Control Line Speed - 2003/12

December 2003 79
S p e e d
Dave Mark, Box 773, Fenton MI 48430; E-mail: [email protected]
Scott Matson with his Scorpion Texas Quickie Rat Racer he used
to finish first in the Senior Formula 40 event.
Neil Lickfold (R) readies his F2A model with Henry Nelson’s help.
THE 77TH CONTROL Line Speed National Championships, or
Nats, saw more records fall than anyone could remember.
Unfortunately the records were set by the weather; more than 15
inches of rain fell during the week. When we arrived at the site
Monday, July 7, we found roads covered with running water, and
lakes had formed in areas where Muncie residents said they had
never seen standing water.
Friday, July 11—the last day of competition—was the only day
that rain did not fall during the events; it held off until just after the
day’s events were completed. The new Racing circles were a sea of
mud and, as a result, Racing was held at the old site next to the Speed
circle.
In spite of all the rain, competition went on as scheduled. Events
were held on the traditional days, with the exception that Sport Jet
was added as a provisional event on Wednesday.
Monday—1⁄2A day—was busy, with 20 contestants flying in 1⁄2A
Profile Proto. Charlie Legg took first place. His model weighed 5.5
ounces including fuel at processing. Charlie’s fastest flight was a
speed of 111.54 mph on his third attempt. He had a 109.51 on his
first try and a 109.98 on his second. The model was powered by a
home-built engine and had a single-blade propeller that Charlie
made.
Second place went to relative newcomer Charles (Chuck) Whitler
with a time of 111.54 mph on his second attempt. His first attempt
Al Jones (with model) looks at Dave Cotton’s extra-light Sport
Jet. Earl Bailey (R) and Len Waltemath look on.
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80 MODEL AVIATION
Scott Matson (R) starts 1⁄2A speedster with his dad Pat’s help.
Bill Hughes (center) repairs a fuel tank with Dave Mark’s (right)
butane soldering iron. Bob Ytuarte observes.
Karl Caldwell (right) starts his 1⁄2A Proto model with Jim
Rhoades’ help. Chris Montagino is on the handle.
L-R: Bill Hughes, Bob Ytuarte, Al Jones, Frank Garzon, and
Glenn Lee discuss the latest in glow-plug technology.
was 93.76 mph. Chuck said that he came to the Nats with two
propellers and damaged his good one on the first flight, so he used his
backup propeller that was 1⁄8 inch smaller in diameter.
Chuck gave credit to many who helped him with his equipment.
He said that the hop-up information Greg Settle had published in
Speed Times was key to his success. Greg even sent Chuck the fuel
that he used at the Nats. This type of help to newcomers is common
in Speed flying today.
Third place went to longtime Speed flier Warren Kurth. His model
weighed 5.1 ounces and was powered by a Shuriken .049 that he had
purchased just days before the Nats from a Free Flight modeler. This
was the 49th Nats in which Warren had competed and flown his own
equipment.
The 1⁄2A Proto models weighed 5.1-7.9 ounces, including fuel.
Scott Matson took first place in the Junior/Senior competition, as
he did last year, with a speed of 93.85 mph. James VanSant repeated
last year’s placing by taking second at 90.68 mph. Zach Schoonover
was third with a speed of 80.28 mph, and fourth place went to Wade
Schoonover at 72.10 mph.
1⁄2A Speed had three times as many entrants as last year. This
event should get much more interest because Almost Ready-to-Fly
(ARF), asymmetrical Speed models will soon be available. Bill
Hughes, who imports GZ engines, and John Newton are producing a
molded-fiberglass and aluminum-skinned-wing model. The GZ-CS
engines have proven to be true power producers.
Carl Dodge used a CS-powered model of his own design to win
1⁄2A Speed. You could see his high-quality work and attention to
detail on the aircraft. He turned 141.22. Bill Hughes took second
place flying a prototype of his ARF to a speed of 135.03 mph. Glen
VanSant placed third with 130.86.
The models ranged in weight from a 6.1-ounce upright to a 10.0-
ounce sidewinder, and that includes fuel.
Scott Matson took first place in the Junior/Senior 1⁄2A Speed event
with a time of 95.47 mph. He finished first in 2002 with a time of
98.33 mph. James VanSant placed second at 83.00 mph. He was
second in 2002 with a time of 65.13 mph.
On Tuesday—.21 Sport Speed and Fédération Aéronautique
Internationale (FAI) F2A Speed day—AMA stopped competition for
20 minutes because of a strong thunder and lightning cell that blew
across the site.
Les Akre came over from the Racing circle late in the day to give
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his .21 Sport model a try. His first attempt
produced a speed of 149.56 mph. He put his
card back in for a second attempt and turned
153.39 for first place.
Les’s model was a Lil’ Dynamite built
from a Sackett kit, and it used a 30-cubiccentimeter
hard tank. The engine was a
Gillott NovaRossi C.21 of 1989 vintage. Les
said that he modified one of his racing
propellers to 5.78 inches in diameter and 6
inches in pitch.
