Okay, let's try this again. Here are the results of the Race to Ridgeland, flown on May 7th. The R2R is a four cornered course covering 127.7 nm, flown against the clock and handicapped against each aircraft's factory published maximum level speed at sea level. The rules require a full 360 degree turn to be flown over each of the on-course turn points (for spotting purposes). This means that no aircraft that correctly flies the course can actually achieve its "factory" speed since any winds on the course and of course the three 360 turns, slow all racers down significantly. Nonetheless, the competition is keen and many of the racers are producing very respectable times in what is in actually just a "fun" event for trophies and bragging rights. Here are the best performances:

Race to Ridgeland

Fastest Overall: Pierre Smith, RV-10, Index Speed: 183 knots, Course Speed: 169.6 knots, -13.4 knots off Index.

Winner R2R (the Fastest Overall cannot also win the R2R): Jack Sayger, Cessna 150, Index Speed: 109 knots, Course Speed: 90.9 knots, -18.06 off Index.

2nd Place R2R: Bill Clark, Cessna 150, 109 knots, Course Speed: 90.1 knots, -18.89 off Index.

3rd Place R2R: Glenn Wilkinson, RV-4, Index Speed: 178 knots, Course Speed: 159.1 knots, -18.93 knots off Index.

4th Place R2R: Dave Pizzo, RV-7A, Index Speed: 181 knots, Course Speed: 147.4 knots, -33.6 knots off Index.

5th Place R2R: James Kleen: RV-8A, Index Speed: 186 knots, Course Speed: 150.2 knots, -35.8 knots off Index.


Race to Ridgeland Spot Landing Contest

1st Place: Baylor O'Cain, Stinson Voyager, Best Spot: 3' 6"

2nd Place: Dennis Argetsinger, Lancair 360, Best Spot: 3' 9"

3rd Place: Ray Enslow, Cessna 172, Best Spot: 12' 8"

4th Place: Rob Takacs, Mooney M-20E, Best Spot: 15' 5"

5th Place: Jonathan Morgan, Taylorcraft BC-12, Best Spot: 16' 11"

Notes: R2R---Marginal IFR early morning weather on one leg caused some racers difficulties. The smaller Cessna's are tough to beat in a handicapped race if well flown; they can come very close to their published speeds!

Spot Landing---Intermittent and gusty tailwinds caused some difficulties with several contestants taking all three of their allowed passes to "dope out" the best technique.

Regardless, great time was had by everyone and hearty thanks to the Baptist Church youth group for making food and drinks available and to the Civil Air Patrol for helping with crowd control and aircraft parking. Join us next year on Saturday, May 5th. See you there!
 
Glad you guys had fun! I was going to come but it was the one year anniversary of a very bad day.
 
could have come anyway Todd-

Would have been great to see you. I was there hanging out---watching some really nice planes. And getting the urge to take the plunge!!!
Tom
 
Lee, where are the "Index" speeds listed for the RV's I only see Vans using 8000' performance figures
Thanks
 
Tad: We are using what we have. I got factory numbers for 400+ certified aircraft from an insurance website (after months of phone calls and research), but had to rely on the "marketing" numbers for RV's, Lanceairs, etc. If you or anyone else has "factory" numbers for the various RV models/engines for sea level and full power, I'd love to have them. Very likely the "insurance" numbers we have are a mix of sea level and 8,000' numbers as well, but we can't be sure.

It's clear that typical trainers and utility aircraft do better in our race than do the aircraft that are marketed on the basis of their speeds. Faster aircraft are pushed hard (I assume) by factory test pilots to garner every tenth of a knot they can. Hard to match those times on a day to day basis, but Cessna 150's (for example) on the other hand, can come pretty close to their factory number more easily since they are not really marketed on the basis of their achievable speeds, but rather on their utility.

We've spent a lot of time trying to work out the most equitable way to handicap the R2R, including hours spent with some of Gulfstream's best performance engineers. The way we have it now does seem to work pretty well (we can't record racers who fly by the turn points at 8,000' obviously), so we run the race at sea level and take it from there.

We have had RV's do well in the past (as they did this time), but it is true that the speeds called out in Van's literature are difficult to achieve at sea level. Our requirement to do a 360 turn at each turn point has two purposes, (1) To help our "turn marshals" identify aircraft as they come through and (2) To provide an opportunity for pilot skills to make a difference (best management of speed with turn rate, AOB, "g", etc.)

Like we always say, the trophies for the R2R are pretty darn nice, but the race is really just for fun; we're not a part of national series or anything---just a bunch of regional pilots enjoying some (modestly serious) flying on a beautiful day in May in South Carolina. Love to have some more of the upper state and NC crowd participate. Set your calendars for Saturday, May 5th next year!
 
It's a great family atmosphere as well.

Every year we go, it is always a good time and a friendly atmosphere by a very welcoming group.

The local church group provided the food last year and served well prepared burgers and such.

Thanks again Lee and all the workers.
 
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