excited to be participating, and are looking forward to a busy, challenging and fun week. Tomorrow (Thursday) will be our first look at the course, and I'll try to keep updating y'all with how its going, what its like, and toss in some more pics as I'm able...of RVs, Rockets and more of the heavy iron!

Wish us luck, and ride along with us in VAF spirit!

Cheers,
Bob
Race 43

WOW!!!

I have always wanted to attend Reno! Its great seeing RV guys at PRS. Good luck and stay safe!!!

My wife and I are going this year along with a RV buddy. I can't wait to see what racing is all about. Im hoping it's what we expect.

Rare Bear

Nasty,

Have you ever sat in Rare Bear? Risky and Nuke are about as big as can comfortably be fit in that thing. I tried sitting in it a few years ago. That canopy is LOW.

Have fun and fly safe.

Slick

COOL!!!

Neat writeup, thanks for sharing with us.

Are we going to have another BBQ????

It's going to be awesome to see some RVs going around the Pylons!

These pictures are too cool!! I try hard not to look at threads about Reno and SARL, but I can't help myself. I suspect you racing fellers are going to cost me a lot of money somewhere down the road.

Mike,

Unless something goes awry, yes, there will be a BBQ at Air Races again this year.

greg

See you there!

I'll be up at rno as well, Greg! See you there. Oh, the 9 was too small. Need an Rv-14...

Neil

nice write up Bob.

ps- hope you're not expecting that fancy stuff here in Montana. See you in two weeks. BC

PRS 2011 Day 2

Some great replies there guys, and the fun really began today. For today, Friday and Saturday, the Formula and Biplane racers brief early, and the Unlimited, Sport and T-6 racers do a mass brief at 0815, followed by a Class Brief, then individual flight brief.

Safety is the underlying theme throughout, and the class and flight briefs dug more into class rules and the race course, to include some visual gouges and what to look for on the course. As with many things, you can visualize just so much, then ya gotta see it and do it to really learn it. So it was off for our first run on the Reno Air Race course.

The morning hop included one last bit of formation work and some upset recovery proficiency demos (roll over and right yourself), done at altitude. Then we flew around Peavine Peak (the mountain SW of Stead, and down the chute to the start!

I was the lead for the morning hop, as I had our instructor with me. On our wing were Greg Nelson and Mark Frederick in their Rockets, and our new buddy Phil, an experienced Formula racer now flying in a Lancair 360. Our instructor Rick worked the radio to manage the flight, and I was a bit of a voice actuated autopilot till we were running in towards the start pylon (all good with me, as a Rookie!)

In Sport Class, we run around the Unlimited course on the first lap to get established on the course, and then run the slightly shorter Sport course on all subsequent laps.

After two leisurely (read slow) laps getting a look at the pylons, our instructor had the other three aircraft pass us and push it up, and when 4 went by me, I pushed it all forward and said to Rick..."let's play!"

The Rockets moved right out, and the Lancair and I played right behind them. Turns out I was a little faster than him, but it took several laps to pass, as I got the feel for turning smoothly around the pylons and managing energy. I did get him though, and I'll tell ya this:

This is MORE FUN than should be allowed! RoDoc Dave Leonard stepped out of his rotary 6 after his first hop, smiled big, and said the same thing! High 5s all around!

I'm not even sure how many laps we did, but we were on the course for 15 minutes, and that felt like a long time, though it was over in a heartbeat. We pulled up and practiced a simulated engine out, and landed and taxied in.

I haven't been able to wipe the RV grin off my face since!!

We debriefed and talked about the course, technique and safety, and then broke for lunch. During lunch we tried to find a part to fix Phil's 360's main gear strut, to no avail (yet). Then we rejoined for the afternoon brief.

During the afternoon hop, Guccidude1 Dan agreed to play photographer from his perfectly located hangar...and as Greg said, Dan's hangar will again host the R3 BBQ...thought the Rocket guys would like to play too, and call it an R4 BBQ (RV and Rocket Reno Rendezvous!)

At any rate, Dan found the sports mode on my camera (continuous shutter) and took 608 pictures of our afternoon go, and some additional photos of other racers.

