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Bob Axsom

Well Known Member
Well you folks that were at Taylor TX Today, what do you think? Both the racers and the observers, I would like to know. I met many nice people today that I had never met before and it was a pleasure for me. I will post my observations after I eat dinner and get some rest - it was great.

Bob Axsom
 
Bob,

I had an absolute great time! I'm going to have to figure out how to get off work next year so I can Race more!!

I also need to figure out how to het another 5 knts so I can pass you. :)

193 kts and loving it!
 
Well, Bob, I had a great time and enjoyed meeting you in person. I'm happy with my 199 kt speed (prelim) but its still behind John Huff. There were a lot of neat racers

My only disappointment was the drop out of my data logger that prevented me from confirming my times (fell off the mounting clip).
 
I had a blast!

I was on the ground, part of the timing crew at Macho Grande. My job was to call out "NOW!" when the racers flew through a particular reference point right at the checkerboard sign. It was entirely pointless, because most of you guys were about 30 feet from us at WOT! No one could hear me. But what a rush!

We were able follow you guys through turn 3 on the handhelds, and pick you back up as you called turn 8. Occasionally a stray would fly through area on the way into Taylor, causing a bit of angst on our parts.

The briefing had lots of questions, and I had to admit I was skeptical about the 20 second launch interval. Bicycle time trials usually have 2 minute start intervals - and they can see each other! But all the racers did a splendid job and there were no major goof ups at the start or finish lines. Mike and Kitty did a great job putting this event on.

It was great to see and meet many of the people on the forum. You took off before I had a chance to find you.

I'm starting to think this might be something fun to do when the 9A is ready to go, although I don't expect to be fast enough to compete.
 
I called Jay Pratt who was there watching and during our conversation I could hear the planes go ripp'n by and they sounded great!
 
My observations

I flew down to Taylor (south central Texas) from Fayetteville, Arkansas (northwest corner of the state) on Friday thank goodness because I heard several missed approaches in the fog and low clouds Saturday morning. Before landing I flew the race start location and the first three turns because they would come up fast in the race and I wanted to have seen them before it was for real. I would have flown the whole course but I was low on fuel and the rest were not as demanding (and airport versus a VOR for example). After landing I found there was adequate parking, which I thought might be a problem with such a large entry list.

The fog and low ceilings Saturday morning delayed some racer arrivals and the start of the race until near noon. Arriving aircraft, crowds for the open house/air show and flow of race aircraft from the ramp was masterfully handled by our own Darrell Reiley - believe me it was a tough job and he appeared unflappable. Several racers were at nearby airports waiting for conditions to improve so they could fly into Taylor Municipal Airport, get race briefed and fly the race. Mike Thompson who flies an RV-6 and is my closest competitor, also had the responsibility of race director. He bent over backward to accommodate everyone that wanted to race. There is no doubt in my mind that this was a terrible distraction for him as a racer but he did not lose his composure once during the briefing, patiently answering every question and giving personal briefings to all of the late arrivals. Another masterful job that made it all possible.

The night before the race I studied the wind charts and planned my race strategy. The wind charts I used were those on-line at the aviation weather center for 1500Z, surface, 3,000 feet and 6,000 feet. I had developed a race leg spread sheet where I could plug in independent variable like leg length, climb speed, descend speed, cruise speed, relative wind angle & speed, altitude change. The functions were imbedded in other cells of the spreadsheet to automatically calculate intermediate values and the time and speed results for my selected choices. I spent hours in my motel room Friday night running options for the 9 race legs. In the end I settled on a climb to 1,600 ft after take-off then descend to the start for speed and maintain minimum altitude (500 ft agl) to turn 1. In the very short leg between turn 1 and 2 I would start my 500 fpm climb toward 3000 ft and continue the rest of the climb on the way to turn 3. I would maintain the 3,000 ft altitude until turn 5 then descent rapidly to 500 ft agl in the less than a mile to turn 6 and on the initial part of the long leg to turn 7. From there on to turn 8 and the finish line I would remain at minimum altitude. My work showed that if the winds were as forecast I could average 217 mph for the race.

