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Battle of RV's

skylor

Well Known Member
For those that missed it, here is the link to the video of Sunday's Reno Sport Class Medallion race which features an epic battle between an RV-8 and an RV-S8 (Super-8) for the win along with 2 RV-8's and an RV-4 battling for 5th, 6th and 7th. The race also included an F1 Rocket (4th) and a Lancair 320 (3rd):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zU8r0VSV_y8

Skylor
Sport 80
 
Skylor, you had the best seat. Tell us more!

You seem to climb just a bit approaching each pylon. Strategy or comfort?
 
Skylor, you had the best seat. Tell us more!

You seem to climb just a bit approaching each pylon. Strategy or comfort?

Strategy.

Those climbs were a bit defensive to 1. Put some straight-away speed “in the bank” instead of just scrubbing it all off in the turns, and 2. Help prevent the planes nipping at my heals from gaining an altitude advantage in the turns that would give them a better run at me on the straights.

Skylor
 
Wow, excellent race! Perfect strategy, it kept #2 back a little bit and gave you what you needed to hold the lead!
 
That was an awesome race! The video doesn't really convey just how close the finish was: 2nd place was only 0.228 seconds behind... and 3rd was 0.569 seconds behind 2nd. So less than 0.8 seconds between the top three.
 
Also folks need to realize the second and third place aircraft were flying a wider pattern, thus increasingly more lap distance for each place.

Yet they were all bunched together. And stayed that way.

Inner position was slower, second was slightly faster, outer slightly faster still.

But whoever crosses the line first wins without regard to speed.

That is racing, folks.
 
Skylor, I have never been much into airplane racing but that was great. Nice work and great flying.
 
Also folks need to realize the second and third place aircraft were flying a wider pattern, thus increasingly more lap distance for each place.

Yet they were all bunched together. And stayed that way.

Inner position was slower, second was slightly faster, outer slightly faster still.

But whoever crosses the line first wins without regard to speed.

That is racing, folks.

True! However, keep in mind that I passed 31 on the first lap of Saturday’s race and ran away to a 6 second lead. We both had 1 pylon cut on Saturday so the lead let me start in front of him on Sunday. The cut caused me to start behind 54 on Sunday, but I did have more speed in the long first lap which enabled me to take the lead the and hold him off. You could say that I showed the speed when I needed to!

Skylor
 
Skylor,

Great race! Congratulations to you and your team. It was fun to watch in real-time. What the video doesn’t show is the conditions you were racing in.

You had quite a few fans cheering you and the others on. So cool to see the RV’s up front.

So what did you get for your first place finish in the Sport - Medallion Class?

Trophy, plaque, money?
 
Skylor,

Great race! Congratulations to you and your team. It was fun to watch in real-time. What the video doesn’t show is the conditions you were racing in.

You had quite a few fans cheering you and the others on. So cool to see the RV’s up front.

So what did you get for your first place finish in the Sport - Medallion Class?

Trophy, plaque, money?

Thanks Charlie!

For winning, a big “bowling” trophy ;) and the check is supposedly in the mail. I don’t know what the medallion first place check is worth but it’s likely less than my hotel room cost! FYI, we also have to buy our own fuel at the races!

What modifications are made to the plane so you can race it?

You don’t necessarily have to do anything. For example 777 and 744 are pretty much being flown stock. I have small carbon fiber wingtips of my own design on mine, I remove external radio antennas to reduce drag, and I take some unnecessary items out of the plane for the races to reduce weight. I’m also running a “mild” nitrous oxide setup to compete with some of the faster planes.

Skylor
 
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I was wondering if you did anything to increase flutter margins...

A little. The elevators are very carefully balanced. I’m very particular about rod end bearing play in the hinges and pushrods and I replace them at the slightest hint of play. Our tech inspectors noticed my trim tab had the least amount of play of any of the sport aircraft. I also bonded (in addition to the rivets) the turtle deck skin to slightly improve tail cone rigidity. The paint on the aircraft and control surfaces is quite light-the aircraft only gained 14 lbs when it was painted. Finally, I always fly with my feet firmly on the rudder pedals to increase dampening of the rudder.

I’ve tested to 275 mph TAS.

Skylor
 
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Ok, I've gotta ask. I see what you said in post 17. Vans, of course puts Vne at 230 MPH. Do you do anything else other than what you said in post 17, to prevent flutter?? Do you beef up your horizontal stabilizer?? I remember hearing some numbers, 234, and 246, (from the announcer) but I don't know if those were times or airspeeds.
 
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