Unfortunately RoDoc Dave had a coolant issue with his rotary motor, and aborted during his taxi out. Steve Senegal ran with one group in his Super 8, and Terry Brennan ran with another in his 8A. Here are pictures of each of them:




Dan captured all the elements of our flight, and I'll put some sequential pics in and describe it a bit. Man-up, start and taxi are very much like a standard formation hop. There are a few idiosyncracies to race hops, but it is very similar. On hop 2, Greg led with Rick in his back seat, and Mark and I were 2 and 3. Here we are starting to taxi, with lots of race hubub going on behind us:


Standard formation taxi to the run-up, and a standard run-up with passing of thumbs up:


Race control issues a line up and wait, and the flight takes the hot side of the runway (far side from the turn-off side) and lines up in a 45 deg stack:


Take off and rejoin to a right echelon takes place in a big left turn outside and above the course. Then the flight makes a wide circle around Pevine Peak, and sets up to come down the chute. Timing is such that we want to be coming down the chute as the group ahead of us on the course is coming off the course. Its a neat choreography between the flight lead and race control, via radio. Here we are coming down the chute, and have just received a "gentlemen, you have a simulated race" call from lead:


Once on the course, it was me chasing the 2 Rockets (no surprise there), but it was a great place to work on flying a good line...and I love chasng Rockets! I like catching them even better, but Mark and Greg are tough prey! (It may be the other way around!) Here are some pics of us at pylons 7 and 8, and passing down the home stretch:









More pics to follow...

PRS 11 Day 2 part 2

Just a few more pics to show the fun!

After several laps of sneaking away from us, Greg pulled up and off the course, then dropped back in behind me. Mark backed off a little to let me edge up, all called over the radio, and designed to practice passing and closer proximity flying. Here's a sequence that initially looks like we are really bunched up, but as you can see, it really was safe and controlled. It was great to be on the course learning with guys ya know and trust!

Mark is in front (you can barely see his white cowl above the house on the left), I'm next and Greg as moved back to 3rd:


This is where the angle makes it look very exciting!


In fact, this is what it looked like after we passed pylon 8 and headed towards home:


We were finally shooed off the course by race control, and landed in sequence after a brief cool down. Here's Mark after shutdown, and it doesn't even look like he broke a sweat!


Greg (with Rick behind me) and I followed in, and shut down, with big grins, for sure!


So it was a very exciting and rewarding first day! We think RoDoc and Phil are back up now, and hopefully we'll have all the RVs and Rockets running more practice runs tomorrow and Saturday. I'll see if I can bribe, er I mean, twist Dan's arm into taking more pics from different vantage points, and keep the info coming your way.

Cheers,
Bob
Race 43

I am sooooo envious!

Thanks so much for the heads-up Bob.....too cool!

Stay safe,

Congratulations, you guys. You're making us all proud! It has to be said though, that the paint job on the boss's F1 is really cool. I love that thing!

Best of luck to you all in the races to come!

By the way, what kind of indicated airspeeds are you guys seeing?


Lee...

Mornin' guys! Gettin' ready to head back out, and Mark and Greg said to say hey! Thanks for following along!

Lee, we're seeing 195 KIAS +/-. Depends on when we glance at it. Greg said he saw 210 KIAS at the start pylon coming out of the chute. TAS has been in the 210 to 220 KTAS range, again +/-, depending on where and when (and what kind of maneuvering. We all run knots on our airspeed indicators, but race speeds are always in mph (bigger numbers!)

No timing during PRS that we know of. We may try to get a friend to time us, and get a rough feel for the lap speeds (they get converted from a chart, based on time and the Sport course distance).

To qual in September, you have to be able to run lap speeds of 200 MPH. Appears doable!

More to follow later today!

Cheers,
Bob

Reno Air Races

I am part of a pit crew for Richard Beardsly, we fly a Smith Mini Plane Bi Plane. The Races are alot of fun and a great week of Aviation.

I am usually there Wednesday thru Saturday Afternoon. We usually do not fly Sunday.

So all you RV'ers stop by the Big hanger and look me up.

Our plane is a Blue and Yellow Bi Plane.

