Fuel Venture 400 2010 results
As a participant in this year's FuelVenture 400 I was saddened by problems in the weighing aircraft used to determine fuel burned. There were also questions regarding event timing and score calculations. As a consequence all previously published results are considered void. Below is an email sent to the Copperstate fly in management by Bruce Vinolla FuelVenture organizer.
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This year's Fuelventure had several problems. The weather and other factors impacted participation significantly. However, the most disappointing development was that after the competition, we found that some plastic dust caps on the scales had adversely affected the accuracy of the event. Because of the small field we elected to extrapolate the results.
However, after communicating with the other Fuelventure leaders, it is apparent that we should have declared the event not valid.
If you would be so kind, could you have the COPPERSTATE communication channels issue a message that a technical problem was discovered after the 2010 Fuelventure event and the posted 2010 results are no longer valid. We will ensure that this problem will not occur next year.
Another mistake that I made was that after last year's event, I assumed that word of mouth and last year's international promotion of the event would have created a momentum for increased participation this year. It appears that this was not the case.
I assure you and the COPPERSTATE organization that we will actively promote the Fuelventure event well in advance of next year's COPPERSTATE fly-in.
We are also considering the addition of a 200 mile event for the light sport category with a lower minimum speed.
I am personally responsible for these problems and ask for the forgiveness of the COPPERSTATE leadership I also ask for another chance next year to have the best Fuelventure event ever.
Thanks,
Bruce Vinnola
Fuelventure 400 organizer.