After we were launched for the race on Saturday I flew as planned except the low clouds prevented me from reaching 3,000 feet. Just before the first turn I was passed by and unpainted RV-8 and he was going away as we rounded turn 1. I started my climb and he stayed low so I thought to myself I may be able to catch him if he stays low for the whole race. I did pass him and stayed ahead until shortly before turn 7 at the radome. I saw him creeping by off to the left and by the finish I was about 1 mile behind Race #390. Back at the airport in the refueling line I learned that the RV-8 has a 390 cu. in. engine so I felt a little better.

I met more people at this race than at any previous race and I visited with a lot of old friends and competitors but I also saw a lot of young children (far less than 10 years old) fascinated with airplanes. One little girl drew a very good picture of my plane and accurately colored it to match my plane's paint scheme. How can you not be moved by that?

I flew home after refueling so I don't know the results yet but I had a good time so whatever the results are, I'm happy.

Bob Axsom
RV-6A, Race #71
 
I chased a P51!
When I heard that there was going to be a Mustang in the Rocket 100 race I was very pleased that our league was getting this type of competitor, not to mention the two T28s that had entered. Being a competitor I started to wonder how fast is a P51 down low? The day before the Courtland race Chris Murphy had tested his speed dash system with a mustang and it clocked 299mph. This is faster then my plane but what, I dreamed, if he did not want to work his engine, how big are his turns, has the pilot done this type of thing before, etc. Chances are I will never get to ride in a Mustang but keeping close to it would be awesome.
When the race order was posted I was even more excited as I was following the big bird right from the start. The first thing I learned is that three plane lengths are not enough spacing when he turned his aircraft for a run up. My little bird was dancing on the taxiway for a few minutes when that big prop spun up.
I maintained our 20-second separation until the start and then I was on the chase. Right off the bat I knew that I could get up to speed faster then he could and I was gaining ground up to turn one. Here he did make a much bigger turn then I did and I was closing the gap even more, Oh man this is going to be close! My flight plan was to climb after turn one to catch some upper winds. He stayed low and thus started to pull ahead while I lost airspeed in the climb. Turn two comes up very fast and just before turn two he turned to the right to go around the WRONG water tower. Of course now I am wondering if I have the right turn point entered! He makes his turn climbs and banks and there he is right in front of me 90 degrees, wide open. How often has a tin can built in a barn caught a P51 in that position? I made my turn and climbed even more. I now was even with him and if I could just stay there my finishing time would be better then a P51! But I made a mistake. When he had made his turn in front of me I should have stayed behind him. I am sure that he saw me, perhaps not, but after that he started to pull away, obviously applying more power. I did have one more chance though, as he started to go way off course to the right. I pondered for a minute and made the call ?Mustang turn left to course?. By the time we got to turn three, at the dam, he was well ahead. My visions of glory were gone but I will never forget the image of him, in a bank, right in my line of sight, how good is that!
His speed of 298 mph was 22 faster then my 277mph. I did manage to best the T28, 262mph, by 15. What a great end to the season, thanks Mike and Mark.
 
Tom Martin said:
I chased a P51!...

His speed of 298 mph was 22 faster then my 277mph. I did manage to best the T28, 262mph, by 15. What a great end to the season, thanks Mike and Mark.
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Tom,

I'd be curious to know how much fuel the P-51 burned to pull away... must have been impressive!

Thanks for the great write up.
 
You were missed Alan

Alan Carroll said:
Bob,

Looks like you beat your estimate by 7 mph and came very close to matching the RV-8s in this race. What's your secret - was it the tape? :)
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I kept looking for your name to pop up on the entry list but sadly it didn't happen. I'm sure Jason Rovey was aching for another shot at his closest competitor.