Fly Safe Everyone.

THRILLING!

My hats off to you guys for doing this! WOW. And you are learning some great things...

Thanks for posting all this. Great fun. I plan on being there next year for this.

You all be SAFE!

____________________
Deal Fair
RV-4 (N34CB)
George West, TX (8T6)

PRS Day 3

Another good day of simulated racing on the course today.

Morning hop for Mark, Greg and I was with Lancairs and Glassairs. Very fast field, so there was lots of passing. 7 aircraft on the course. Lines are getting easier to see, though not always easy to fly (especially when you are eating dirty air from the doggone Rockets that just passed you!) But learning curve is upward, so that is good! The other RVs got to mix it up on the course together in another flight...good fun!

Afternoon hop had all the RVs and Rockets (including the Radial Rocket) in one simulated race field. I was dash 1 behind pace, but went down in the hold short...no amps from the alternator. Man did I want to go, but safety rules...I was out for the hop...dern it. Was a broken wire, now fixed, so tomorrow will get me back in the fight!

Good news is that I ws able to help ID my flight mates to a group of unofficial timers (Greg Arehart, GucciDude1 Dan, and some friends and I) with wristwatches and iPhone timers, who took several lap times. These lap times get converted via a formula to give speed. Best (very unofficial) lap speeds we saw for each follows (all mph):

Greg Nelson, Rocket, 245
Mark Frederick, Rocket, 237
Radial Rocket, 233
Steve Senegal, Super 8, 220
Dave Leonard, Rotary RV-6, 212
Terry Brennan, RV-8A, 192

Remember these are calculated speeds, and depend on course line and smoothness. Aircraft speed is almost certainly higher, unless ya fly the perfect line, which is the holy grail, I'm sure!

More pics tomorrow...with some more RV sim races in the plan!

Cheers,
Bob
Race 43

Day 4 and wrap up

Apologies for the "operational pause" in posting on this thread, but its been a bit of a blur since Friday. Friday afternoon was busy with getting the airplane back up (fix the ALT wire and tidy up inside the cowl while it was off...something always shows up when you're runnin' hard!). Got the airplane in the good to go mode, then came the PRS Group Photo, then the Volunteer Appreciation Dinner, then some preps for Saturday and grab some Z's...whew!

Greg Nelson departed Friday night for airshow committments on Saturday, so we were minus one in our RV/Rocket heat on Saturday (not that Mark and I didn't mind not having to look at his tailfeathers all day...again!)

The morning hop had 3 RVs, 1 Rocket and 1 Lanceair 360 in the mix. We flew the full course, which is down the chute, around the Unlimited course once, then into the Sport course.

Here's a map to help you visualize the course:


The chute is the white line that crosses the intersection of the runways, and ends at the orange dot. That dot is the start pylon, which has a light on it that can be seen from Peavine Peak. The run down the chute is downhill, and the speed is controlled by a pace plane. Once Pace pulls off, you have a race, and the last part of the chute can be very fast.

The start pylon is not numbered, and the orange dots at the top are Unlimited 4, 5 and 6. The orange dot on the left side just inside the course line is another lighted guide pylon for the Unlimiteds, and its the one that suckers the sport racers from time to time (got each of us at least once this weekend). The blue dots are Sport 4, 5 and 6. The courses merge at about Sport 6, and 7, 8, 9, Home (midfield on runway 8/26), 1, 2 and 3 are shared by Unlimited and Sport.

After the start, the racers round unlimited 4, 5 and 6, then stay on the blue course for all subsequent laps. What we've been learning is that one of the keys is finding the line that is the smoothest and the fastest, and its all about setting up the turns. We were briefed this, and we proved it to ourselves on the course, but how you take 2 and 3, and the line that you draw to 4, impacts the turns for the rest of the course. A poor turn at 2 results in a poor turn at 7 and 8...its pretty amazing, and kinda fun to try to find that good line (I'll let ya know when I do! ).

