hydroguy2

hydroguy2

Well Known Member
Got my first taste of Sport Air Racing yesterday. We had an excellent time, inspite of the weather both traveling to/from and actual race conditions were less than perfect. I didn't run quite full power @28"mp 2550rpm, full rich but was worried about my engine and it's trouble lately. I messed up 2 turns and wandered a bit which no doubt cost me some time. Hard to blame the navigator..when you're flying solo. :) The RV-4 of Travis B Racer TF (212mph) took first place in the RV Blue class and kicked my behind by 8mph...ouch! I knew I was in trouble when I saw all the blue speed tape and he said he runs his Catto propped IO-360 at 2950rpm. Bob B Race 07 flew his beautiful and well equipped RV-7(just out of phase1) to a 1st place in RV Gold class... but was only 2mph quicker than I with his bigger engine. Fastest time of the day was a Tailwind at 231mph...smokin'.

Pre race lineup as I walked out to mount up.
aviation2011018.jpg

Whew I made it. Here's a shot after we returned
aviation2011022.jpg


Short video by Brian M. racer221 from his Grumman AA1. It was raining on about 2/3's of the course.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPJ5G1FJA6c

Results By Time:

Aircraft Name Class Aircraft Type Elapsed Time Speed MPH Speed KTS
Race 37 Red Hamilton FX Red Tailwind W-10 0:38:17 231.94 201.55
Race TF Brent Travis RV Blue RV-4 0:41:44 212.77 184.89
Race 07 Bob Babler RV Gold RV-7 0:43:02 206.34 179.30
Race 155 Brian Carroll RV Blue RV-7 0:43:30 204.12 177.38
Race EZ Lew Miller FX Red Long EZ 0:46:29 191.02 165.99
Race 60 Daniel Rowe FAC3RG Beech C33 0:49:40 178.78 155.36
Race 61 Tim Bovee FX Red Mustang ll 0:49:55 177.88 154.58
Race 01 John Smutny Biplane Blue Pitts S-1 0:51:13 173.37 150.65
Race 65 Paul Vietzke FAC2RG Comanche 0:51:27 172.58 149.97
Race 221 Brian McNeil FAC5 Grumman AA1 1:01:06 145.33 126.28
Race 81 Stu Van Buren RG Blue Glassair 1RG DNS
Race 14M Igor Ucakar FAC3RG Mooney M20 F DNS
Race 49 John Zeggert FAC3RG Bonanza DNS
 
About that Tailwind... 231 MPH ?

Sure would like to hear a little more about that Tailwind? I was really surprised to see it with the top speed. I know they can be built slick and fast but seeing is believing? Outrunning a hot RV4 would seem to be a real trick!

Any info appreciated!

Thanks Bill S
7a Got the Grin
 
Red Hamilton is FAST

The tailwind was flown by Red Hamilton, with his wife doing the navigating. I took off third, following Red and Bob Babler in his new and beautiful RV-7. By the time Red was into the first turn (about 5 miles) he was already opening the distance between himself and the rest of the pack. He is running an O-320 and a Catto prop. I saw him in the turn, and shortly after that he just disappeared ahead of us.

He gained over 5 mph from last year. Part of that could have been the cooler weather, but I suspect some aerodynamic magic. His wheel pants might have been the smallest, tightest fit I have ever seen. It looked like he had clearance of about 1/4" around the tire. And that is typical of his whole plane, just lots of attention to detail. It is a work of art.

This was only my second race, the first one being last year's GNAR. Last year, I met Bob Mills and his red Super-6. He taped his plane up, and it was very fast (240 mph), so I decided to copy him. It seemed to help, because I gained about 2.5 mph over last year. It started raining about 25 miles into the race, and rained for most of the course until about 35 miles from the finish. Visibility was still good, fortunately, so the rain wasn't that big a deal. However, I suspect that it slowed us down some (draggy raindrops), and I know it eroded the prop leading edge paint off of Red's tailwind. I was also flying a Catto, but I have prop guard tape on it, so no issue there. However, some of my speed tape (not the prop) was shredded, especially if there was an edge underneath, and it was facing forward. The most noticalble was at the front of the cowling, the gear leg to fuselage fairings, and the landing light edges.

For those of you that haven't tried one of the SARL races, it is really a lot of fun, and it inspires you to start looking your airplane over to make it more efficient. That will pay dividends not just for a race, but in better fuel economy. All in all, a lot of fun. There is another race coming up in Three Forks Montana on July 9. It would be great if many more RV's would make it to these Northern races. It is great to see the different airplanes, meet the builders and pilots, and see what makes them go fast. Hopefully some of you lurkers will show up!
 
Brent with the addition of Kurt K(RV-6a) from Bison Mountain Bags who entered yesterday, we have 4 RV Blue entries now. should be a great day
 
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