What's new
Van's Air Force

Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.

RV's at Reno

DanH

Legacy Member
Mentor
Temporary thread, just to follow all the RV's and Rockets racing in the Sport class this week. Hopefully clan members currently at Stead will post hot news for the working poor back home ;)

From the website, unofficial qualifying speeds as of Tuesday afternoon:



What does Dan West have under the hood?

At the Gold end of the class, looks like Jeff LaVelle is back, at 403 mph right out of the box.
 
Last edited:
Dan, you missed the fastest RV/Rocket at the races- Bill Beaton's supercharged/EFI Rocket at 281mph. :)
 
What does Dan West have under the hood?

Barrett IO 390, blower and alcohol/water ADI

Tim Cone was running NO last year------so Dan had to do something to go faster;) .
That's a pretty impressive position to hold with an airframe that in theory is higher drag than the HRII and with lower displacement. So Horton, put a blower on your rig. It should do well.
 
Beautiful weaethr out here as well as great competition and some real speed - looks like it's gonna be a fun week!

The RARA web site actually is doing a great job at updating the results pages really fast - so if you can't get here, you can follow along at www.airrace.org in almost real time.

Paul
 
I'm departing tomorrow morning to come join you.

What is race frequency this year?
 
Looks like Heat 1D completed yesterday, with no significant change in the speed rankings among this slower group. Two faster heats on the schedule today.

Interesting to see how much everyone slowed down compared to qualifying. Am I correct in assuming it is the result of running the 8.0782 mile course for qualifying, vs the short Sport Medallion course with tighter turns?
 
Interesting to see how much everyone slowed down compared to qualifying. Am I correct in assuming it is the result of running the 8.0782 mile course for qualifying, vs the short Sport Medallion course with tighter turns?

I was wondering the same thing......
 
I know, as a Canadian I shouldn't mock my fellow igloo-dwellers. But when I saw Bill's speed, my first thought was "surely they forgot to convert from km/h..."

That is impressively fast. Must have brought some of the colder, denser air down from Canada with him... :)
 
How do these compared to Van's Vne?

I am not familiar with air racing or how these speeds are documented. Are the air frames modified for these speeds. I'm trying to reconcile these with Van's recommendations.
 
Interesting to see how much everyone slowed down compared to qualifying. Am I correct in assuming it is the result of running the 8.0782 mile course for qualifying, vs the short Sport Medallion course with tighter turns?

I was slower because i was in a 3 way race with other folks. I was not able to follow my line. I had to follow their line. Also, there is a lot of dirty air that slows you down.

And, The speed is calculated of the fist aircraft off the start pylon. So if you show up last at the pylon, your clock was already running (affecting your speed calculation).
 
Reno

We are done with the "Match Race" demo, now on with the racing! We've had multiple tech problems (some self generated... some mechanical) but are ready to prove the 281 is in MPH! We are out to 'Harrass the Glass!'
HRII - Bill Beaton, Race 57.
Chief Screw Up, ah, Crew Chief Ralph
 
RV Power

Temporary thread, just to follow all the RV's and Rockets racing in the Sport class this week. Hopefully clan members currently at Stead will post hot news for the working poor back home ;)

From the website, unofficial qualifying speeds as of Tuesday afternoon:



What does Dan West have under the hood?

At the Gold end of the class, looks like Jeff LaVelle is back, at 403 mph right out of the box.

Of the qualifiers listed, Alvarez, Swortzel, Jernejcic and Piper are running naturally aspirated 4 cylinders (no nitrous or forced induction).

Cone seems to have nitrous but typically has trouble getting it to work until later in the race weekend.

Qualifying was on the Sport Gold/Unlimited course while the medallion races are on the T6/"Sport Medallion" course which consists of significantly tighter turns than the qualifying course, hence the lower speeds.

Skylor
RV-8
"Sport 80"
 
Last edited:
Ok, fans, it's race day!

Here's the tin airplane lineup:



Bill Beaton is turning amazing numbers. Harass that glass!

In Bronze, Rovey got faster, and (IMHO) is always the one to watch. However, all four Bronze entrants are running close; look at qualifying as well as best speed. Good chance of a tight pack here.

Medallion has one Rocket, one Extreme (not listed here), and a big pack of RV's. To borrow a phrase from horse racing, you could throw a blanket over the whole bunch. Ford and Piper are ranked fastest, but it's based on qualifying time; neither has run in a heat. Beaubien and Christopher have both qualified near 230, faster than Ford and Piper, and are only ranked below them after running around 220 in both heats. I have no idea why Swortzel is ranked at 221, as he ran 211 in heat 1D, behind Alverez. Cone was right in there at 213.