That morning run was really fun, with a bunch of RV bruddas out there. Greg Arehart and Guccidude1 Dan Ross had cameras on us, and a watch on me, and my fastest lap calculated out to 241 mph. Mark passed me (after several laps of me trying to fight him off) so I think he was up there about 245, where Greg was the day before. Nice smooth air that morning, so Greg may have run even faster. We're all chasing that elusive 250 mph lap. Who knows, 1000 more laps and maybe we'll find that line!

Here are a few pics of that fun morning run:

Mark (hi and to my right) and I reeling in Terry Brennan in his RV-8A (Terry's a great guy, a great stick, and a new friend!)


This is RoDoc (Dave Leonard) and I down the home stretch (a pair of 6's...may not be a winner at the tables in Reno, but it works for us ):


Mark and I at the home pylon. Dan got the "money shot" here...this is my favorite!


In the afternoon the other RVs headed home, so we ran with a Glassair and a Lanceair, who are both incredibly fast (the highly modified Lanceair Legacy lapped us twice in about a dozen laps...wow!) But Mark and I worked on our lines, and had a blast. Times were a little slower in the afternoon due to winds and bumps, but the grin was just as wide!

I have videos of both runs, and as soon as I figure out how to edit and post video, I'll get links up here. In the meantime, hopefully Mark will jump in here and add his perspective to the whole experience.

Overall, I'll say I was thrilled and honored to participate. We were welcomed heartily by the Sport Class instructors, and we hope we represented the RV and Rocket communities well. It was professional and serious, yet it was serious fun. We're invited to play in September, and I'm pretty sure 3 or 4 of us will be there...fingers are crossed!

I'm still thinking about the line when I hit the rack at night, so this is truly addicting stuff! Bottom line is (IMHO), with the right attitude and desire, and a relatively fast RV (is that redundant ), Reno is do-able. I hope more will consider this in the future. Imagine a Sport Bronze race with RVs and Rockets...the "everyman" race. Just might get the homebuilders in the crowd's juices flowing, eh!

We really had fun...thanks for followin' along!

Cheers,
Bob
Race 43

All I can say is

+1!!!!

Chasing that elusive 'line' could possibly take those 1000 laps. Ah well, if it was easy, (insert your favorite disclaimer here).

Still grinnin', and waitin' for September....

Carry on!
Mark
Sport Race 12

I'll come out and lap that Lancair for you if they'll let me!

Very Nice

Thanks for the write up Bob. Very nice job, made me feel like I was right there with you. Reminds me of a book I read once, " Fly Low Fly Fast " I guess I will have to dig it out and knock the dust off of it.


Thanks Again

Rich

Video From the Sat morning flight

Thanks for the great write up Bob. It sure was a great time. Here is some video from the Saturday Morning flight we did. The Go Pro has a great field of vision, but it makes everything look far away.. Still, fun to watch once.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6W0_l6Cjo-0

Great video.

Question for Rocket.

Did you see any field mice?

Any more info about the lancair? very little info about them is on the internet that i can find, so anything you know would be nice to hear...

Danny: a prior employee of lancair

rvmills said:

In the afternoon the other RVs headed home, so we ran with a Glassair and a Lanceair, who are both incredibly fast (the highly modified Lanceair Legacy lapped us twice in about a dozen laps...wow!) But Mark and I worked on our lines, and had a blast. Times were a little slower in the afternoon due to winds and bumps, but the grin was just as wide!
......
Cheers,
Bob
Race 43

Click to expand...

I don't think so.

Sig600 said:

I'll come out and lap that Lancair for you if they'll let me!

Click to expand...

I believe that if you're fast enough to lap that Lancair, you'd be using the next County to turn at that speed and the Lancair may prevail anyway

Best,

Sure!

Bruce said:

Great video.

Question for Rocket.

Did you see any field mice?

Click to expand...

And other stuff too, but ya gotta look quickly!

Carry on!
Mark

Great vid!

Rodoc said:

Thanks for the great write up Bob. It sure was a great time. Here is some video from the Saturday Morning flight we did. The Go Pro has a great field of vision, but it makes everything look far away.. Still, fun to watch once.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6W0_l6Cjo-0

Click to expand...

Hey Roadblock:

Great vid - and the disclaimer at the end is priceless! Yeah baby!