There is no doubt that the tape pulled me closer to the RV-8s but another factor was the pre race wind analysis and race plan. I came up with a new spread sheet for wind and altitude analysis. It's rough and only considers the cosine of the relative wind and altitude but it proved to be pretty good for this race. My study showed the tail wind shifted from 180 at 10 kts on the surface to 235 at 20 at 3,000 feet then decreasing velocity at 6,000. The way the course was laid out there was a tail wind all the way from turn 2 to turn 6. I planned to start my climb after turn 1 then dive in the less than 1 mile leg between 5 and 6 and stay at 500 ft agl for the rest of the race. Many pilots stayed low for the entire race and they payed dearly. So the closeness of the finish with the RV-8s (and Gary Wilcox's RV-7) was only partly due to my plane being faster. On the other hand Jason Rovey said he went high where I did so I am gaining. There is not much more to try in the way of drag reduction but I have a few minor winter projects in mind.

Bob Axsom
 
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A report by Race 55's Team Ely shamelessly copied from elswhwere

From the back of the pack:

The Mooney arrived late so we started after the Diamond, which I think is actually FAC06, 125HP, although faster than Race 55. We sat with the Diamond crew for dinner the night before. Mossimo and Gina were excited about the race. Unfortunately, I think the Diamond turned to the left on climb out from T74. When he didn't see the start line he returned to the field. I hope to see them again next season.

All season long we talked up the League, and much to AnnElise's chagrin, our friend Charlie Sisk showed up at this last race in his C182. Fortunately for AnnElise, Charlie being new to this racing thing, he didn't want to stress his engine, so he planned to just fly the route and enjoy the trip. Hope all you hunters picked up a copy of his book.

Mike and I take turns in the left seat. This was my turn. We had no competition though. We were hoping that other Cheetah would show up - the one that was a first-timer at the Grace Flight Air Race, and maybe some others. We missed seeing Eric and Muffin in the Zodiac but glad there was at least a C150 starting behind us.

We did fly the start/finish line pretty low, and might have recorded a faster time if we'd climbed for the winds, but I'm not sure, as we don't climb well. Mike is the very best navigator in the world. He can spot the most obscure things from far off and just has a sense for where they are. His vast experience helps me a lot when I'm in the left seat.

I'm improving my turns, not that they were bad to begin with, but I think they were better this race. Well, all except one.

We went low at the dam turn and smiled pretty for the camera.

The photo plane that started behind us passed us up right away, and Mr. Jurskis (who wanted to be sure we could pronounce his name, but mispronounced ours) had the audacity to zoom past us. We didn't come close to the P51, nor even to X-Ray, but we finished our 4th race in our first season and we are totally hooked. Chief, the job you do is worthy of a standing O, and every one of you folks we've met this year in SARL has made this one incredibly fun year. This race was very well run in spite of the fog delay. Volunteers did an amazing job and pulled off a quick start.and the results were posted right away.

I'm impressed with the collective knowledge in SARL. Mike and I are looking forward to our first EAA Workshop Dec. 4-5. I'm signed up for the sheet metal course and he's signed up for the electrical/avionics course. There's so much to choose from and so little time.

I hope to be involved in hosting a race in 2011.

Linda Street-Ely
Race 55
 
Another copied report from race volunteer and reporter Pat Purcell

RACERS,
I want you all to smile and be proud of yourselves.....air racers are the BEST. The sportmanship exhibited over the entire season was a shining example of what it is all about......I believe that we have a group and sport that has it all together....
Saturday saw a Cessna 150 and rookie crew be welcomed as a total equal alongside a highly experienced pilot flying a Mustang P-51. Hats off to those Unlimited Warbird pilots.....they love to fly and add so much to the races at a moneytary cost we do not want to think about.
Everyone is excited and anticipating 2011!!! I will be doing all that I can....keeping the monthly race report column in Fly Low magazine going and putting on as many races as I can and assisting everyone in anyway I can.
My personal thanks to each and everyone of you.....race organizers, pilots, volunteers!
Patricia "Pat" Purcell
 
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Bob Axsom said:
I kept looking for your name to pop up on the entry list but sadly it didn't happen.
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Bob - I really wanted to come but work made it impossible this time. Sounds like it was a great event to finish the season, and your performance was really impressive. Among the RVs it appears that you had by far the highest ratio of race speed to "factory" posted speed (Van's cruise numbers for RV-6A and RV-8).

