RCGroups.com's 2013 Electric Tournament of Champions
Jim T. Graham [email protected]
I remember the first year of the Electric Tournament of Champions (ETOC). It was held in a gymnasium with low ceilings and few seats. There was a line around the building composed of excited RC spectators who were in town for the Toledo R/C Expo.
Most of us had to sit on the floor. If you looked around you could see fervent RC pilots mixed in with owners of RC manufacturing companies. We were all excited to see the world's top RC pilots compete with a new concept in RC flight: the indoor foamie.
That was 10 years ago and I have been to every ETOC since. The founder of this event is Tom Kroggel. This hobby is full of good pilots and Tom is one of them. He calls the ETOC the "foamie saga."
This prestigious event attracts pilots from around the world. There were no indoor competitions and few people flying indoors prior to the inaugural ETOC.
How the ETOC Works
Fourteen of the world's best pilots compete for the top seven spots for Saturday night's finals. On Friday night, there are two rounds of specific Known maneuvers and two rounds of Freestyle flown by all 14 pilots. The number of pilots is later cut to seven.
On Saturday night, the top seven pilots fly two rounds of Known and two rounds of Freestyle to determine the final three pilots. These three each fly one round of Freestyle and one round of Known to determine the RCGroups.com ETOC champion.
The Known Sequence
Do you think you have what it takes to compete? This is a real test of a pilot's skillset. You have to keep your lines clean and do everything correctly!
This is the Known sequence routine:
- Reversing Loop: Full roll, 3/4 loop with 3/4 roll integrated into 3/4 loop (full roll and 3/4 roll must be in opposite directions), 1/4 knife-edge (KE) loop to exit on KE.
- Hammerhead: KE entry, 1/2 roll on vertical upline, no rolls on vertical downline, exit upright crossbox.
- Double Humpty Bump: Two four-point rolls on vertical upline, 1/2 inside loop, 3/4 roll on downline, 1/2 outside loop, two-point roll on vertical upline, exit upright.
- 1 1/4 Positive Spin: (Centered) 1 1/4 spin, vertical downline, exit upright crossbox outbound (must exit away from the pilot).
- Butterfly: (Centered) 1/8 roll on line immediately followed by a full inside loop on a 45° plane (into wind on Aresti), followed by a full KE loop on a 45° plane (downwind on Aresti), followed by a 1/8 roll to upright.
- Figure 9: 1/4 roll on vertical upline, push 3/4 outside loop, one negative snap roll on exit to inverted.
- 180° Rolling Circle: One roll inside, one roll outside, exit inverted.
- Torque Roll: (Centered) push to a vertical upline, perform 1 1/4 torque roll, opposite 1 1/4 torque roll, continue vertical upline and exit inverted. (Torque Rolls must be centered on the vertical upline—no entry slide into torque roll.)
- Reversing P Loop: Pull to a vertical downline, perform a 1/2 inside loop and 1/4 outside loop with 1 1/2 continuous rolls integrated into the looping sections, exit inverted (integrated 1/2 roll per quadrant of the loop).
- Split S: 1 1/2 rolls, 1/2 outside loop, 1/4 roll, opposite 1/2 roll, opposite 3/4 roll, exit upright.
- Shark's Tooth: Vertical upline with one roll, inverted 45° downline with two-point roll, exit inverted.
- Lay Down Humpty Bump: Inverted 45° upline with 1/4 roll and same-direction 3/4 positive snap roll, push 1/2 outside loop to 45° downline, exit upright.
Freestyle
Freestyle is my favorite part of the show. It is composed by the competitor, and there are no mandatory maneuvers. This event shows how much foamie flight has advanced. Freestyle allows a pilot's personality to show through. If I find myself yelling in excitement, then I know a pilot is doing a great job. I caught myself pointing at RJ Gritter’s airplane because of a maneuver he was doing at ETOC. That’s a first!
The Airplanes
All ETOC aircraft must be operated by battery-powered electric motors. There is a 20-ounce weight limit.
Pilots can use multiple airplanes during the competition. Airplanes 10 years ago were vastly different from the ones used today. Many are hand cut and designed by the pilots. Some aircraft have creative ways to slow them built into the designs. They are works of art.
This year’s winner, RJ Gritter, flew an airplane with twin coaxial, counter-rotating propellers and special air-brake devices on the trailing edges (TEs). This allows the aircraft to fly slowly and consistently in any attitude.
RJ’s Freestyle airplane had variable-pitch propellers and thrust vectoring in the yaw axis. This allowed it to fly insane maneuvers such as backing up vertically from the floor to the ceiling and hanging in the air. The weights on these airplanes are amazing. RJ’s Pattern airplane weighed 3.06 ounces, and his Freestyle airplane 6 ounces.
Past ETOC Winners
- 2004: George Hicks
- 2005: Scott Foster
- 2006: Jason Noll
- 2007: John Glezellis
- 2008: Andrew Jesky
- 2009: Seth Arnold
- 2010–2012: Gernot Bruckmann
The E-X Games
ETOC pilots fly their model aircraft in an obstacle course which typically turns into a free-for-all! For each task that isn’t completed, 10 seconds are added to the competitor’s total time on the course. The lowest time wins the prize money.
Some of the many obstacles are the "Table Tamer," "Octonator," "Wind Generator," "45 Vortex," "Angry Foul Poles," "Salome Gates," "Midwest Tornados," and many more.
On the following night, one pilot starts on one side of the gymnasium, while the other begins in the opposite corner. Both are allowed to follow their airplanes around the obstacles and, at times, have to share the airspace.
Each pilot finishes the event where the other pilot started by backing his or her aircraft, tail down, into a trash can. This is a one-run, one-time, winner-take-all competition.
Lights After Dark — Open Fly
At this year's RCGroups.com ETOC there were two gymnasiums for open flying. In the back gym there was "lights out" flying both nights. There was another gym for general open flying. Everyone had a blast!
Give Autism the Boot
Each year during the Toledo Show, the RCGroups.com ETOC has a special raffle to benefit local charities.
The focus this year was on the fight against autism with our "Give Autism the Boot" campaign. There was a special raffle to benefit the Great Lakes Collaborative for Autism. Many vendors donated great items.
2013 Winners
This year's contest was as exciting as any I have attended. Gernot Bruckmann was the returning champion. After winning three years in a row, the big question was whether he could do it again.
The contest went smoothly. The crowd loved the E-X Games. It was an entertaining and fun way for the competitors to cut loose.
The scores were the closest they had been in 10 years. The amount of talent in this year's contest might have been the best, so it was incredibly exciting for the crowd.
Returning champion Gernot was leading Saturday with RJ and Christoph Lausberg close behind. One mistake could mean the championship to any of them.
Gernot had two mistakes in the final, moving him into second place. RJ flew flawlessly and it showed in his scores. It all came down to a few tenths of a point.
This year's champion, RJ, said, "If you have an interest in competition flying, jump in and try it out! ETOC was only the second contest I ever flew. I watched it live online on www.FlyingGiants.com in 2006 and knew I had to try to fly there. I practiced all year and got an invitation to compete in the 2007 ETOC."
The TnT Landing Gear crew is already gearing up for next year's competition, so be sure to mark your calendar to see the foamie saga in 2014.
Sources
- TnT Landing Gear Products (ETOC event site): http://bit.ly/109bikm
- RCGroups ETOC Event Coverage: www.rcgroups.com/rcgroups-com-etoc-2013-821
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
