RV-10 vs F-33 Bonanza race.....

[pierre smith]

I was reading my new EAA Chapter 172 newsletter this morning and the following story appeared:

A friend of mine had flown his brand new RV-10 to Greenwood, S.C. for a breakfast meeting and so had another friend of ours, in his F-33 Bonanza. They agreed to do a formation takeoff with the RV ahead, then in level flight, start the race at 2500RPM. The Bonanza pilot hollered to slow down on take-off because the -10 was blistering him, so he rotated with only 18" MP showing.

The Bo pilot flew directly behind the unpainted -10 in order to sync his prop with the ten, visually (how cool is that?). BTW, this guy flies airshows in his MX 20, then pulled up alongside the 10. "Let's go, full throttle", he said. The -10 couldn't believe that he was pulling the airplane of his dreams, the Bo' by a hefty margin, neither could the Bo's owner......end result.....even with the gear tucked, the -33 made 176 GPS knots and the RV did 184 GPS knots, on his Garmin 430!! full of fuel, one soul aboard both airplanes. The -10 has a three-bladed composite prop and a stock IO-540, and it's named "Bo Derek". They relayed the results back via radio to the EAA guys who were all made aware of the impending race beforehand...too cool.

BTW...the -10 has a Sam James cowl and plenum.

He's contemplating a new name now....Bo' smoker...Mercedes beater..

Yep, all you -10 builders will never regret your decision,

Regards,

[Bob Axsom]

RV-10 N533JD averaged 203.31 mph over a roughly 500 mile course with turns and low passes required enroute into the traditional headwind for west bound flight. They can be quite fast.

Bob Axsom

[cropdusterengineer]

You say "full of fuel"........ What are the actual fuel quantites of both airplanes? What were the test weights? I'm guessing the -10 had a far lighter test weight.

Would also be interesting to see the comparison with a Cirrus or Columbia.

CDE

[breister]

Originally Posted by cropdusterengineer

Would also be interesting to see the comparison with a Cirrus or Columbia.

CDE

Hehe, Columbia is dead - long live Cessna!

[rwhittier]

Originally Posted by cropdusterengineer

Would also be interesting to see the comparison with a Cirrus or Columbia.

CDE

I own a early SR22 (I know, its a RV 10 wanna be), my main ride until the 7A is finished. Its one of the light versions before they loaded them up and made them portly - on the other hand they have done some aerodynamic cleanup on the newer ones.

My hangar neighbor flies a 90's well equipped and well cared for F33. He tried to follow me out of my home field and he just couldn't keep up - either in climb or cruise. He was surprised and disappointed. I don't know his weight, but I was alone with full fuel so about 500 under gross - or 2900 lbs.

I have no problem believing a 10 is as fast or faster than a SR22, it will depend on the set up. OTOH, my SL fuel flow is a frightening 29 GPH But I do cruise LOP in the mid 170 KIAS on 13.6 or so GPH

Its a nice plane for family cross country and IFR use. But it doesn't have the soul of a RV...