Carry on!
Mark

Hey Guys,

I'm sorry I missed you guys at PRS. Well you probably saw me if you were briefing in the RARA hangar. I can't believe I get paid to work for them.

This PRS was great and my 8th one. Its my fault that I don't come to VAF often to check in. Come Sept please keep us in the loop. I have to work as a contractor so I only get to fly for fun when they put me in a pace plane or something. Saw some great flying and cool birds. Also saw some crazy looking beast that looks like a handful.





If you are going to the Races in Sept just drop me a line and I will be hosting a few parties. Either in nice suite or at Stead. I will make sure I wave to you while you are flying by.

pierre smith said:

I believe that if you're fast enough to lap that Lancair, you'd be using the next County to turn at that speed and the Lancair may prevail anyway

Best,

Click to expand...

I accept that challenge!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLh29YkMEn8

(Turn radius at 310 knots and 7.5 G's is about 2400')

Wow!

Thanks a bunch...very impressive and over 600 to boot!

I stand corrected.

What puzzled me in some of the shots and videos that Bob Mills and others showed, was the rather shallow bank angles on the course. Years ago at Reno, I remember close to 90 deg banks during most of the races, except the T-6 class. I wonder if the turn radii have been widened.

Best,

pierre smith said:

Thanks a bunch...very impressive and over 600 to boot!

I stand corrected.

What puzzled me in some of the shots and videos that Bob Mills and others showed, was the rather shallow bank angles on the course. Years ago at Reno, I remember close to 90 deg banks during most of the races, except the T-6 class. I wonder if the turn radii have been widened.

Best,

Click to expand...

Mr. Smith,

The course has changed over the years. I can probably did up older courses and pylon placement and do a over lap the last 10 years. The jet class does have some heavy banking. Here are two samples.

This is just a L-39 on pylon 8
http://vimeo.com/214045

This other video is a joy ride I went on. It was in a T-2 Buckeye. It was the only year it was there and I highly doubt it will come back. Several cameras were used and it give you a idea about the banking and different course layout.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szqY0j_R7JI

radiokaos said:

Hey Guys,

Click to expand...

WHat is the aircraft to the right. The Jet (of pusher)

It looks like the the Viper Jet. Is it?

GusBiz said:

WHat is the aircraft to the right. The Jet (of pusher)

It looks like the the Viper Jet. Is it?

Click to expand...

Might be a L-39 but its hard to tell.

Catchin' up...

Landfill (Sig) - Never saw that vid of the Hornet on the course. Very cool! Of course, he was a bit high, eh! (Sorry, couldn't resist...but I know 650+ looks a lot lower from inside!)

As far as lapping goes, Mark, Greg and I put our heads together (always dangerous! ) and figured its takes about 50 knots excess to lap someone in six laps. Kinda played out that way too, as in a 12 or so lap practice, we lapped Terry in the 8A twice and RoDoc in the Turbo Rotary 6 once. That's no slam or brag at all...Terry ran in the 190s (admirable for a straight 8A) and we were in the 240s. RoDoc was holding back (35" MP out of his possible 42+") and was running in the hi 2-teens (all mph). The math kinda worked.

We had our come-uppins later in the day though, when the Lancair Legacy lapped us twice in about 15 laps, and the Glassair lapped us once, as we battled around the course all the way (Mark winning the battle...dern it!)

Jerry, would have liked to have met you there! Please get in touch in September! We have an RV BBQ and would love to spend some time there with ya! Shoot us a PM or e-mail when you head this way!

The T-2 was a hit when it raced...IIRC, it did quite well in the Jet Class. Fun jet to fly...very stable and solid. It'd be fun to see it come back!

Not sure what the jet in the pic above was, but the NXT-like beast on steroids is being built at Stead. It taxied out during PRS, but I have not seen it fly yet. It just looks unreal fast...just sitting there!

Pierre, the turns are deceptively docile, IMHO. Smooth = Fast, as you can imagine, and flying the fast, smooth line, and good timing is everything. I'm just scratching the surface, but each lap was a teacher.