The Medallion race is scheduled off the ground at 8:50 Pacific, on course at 9:00. Where can we find a live broadcast?
 
While many of us were relaxing, eating and talkign at the R3 BBQ yesterday evening, Kitplanes writer Tom Wilson was busy just a few yards away shooting detailed pictures of Beaton's airplane - cowl on and cowl off. Perhaps we'll learn a little more about his secrets of speed in a future article.....

WHat isn't apparent just from the numbers is the amount of fun these guys are having this week - win, lose or draw! The Metal Mafia has been in outside pits all week, and getting tons of exposure (and a little sunburn maybe), but the encampment has been a great place to hang out and watch/talk airplane's and speed. Yeah, the fast glass guys have been in the big hanagr - but the Mafia has actually been able to watch races other than their own!

It's been a beautiful week here in Reno, and today is goign to top it off with more sunny skies.

Fun stuff!
 
Photos or it did not happen

For those of us on the right side of the Pacific Ocean ,
Can we please request photos of some of the coolness that is Reno?

Any photos of speed mods , sub cowls , drag reduction ideas etc.

Thank you in advance to all those that post info, it is greatly appreciated by us that are so far away .

Cheers,
 
Reno

Anyone know what happened at start of F1 Gold?? Richard and Sennagal listed as did not start. Post elsewhere about damage to Richard airplane.
 
Anyone know what happened at start of F1 Gold?? Richard and Sennagal listed as did not start. Post elsewhere about damage to Richard airplane.

Both guys are fine, Thom may have cut his hand (reports on the field varied) - collision on the runway on take-off.

For those looking for pictures, there are quite a few short posts and some pics on the Kitplanes web site Newsline. We were there all week looking primarily for Sport class stories.

Paul
 
Reno

I have just heard from a witness that had a front row seat that Thom Richard was stopped and exiting the airplane when Senegal ran over the top of Thom's airplane. Both airplanes pretty badly damaged, fortunately no serious injuries. Sounds like a repeat of the horrific accident at Oshkosh years ago where the Corsair ran over the Bearcat with MUCH more serious injuries to the Corsair pilot.
 
Sport 270

There are no secrets to going fast. It is always spend more money. "Speed costs money how fast do you want to go." My Barrett engine is tops. And of course it never hurts to add a Vortech super charger. Race speeds are related to how much traffic you have to deal with. When you beat Rockets super 8's and even a plastic plane or two with retracts it is all the sweeter. Right Bill and Ralph and Jason too. Go Metal Mafia!!!
 
Overpowered

Definition of overpowered airplane: one that will accelerate to destruction going straight up.
 
WOW, that was too close. It looks like the wing hit Tom's hand. Very surprised if bones are not broken.

Here is the frame with the wing over his head. Another couple seconds and his head would have been coming up.

https://goo.gl/photos/oobm3BS2cKmh4qVk6

I don't know how to post the photo anymore with Picasa dead. Sorry.
 
7zXKleqNqNjmH1Vqe7a0WR2omEIOCAIiFQVFUeVKWmgrPQxLcsRuriEyRxqn0SA7AY8xVTNR6vrcM7vyPmpmylNha7Za0pjCIi6T495ClgKqhPb5Vje9wbuA6KojcGSXMWy0I3kn2xm3jhjE8P_D3mIaHWe_0sarV3EJJ2YUaWm1oIgOAO-jOPGyUmz2sOfUmGz_pjOyMXDvgZCcFkAwg5riRGYyf1uOiv4RDERR3zbgZ-y_YWYQkHgf_Bpw_V980gSUlEB67gIR_Hmgj6q5aYsA8_lc80KmVrBy3s8oa6wuNhKwr5ElQ376jxPiRS9Q91_wU5ynAgMuu9az9yj0OhUBCg0NRCjlfZlz67xdn2F-m7ZsWRRJ73o7-ao-NtRMO2EHEExbJG787Ib2gC_jEPDNQdxwA21hCvWhzzkx_Rn_5kvg2FRekDKeEU666Aspfl69eOPmjgMsC86ir4pcYniyHY7MI7SAe9UImq9CCGTKYCwJAK4iW7PO3ikgCRidFJ8IMpNA7_k1M-QXBpxF0hgxucOYQ9J1LML1mCseypbWzAayRAPpj54wkZczAfAdIHOl9XjSwso7rnJnjUgbdaHM2g6YfPCqUSAwAyEeLB3AC-zT=w1369-h813-no
 
Fast RV8's

When you beat Rockets super 8's and even a plastic plane or two with retracts it is all the sweeter. Right Bill and Ralph and Jason too. Go Metal Mafia!!!

