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Big Country AirFest Air Race Results

J

julietsix

Member
The air race at Abilene last weekend was great fun... Only 4 aircraft competed, but of course 2 of those were RV's, and they came in first and second place...

Here are the results:

Course: Abilene Regional to Albany to Stamford to Abilene Regional - about 100 miles. Race against the clock, starts staggered by a minute or two or three....

Under 350 cubic inch class:
First Place: Cam Benton RV-4 193 MPH
Second Place: Jim Hogue RV-3 177 MPH
Third Place: Lee Clements (Tony Nigro, Navigator) Glastar 158 MPH

Under 400 cubic inch class:
DNF but safe: Don Saint Glasair IIS FT (cracked exhaust, landed at Stamford)

I overshot the second turn, durn it... Typical race newby mistake, I guess... Next year, Cam....

The local EAA'ers put it on, and were very hospitable. The competitors got topped up with gas for free, and the "SteakFest" that night was good food, good beer, good live music, and good fellowship.

This race was really fun, and I would encourage ALL local RV pilots to make it, let's make it a strong field next year, competition is good for ya.... And I guarantee that you will have fun!!

Cheers,
Jim Hogue
RV-3 N1428Z
Based at Spinks
 
I like to race but...

julietsix said:
The air race at Abilene last weekend was great fun... Only 4 aircraft competed, but of course 2 of those were RV's, and they came in first and second place...

Here are the results:

Course: Abilene Regional to Albany to Stamford to Abilene Regional - about 100 miles. Race against the clock, starts staggered by a minute or two or three....

Under 350 cubic inch class:
First Place: Cam Benton RV-4 193 MPH
Second Place: Jim Hogue RV-3 177 MPH
Third Place: Lee Clements (Tony Nigro, Navigator) Glastar 158 MPH

Under 400 cubic inch class:
DNF but safe: Don Saint Glasair IIS FT (cracked exhaust, landed at Stamford)

I overshot the second turn, durn it... Typical race newby mistake, I guess... Next year, Cam....

The local EAA'ers put it on, and were very hospitable. The competitors got topped up with gas for free, and the "SteakFest" that night was good food, good beer, good live music, and good fellowship.

This race was really fun, and I would encourage ALL local RV pilots to make it, let's make it a strong field next year, competition is good for ya.... And I guarantee that you will have fun!!

Cheers,
Jim Hogue
RV-3 N1428Z
Based at Spinks
Click to expand...

I could not agree with you more - cross country air racing is something special. "Fun" is not exactly the descriptive word I would use for the way I look at it but it could be fun depending on how you go about it.

I had very short notice that there was going to be a race - basically I looked at the event notice linked by this web site a very few weeks ago. There was no time to work it into the schedule; at least in my home participation in an air race is not a spur of the moment event.

The classes in 50 cu.in. increments puts an O-360 up against an IO-390 which makes for little "fun" if you are flying the 360 in and RV-6A against a Lancair with a much bigger engine.

My personal preference is for longer races - 300 miles to 2,000 miles but there are not that many air races out there and you really have to give these guys credit for putting it on. For that reason alone I would participate next year if they have it again and I have reasonable advance awareness of it.

If they have and RV class (maybe red and blue like the AirVenture Cup) I believe participation would be higher.

Bob Axsom
 
100 mile races

100 miles seems about right for "fun" to me. Things start getting hot and need a break... pilot included. A good idea might be to race "rounds". We're going to do that at Don Saints place (0TX1) on September 23. We'll race a 50 mile (or so) loop in the morning, eat lunch, then do it again in the afternoon. Nothing serious, just a reason to fly.

I'm not sure why every fly-in doesn't do it.

I think we could get a great group together to race once a month. Handicaps could be assigned and we would improve as pilots (cause we want to win) and people (cause we're recreating). Beats golf, right?
 
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