I debated whether this should go in the Off Topic forum or not but I think it fits here. I bet there are more kit aircraft racing here that were built and maintained by amateurs in their garages/hangers than there are at the Goodwood Revival this weekend. The STOL drag racing is pretty good, nothing like a Carbon Cub running nitrous!
Got to go see this in person 30 years ago, awesome.
Aaron_King said:Got to go see this in person 30 years ago, awesome.
I went in the late 70s as a birthday thing. Great event, would love to go again, lots of fun. Well until a CHP officer gave me a birthday present heading back home on 395.
The smoke appears to be affecting visibility a bit.
Sadly, the Unlimiteds of old are essentially gone. The only one left is Dreadnought, which is the sledge hammer of air racers, just put the biggest damn engine in a plane you can find (4350 ci). Looks like it's a good 50 mph faster then the rest of the field! The days of Mustangs boosted to an inch of their life (and the crazy sound that that created) seems to be gone.
The new breed is the Sport class (a lot fo GlassAirs and LanceAirs). They are getting pretty crazy power out of 500+ ci motors using special props, dual turbos and a lot of ADI and spray bars (for cooling). The top Sport class racers are faster than every Unlimited other than Dreadnought.
For comparison, the Sport planes are touching 400 mph (lap speeds), Dreadnought is 460 capable, the Mustangs where touching 500.
Schedule can be found here:
https://airrace.org/air-races-planning-schedule/
Edit: Sound like Miss America may try to challenge Dreadnought, but I am not sure if it has the engine for it.
So, there is a bit of a story / drama going on with the Unlimiteds. Dreadnought (BIG motor pretty stock airframe) is the multi-time winner and is know to be stupid reliable. Miss America is apparently making a run for the prize. They have new race motor installed and the plane has clipped wings and what looks like a somewhat low profile canopy.
One interesting thing to watch with Dreadnought is the massive amount of spray bar they use over the oil coolers. Very visible on the feed. MA will certainly be doing the same with their radiator.
So, MA gets DQ'd during qualifying because of not running a level lap. Rather then push the new motor they skip qualifying. Because they didn't qualify they start last in the lower class race 1. They destroy that class of course and then bump up to the end of the fast class for race 2 (out of 4).
Todays race was the first match with Dreadnought and MA, with MA starting last. MA quickly passes most of the field to get to second but is staying well high to avoid the wake of the Sea Fury's (which can be very harsh). Unfortunately the judges DQ'd him for flying too high!
So, Saturday is a repeat of Friday with MA looking to at least get second to be set up for the final race on Sunday. It could get interesting. Can MA match Dreadnoughts speed? I don't know, they never qualified. Will they push Dreadnought to try and get poll for the final? Or save the motor for Sunday? It might get interesting.
The fast unlimited tend to run last and will likely be running 4:30 (pacific) or later on Sat and Sun if you want to watch.
If I find out any inside info (my sister is there volunteering with the timers for the Unlimiteds) I will post it up. I have asked her I she can get me Miss America's lap / qualifying speeds (which aren't posted because of the DQ's)
In a way, I'm glad the Sport class is beginning to dominate. That's how it used to be. Benny's Howard's Mr. Mulligan, Art Chester's GOON, Matty Laird's Super Solution. Planes built by hand, often by the pilots themselves. Then the surplus warbird hit the market, cheap, and changed everything. Maybe it's just gone full circle?
A quick update for those who are and are not watching:
Some of the later races where canceled yesterday for high winds, looks pretty good today, still a bit windy though.
Regarding the Unlimited: Miss America was DQ's for high flying Friday (as mentioned), and they didn't race on Saturday, so they will start from the back (outside) for the final race later today. My sister tells me there qualifying lap (which was disallowed) was 383, which is still way slower than Dreadnought, but they might have been just going fast enough (saving the motor) to be solid in the fast class.
So, today, Miss America has a low time race motor ready to go... for ONE race. They appear hungry, so it might be balls to the wall, go or blow! We will see. Does it have the speed? I don't know. I do know Dreadnought historically can turn 440 laps with no issues.
Expect to see MA crank it up big time at the start to blast past the much slower field. They will almost certainly end up trailing the much larger Dreadnought (wake turbulence!) into the first lap, then.... how much can the engine put out, and how much can it take? Remember, they can only pass on the outside, and MA needs to stay well clear of being behind Dreadnought because of the massive wake turbulence created at near 500 mph (air speed as opposed to lap speed) for such a large plane.
The stream connection has been a bit spotty, so hopefully it will hold up for the final. Final race is scheduled for around 5:00 pm Pacific.
For those who are unfamiliar with the planes:
Whatever happened to Rare Bear and White Lightning?
so dreadnought is a spitfire with a radial? WTF? I'm a pilot and have not been engaged. That era is over. I am now interested. Aircooled and Adam, thank you. Or not? haha.
In reply to Javelin (Forum Supporter) :
These are just two old, too expensive to race, and lack the parts to replace highly stressed engines.
Rare Bear:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rare_Bear
White Lightening: https://p38assn.org/white-light.htm
Dreadnought is a Sea Fury. The naval version of the Hawker Fury. Essentially the last of the English piston engined fighters. Obviously a trainer version. It originally had a Bristol Centarus sleeve valve engined (a rather interesting engine) but they swapped in a gigantic 4360 four row radial.
Rare Bear has had funding issues for a number of years. It was using a borrowed engine (from a B29) the last time it raced. In its day it was highly competitive and could keep up with the highly modified P51s. It was somewhat famous for its use of Nitrous as a power adder. It was pretty apparent on course when he hit the button!
White lightning was Leftie's plane. It's never been really competitive, but he was know for flying really low! It was one of those planes that was just always at Reno back in the day.
They are doing startups on the final race now BTW (4:43)
FYI: Race went pretty much as expected. MA blasted from last place to 2nd in short order and hooked on to Dreadnought within half a lap. He stayed within a second for most of the race, pulling up to within 1/4 near the end, but not enough. 430 or so lap speeds. Pretty slow historically and I think Dreadnought almost certainly had more.
Oh... Miss America looks like it may have been DQ's again (high flying again I am guessing). I imagine they are not pleased.
My kid glued to the replay of the 2A Formula 1 qualifying on Friday. Didnt take his eyes off the screen the entire race.
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