That's right Dan. I got the most satisfaction passing two Lancair 4 cyl one after the other on Saturday. I ran Sport 76 harder in that race than ever before. I think I am close to tapped out on speed...unless you come back with that high manifold pressure gadget dialed in. Maybe I will have a plan b for next year. Nice work on your speed!
 
Glad no one was seriously hurt.

Beak

Back to RVs. Team Dilemma arrived home safely. Although we were not the fastest RV out there on the field, we were also not the slowest. A couple of folks keep asking how much nitro we were running. The answer is ZERO. All we had was an OIX-340 and a nice fixed pitched prop. That is it.

We were able to accomplish all our goals (qualify in the field of 40, pass one person and bring the plane home in the same condition it left in).

The lap times in the races are so different than the qualifying times. My un-official best time (2 laps in a row) was 227 mph on 2 independent stop watches. I had 4 laps at 225 mph. The conditions on that day were perfect. I wish my qualifying time would have been higher as we had 4 or 5 folks within 1 mph. I literally had 2 full laps on the course before I had to qualify. I got DQ for low flying on my first attempt, so my next attempt was a very conservative one. The 1 mph spread did make for some fun times.

We did have a major accomplishment during my first race. Dilemma's tach turn 100 hrs :)

If you were out there looking for me and did not find me, my apologies. We were all extremely busy. In fact I saw the team very little during the day (I guess that is why we need a crew). As the week progressed things got even busier and people became bolder (or ignorant). People kept grabbing my prop, I had a guy ram his big a$$ back pack on my tail feathers and pretended nothing happen, one guy trying to move my control surfaces while they were locked, one guy lean over my wing leading edge with his belt buckle scratching the plane and so on... So if you approached my plane and I said don't touch (or my crew) now you know why. That is what we saw. I am sure there was plenty more that went on. Please understand I was not trying to be an A-hole but as people became bolder and bolder, we had to be more direct/to the point.

If I get a chance I will post a few pics of the week. This one below was taken by one of the pylon folks.
photo.php
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I got the most satisfaction passing two Lancair 4 cyl one after the other on Saturday. I ran Sport 76 harder in that race than ever before. I think I am close to tapped out on speed...unless you come back with that high manifold pressure gadget dialed in. Maybe I will have a plan b for next year. Nice work on your speed!

Jason, can you tell us a little about how you go so fast? Looks like a clean, stock 8, but obviously looks are deceiving! What you got there?
 
Sport 76 speed

Jason, can you tell us a little about how you go so fast? Looks like a clean, stock 8, but obviously looks are deceiving! What you got there?

Dan H,

A few big items and then many many small ones that likely would not be possible to independently measure for gain.

I started with a completely stock IO360 engine and stock airframe I built per the plans. In 2010? my friend Seth Baker invited me to a SARL race in West Texas where I posted a speed very close to published Vans numbers...then I got the speed bug. I worked on drag reduction for a few years and increased speed from about 212-225 mph with no change to power or prop. During my rookie year at Reno in 2013 I qualified at 225 mph and then was the first RV to play with Nitrous during race heats. I kept failing solenoid coils and never ran a full race with Nitrous (now I use a trusty ball valve).

Less than two months after 2013 Reno my blended airfoil prop failed which is posted on VAF. The damage from landing in the desert required engine tear down and the entire plane to come apart. I then took lemons and made lemonade.

Here are the major speed mods and I would like to add that I have limited myself to not removing any Vans factory part. I have tweaked and added but still have Vans wheel pants, cowl, wing tips, canopy etc. There is lots of go fast **** you can buy. My goal is to prove you do not need any of it to be one of the fastest.

1. IO-360 parallel valve with Lycon goodies for power. I run slick mags and race with timing at 25 deg. No electronic ignition or fuel control. My master can turn off and engine still runs. I do not need variable timing going in a circle at full power. No one gets brownie points for using a cup of gas less with fancy timing. This base engine is recommended by Vans and I have tried to make it do the best possible and still be a daily driver.

By the way...Sport 39 is at the top, crazy power and he has Slick mags. Pretty sure the top of Unlimited also use mags.

