Well, the first race of 2007 is in the books. Things started out windy and stayed that way until Friday afternoon. Any plans for a test flight on Thursday were soon cancelled with the weather channel calling for winds in excess of 40 MPH. Thursdays tech session quickly found all the racers with temporary pits set up in the hangar. The lighting wasn’t as good as out side however being inside keep any planes from making any unintended flights. There were the usual number of new race planes in need of measurement and issuance of log books but there were more than the usual number of replacement log books needed. It seems that some of you had forgotten your log books in the haste to pack up. I keep my log books in my transmitter case so if the TX makes it to the race the log book is there as well.
As most of you know Denny and Barbara Baker traveled from California to serve as the race promoters and handle the myriad of details that putting on this circus requires. They made things run as smoothly as ever and I know that everyone who competed felt that it was one of the best events to date. Our turn out was disappointing but given the 25 plus planes lost last year due to midair collisions as well as other causes it isn’t surprising that the numbers were down. Building a replacement airplane is a daunting task and with life getting in the way of the build schedule I think our turnout was not unexpected. All that being said I heard some experienced racers describe some of the races as closer than ever.
It was disappointing that the T6 class and the Biplanes didn’t have enough entries to make a race. Both of these classes are fun to fly and can be just as competitive with the racing running close.
Due to the late start we only completed one round on Friday afternoon, most then retired to the local cantina for some great Mexican food a hangar flying. Saturday dawned cool with light winds that remained for the rest of the day, a good day for the engines to breathe and develop great horse power. Three rounds were completed with a nice lunch break that allowed Mike McConville to demo the new Sundowner ARF race plane. At the conclusion of the day Goose and Tanya catered a meal in the Museum and more hangar flying ensued, as well as stroll through the halls to see those magnificent but silent warbirds. For the scavengers they had a J-57 jet engine in the junk heap and some were trying to figure out how to get it home. Sunday was a mirror image of Saturday with light winds mild temps for round 5. Until that point we had been midair free for the weekend when the GT racers Jake Hanbury and Eric Hunter got together coming out of turn one. Then in the F1 Alcohol class Jerry Bradley and Scott Baker tried to take the same short way around turn two with disastrous results. The Gold race was accident free and a great chance for those to show their speed on course.
Dominator class welcomed Mick Warning into the world of racing. Due to schedule conflicts he only raced 2 rounds and won his very first heat race as the rest were trying to shake the cobwebs out. I understand he had a great time and we can expect him back for more racing. Looking over the race results, Mike Friesel turned a sub 2 minute race, very quick for this class. Mike went on to win the Dominator Gold race and has a new GT-80 engine looking for an airframe.
F1 GT class started off real well, Jake Hanbury flying a borrowed Video Cassette was flying as well as ever being our “Young Gun” in the USRA. Later in the weekend he carried a video recorder in the cockpit with some truly amazing in flight shots. Defending class champion Mike Tallman was showing the skill that found him in the catbird seat from last year. Mike has obviously been practicing since he is the new world record holder in the GT class setting a blistering 103.04. Is this the year Mike will be our first ever repeat as GT Class Champion? He has a great start by setting a world record, winning the Gold race as well as leaving with the season point lead.
F1 was turning out to be quite a race between Kenny Mac showing early race form, smooth and fast with Jerry Bradley and Scott Baker keen for the battle, they are all previous race winners and were ready to take advantage of any mistakes he made. Randy Rich was having mechanical issues with the Endeavor and never got a chance to show the planes full potential but he will be around for the next race and he will be fast. Kenny completed a perfect weekend winning all heat races as well as the Gold race.
The unlimited racers were gearing up for a new season with Tim Sparks flying a Vendetta in white primer with accents applied with blue painters tape, Frank Noll with an Miss Ashley ll and Peter Goldsmith in an ultra light Stiletto. Two of these three entries were lost in single plane crashes, sorry Frank and Peter. Tom Keating was making great progress with his Stiletto taking the point lead and perennial Dave Smith came on strong at the end to win the Gold race despite loosing his spinner.
There were dozens of people who came and worked so we could play, I doubt that I could name them all but they all were important to the smooth operation of this race and without our workers Rantoul wouldn’t have happened. Thank you so much!!!
One of the new procedures that came about with the new rules was the establishment of the prop pool for those classes who must use a stock propeller. We have some really nice tool boxes that are great for protecting our props when in transit. I expected the pilots to all want to turn their props back in (and reclaim their $20 prop deposit) since most probably already have several at home but to my surprise half wanted to keep their prop.
If there were any other issues that you may have had with the event I would love to hear about so we can improve for next time, until then get out and practice.
Tim Sparks