The distance used to calculate the speed on each course is based on turn radius at certain g and speeds for each class. Here's an excerpt from the Race Rulebook:

THE CURRENT RACE COURSE LENGTHS ARE:
• JET CLASS: The Jet Class course is 8.4703 based upon a speed of 525 MPH and 3.5 to 3.7 Gs.
• UNLIMITED CLASS: The Unlimited Class course is 8.4333 miles based upon a speed of 500 MPH and 3.5 Gs.
• GOLD SPORT CLASS: The Gold Sport Class course is 8.35606 miles based upon a speed of 400 MPH and 3.0 Gs. (based upon the number of modified aircraft)
*NOTE: Should there be less than five (5) modified (Gold) Sport Class aircraft, all Sport Class races shall be held on the 6.9992 mile course.
• SILVER & BRONZE SPORT CLASS: The Silver & Bronze Sport Class course is 6.9992 miles based upon a speed of 375 MPH and 3.0 Gs.
• T-6 CLASS: The T-6 Class course is 5.0693 miles based upon a speed of 225 MPH and 2.0 Gs.
• FORMULA ONE CLASS: The Formula One Class course is 3.1875 miles based upon a speed of 250 MPH and 3.0 Gs.
• BIPLANE CLASS: The Biplane Class course is 3.1761 miles based upon a speed of 210 MPH and 3.0 Gs.

I could perhaps see pulling 3 gs at 375, but at 240, I'll bet I rarely saw more than 2. To be honest, the fastest line seemed to be a constant turn, except from 3 to 4, and again from 5 to 6. We just weren't fast enough to not have to level out for a bit there. Then the challenge was when to early turn 4 and 6, to set up the follow-on pylons, without having to crank in g, thus scrubbing speed.

Been playing with and learning some video editing software for the last week or so, and my first crack at it is linked below. This is the Saturday morning race, all RVs and Rockets. I was the first one to the start pylon, and cut the first pylon right after it (Unlimited 4). Rather than turn back into my buds to try to go around it (safety), I eased towards Unlimited 5, and then we all settled into the practice race. I figured out that pylon in the afternoon practice (and bought a few cold ones for the flub! All part of training!) This video is of the first 4 laps of the course that morning. I'm working now on more vids to show some of the passing later in the run. I have a lot of film with me chasing Mark, and it really shows the effect of slightly different lines. Working on that vid now.

Click here to see the vid. Go easy on me...its my directorial/editorial debut!

Another bud was in the home pylon that day, and got these shots:

L-R: Greg, Mark and moi:


Perhaps my fave shots of all:


Great experience...can't say enough about it, and still flying the course in my head. Caution: Highly Addictive

Hope everyone has a GREAT 4th of July Weekend!!

Cheers,
Bob

Reno Racing Video/PRS Experience

Bob:
Excellent video. Takes me back. Real seat of the pants flying! How did you like following the contours of the desert? Most folks don't realize that the race course isn't flat... Wait till you get to race with a strong cross wind across the course! Also, as you know, the dynamics change dramatically when you're starting with 6+ other aircraft going for the same pylon, especially in the beginning of the race!.. Very interesting.. Someone once told me that air racing is the Olympics of aviation... Fly Safe.
Randy

rvmills said:

Catchin' up...
....
We had our come-uppins later in the day though, when the Lancair Legacy lapped us twice in about 15 laps, and the Glassair lapped us once, as we battled around the course all the way (Mark winning the battle...dern it!)
.......
Cheers,
Bob

Click to expand...

Bob do you have any info on the legacy? who owns it, what engine, mods, that kind of stuff?

thanks,

danny

Danny7 said:

Bob do you have any info on the legacy? who owns it, what engine, mods, that kind of stuff?

thanks,

danny

Click to expand...

Danny,

Meant to look for more info for ya. The fastest Legacy out there at PRS this year was Vince's Race 2, modified by AeroChia (don't recall his last name...good guy and very good racer). I'll look up the N# and try to find out more. Very fast airplane! Lee Behels also has a very fast Legacy (perhaps the fastest) but is working on the plane right now and was flying other airplanes...and instructing a lot (Sport Class President). Maybe try Googling AeroChia to see what comes up...just gotta run this morning!

Cheers,
Bob