Guess I'll have to think up some new tricks over the winter to stay competitive...
 
Checkout the P-51 photo currently on SARL home page

I assume this was take at the finish line at Macho Grande private strip. I've seen a lot of P-51 photos but none quite like that one. They also have a photo of this years National Champions in Production and Experimental airplanes. http://www.sportairrace.org.

Bob Axsom
 
It was truly a great time. Mike and Kit, Mark and Cheryl did a super job throughout, and Darrell and the Taylor gang did a great job on race day...with lots of kids of all ages out to see the planes and the race!! It was fun seeing Scott and Tanya Card, but I missed Jay (was that you in the orange 737 hat?)

I have to take one in the chops for staying low...my bust for leaving the computer at home and struggling through iPhone weather briefs (my story and I'm stickin' to it!) I just didn't think the wind gradient would be as high as it was, or that it would last past turn 3. I watched the Rockets ahead go high, then get slowly smaller, but didn't want to trade speed, thinking the advantage would be shorter-lived than it was...and I had John Huft breathing down my back!! Good news was that I was able to slowly reel in Mark after turn 6, and though I couldn't catch him, I was a little faster overall. Had I gone high with him...hmmm...might have been our third photo finish of the year! (Now his experimanting with mogas and having to run rich hurt him, and it looks like a gear leg fairing may have delaminated a bit on him, so I have lots of work to do this winter to stay close to Pesky...but what a blast!) But I posted my first-ever 250+ mph average time (with little to none of that tailwind those cheaters used :p), so I'm pretty happy with that (and I'll be "cheatin'" next time too!! :))

Fun race and fun season guys!! Thanks for the camraderie all year!

Here's the link to the Macho Grande photos from which that P-51 shot came from. These are over the start/finish at the private airfield. Yee haw!

Cheers,
Bob
 
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Looked at the photos

Think how fast those Bonanzas would be if they could completely close the nose gear door. As I sequenced through the photos I recognized the RV-8 that crossed the finish line just ahead of me and looked forward with great anticipation to the next shot ... It was Nick Nafsinger's RV-10 that crossed behind me ... sigh. Great photos!

Bob Axsom
 
What a race!! This was my last race as I surrender my medical so that I can remain eligible for light sport. I have raced for the full four years of the leagues existence, and this was easily one of the very best. It is hard to describe the job that Mike Thompson and his crew did under almost impossible circumstances...they were fantastic!
And for the racing, it was the best. A P-51 Mustang, burning a gallon per minute, and barely beating a rocket! How far has experimental aviation come?! Tom Martin in his evil rocket also beat Bruce Hammer for the title of fastest fixed-gear airplane in the known universe! He has worked wonders with that airplane, and his current cruise speed could sell a lot of kits if his drag reduction techniques were incorporated.
Bob Axsom has also made some good gains lately. Lots of new people this year have joined the fun.
Many thanks to Mike Thompson for his hard work and dedication to keep this sport alive.
John
 
Fun Day!!!

Carol an I were there an we had fun just watching,
Lots of really neat planes.
 
Rocket 100.. a view through the lens

I hope you enjoy viewing the photos just half as much as I did taking them! Following is a link to a Picasa Album

Rocket_100_CVR.jpg


Picasa Album... >> here

Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!
 
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Nuisance said:
What a race!! This was my last race as I surrender my medical so that I can remain eligible for light sport.
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John - these races won't be the same without you. I'll miss seeing Nuisance morph into a slowly disappearing dot out in front of me (OK well maybe not that much...:)). I've certainly learned a lot from you. Have fun with the Light Sport!
 
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