2. Hartzell composite prop which is a speed gain for me. Some have said this is slower but I assume they are less power and slower planes anyway. This prop likes power and appears to be optimized for my race power and speed. I run at 2,700 rpm.

3. Reducing cooling drag is huge as you well know. I supplement water and/or ADI for cooling at race power. My front baggage smoke oil tank now sprays on the oil cooler and inside the intake (downstream of the fuel servo).

4. Tuft testing all over showed areas of drag. Wing root fairing, elevator root fairing, cowl outlet etc. Video of yarn is well worth the time. I do not guess what is going to work.

5. Since the damage from the prop failure I stripped paint and then had the entire airframe smoothed. It is in primer and will stay that way. I can use steel wool, scotch pads or sandpaper to smooth the surface. I have used zero "go fast" chemicals on the exterior.

6. Excrescence drag is a big deal but most folks have no idea it is there. RV's leak all over and I am sealing things up more and more each year. Hard or impossible to measure one improvement to the next but I know the combined result is real. My goal is to open the vent and nothing happens. If I reach that goal then I will make a dedicated outlet.

7. I designed and built my own pitot tube that is also my comm antenna. Basically a home made loaded coil antenna tuned with a VSWM. Nothing hanging out but all of my antennas work good.

8. Nitrous tank size to not run out during a race and jet size to have mixture at full rich. We race at 7,000 ft DA so I am jetted for best power at full rich.

I do not run a wet Nitrous system. Too much risk vs reward. The Glasair I mayday and fire at Reno on Saturday appears to be the result of fuel spraying in the induction system. I am not going to discuss root cause but the fire came from the Nitrous wet system fuel source.

When are you going to try SARL or attend PRS? I am sharing this as a carrot so you will come and play in the sandbox.
 
Cool. All of it. You're my hero. Or my evil twin. I'm not sure which ;)

No PRS for me. I can barely say grace over everything on my plate now, and I have a fun airplane design/build project I'd like to start in the new year. Plus an old race buddy and I are talking about knocking off a long-held bucket list item. It's the other gonzo motorsport, running a bike on the salt flats at next year's SCTA meet. Got the rulebook right here.
 
Cool. All of it. You're my hero. Or my evil twin. I'm not sure which ;)

No PRS for me. I can barely say grace over everything on my plate now, and I have a fun airplane design/build project I'd like to start in the new year. Plus an old race buddy and I are talking about knocking off a long-held bucket list item. It's the other gonzo motorsport, running a bike on the salt flats at next year's SCTA meet. Got the rulebook right here.

Dude. Throw caution to the wind and do the Isle of Man. Pure insanity.
 
Dan H,

4. Tuft testing all over showed areas of drag. Wing root fairing, elevator root fairing, cowl outlet etc. Video of yarn is well worth the time. I do not guess what is going to work.

I'm not into racing but would love to know what you learned that we could apply to increase our everyday performance. I am constantly considering what small changes I can make to get that extra speed.
 
next year

Jason we have more fun than should be legal. It is great to have you to compete with. Hmmmmm tricks for next year.
 
That guy who got hit was incredibly calm and collected considering how close he came to getting killed! I got chills watching that. I guess that red F1 plane is blind in the 3 point attitude. Yikes.
 
Blind Taildragger

That guy who got hit was incredibly calm and collected considering how close he came to getting killed! I got chills watching that. I guess that red F1 plane is blind in the 3 point attitude. Yikes.

I spoke to Steve Senegal yesterday (the pilot flying Endeavor, the red plane) and he said he lifted the tail just in time to see the stopped plane immediately in front of him.

Skylor
 
I spent the week working on a project with the BiPlane folks and just watching how well run the each class and the overall race organization runs after 50+ years. There were issues/protests/cut pylons/low flight and a whole lot more. Many of the issues appeared to resolved or addressed quickly. I am sure that the officials are taking a hard look at the runway incidents and they will be addressed for next year. All in all, I was impressed with the quality of the overall operation and how friendly and supportive everyone I had occasion to interact with was.

If you have not been there put it on your list to get there some time.

-larosta
 
Congrats Nordo. Fastest RV at Reno, 241.909 mph.

Dan_West_01-1024x805.jpg


Congrats Bill. Fastest Rocket, 281.762 mph
Bill_Beaton_01-1024x805.jpg


Congrats Skylor. Match Race Winner
Piper_01-1024x805.jpg


Congrats Mark. Mr. Ramp Boss
Ramp_Boss_01-1024x805.jpg
 
Back
Top