In a battle for second place, Team Brown
and Chris Montagino turned speeds of 150.81
mph. The tiebreaker was the speed of the
next attempt. Team Brown captured second
place with a speed of 150.44 mph, compared
to Chris’s speed of 149.94 mph.
The New-Math team finished in fourth at
149.44 mph. Glenn Lee and Barry Tippett
were tied for the fifth spot at 148.45 mph.
This tie was broken by Glenn’s faster backup
flight of 148.08 mph.
The lightest .21 Sport Speed models
weighed 18.0 ounces, and the heaviest
models weighed 26.0 ounces.
At past Nats we often heard that some
modelers were using minipipes with tapered
inside diameters. That would have made
them megaphones, which are not allowed by
the .21 Sport Speed rules. No protests were
ever made, but the rumor was often repeated.
This year the minipipes on all .21 Sport
models were inspected, and none were found
tapered.
First place in the Junior/Senior division
went to Scott Matson at 137.98 mph. Second
place went to James VanSant with a speed of
129.25 mph.
The fact that the Control Line World
Championships will be held at Muncie in
2004 has triggered great growth in FAI
interest. This year there was a 300% increase
in F2A contestants.
Competitive Ready-to-Fly (RTF) models
for this event are available in the US from
Jim Booker. The fact that RTF models can be
used in this category should not be
interpreted to mean that it is a no-brainer.
Possession of the equipment is only the first
step in a long learning curve on the way to
high performance. This year the difference
between first and fifth places was just 3.86
mph.
Chris Montagino finished in first place for
the third year in a row with a speed of 174.38
mph. Jim Booker placed second at 173.49
mph. Third place went to Bill Hughes at
172.76 mph. The engines used in the first-,
second-, and third-place models were made
by Profi.
Carl Dodge used his home-built engine to
garner fourth at 171.30 mph. Team Brown
placed fifth with a speed of 170.52 with its
Irvine-powered model. A new face at this
year’s F2A competition was Neil Lickfold,
who has been a team member for New
Zealand at past World Championships.
The F2A models weighed between 17.5
and 22.0 ounces.
Scott Matson flew F2A as a Senior, and
his speed was 158.10 mph. He said that he
plans on flying in the US F2A Team Trials at
Cincinnati, Ohio, in September.
A and B Speed are held Wednesday. These
events have had fewer contestants in past
years, thus generating some idle time on the
circles. This year Sport Jet was added to
Wednesday’s lineup as a provisional event.
Five Jet fliers showed up to compete.
Bobby Day entered a beautiful gull-winged
model but was unable to get it together for an
attempt. Jim Rhoades used all four of his
attempts but was unable to keep his engine
running. He discovered a leak in his tank that
was causing fuel-feed problems. Jim had
turned times of roughly 145.00 and said he
felt that the larger lines slowed his model
approximately 4 mph.
The high humidity and temperature
caused everyone to go to smaller fuel jets to
keep them running, and speeds were down as
a result. First place went to Mike Couts with
a time of 138.72 mph. Al Jones placed
second at 136.93 mph with his upright model.
Dave Cotton finished in the third spot at
135.48. He had the lightest Sport Jet, at 33
ounces including fuel. The heaviest model
came in at 40 ounces.
The North American Speed Society
(NASS) is looking into moving this event to
Thursday. That would allow more modelers
who fly in fast Jet to also compete in Sport
Jet.
There were eight B Speed contestants, and
all were able to execute official flights. This
year only two models were of upright design,
and the rest were asymmetrical. Glenn Lee
took first place with his Nelson .29-powered
model at 182.11 mph. His first and fastest
flight, which put him in the top spot, was
made with a loose engine that he had used in
past years.
Then Glenn decided to try a new engine.
The first flight with it turned 171.68. He took
it back to the pits and checked the head
clearance to find .038 inch of shims. He
removed a pile of shim stock and put his card
back in for another attempt. This flight came
in at 181.92. The new engine was so tight
that the starter had a difficult time turning it
over.
Bill Hughes used all of his attempts to
take second place with 176.74 mph. He used
an older K&B engine equipped with a
cylinder and piston made by Mr. Gao of GZ
engines in China. Third place went to the
New-Math Team of John Newton and Joey
Mathison with a speed of 174.01 mph.
The models ranged in weight from 31.0
ounces to 36.0 ounces.
Scott Matson used three attempts to put
up a speed of 122.15 for first place in the
Junior/Senior event. James VanSant used one
flight to finish second at 119.79.
There was a 200% increase in the number
of contestants in A Speed this year. Many
flew the imported FAI models converted to
monoline. The control change and the use of
10%-nitromethane fuel produces a model that
is 12-15 mph faster than the standard FAI
aircraft.
The day started out wet, and several of the
Boy Scouts that NASS hires to help at the
Nats were late because of flooded roads in
the Muncie area. This confusion caused Glen
VanSant the loss of a good flight.
Model processing was from 7-9 a.m., and
Glen was first in line. Flying started at 8 a.m.,
and Glen pulled his card for the first flight of
the day. He was told to take his model to the
circle. As he exited the circle after his flight,
it was learned that none of the official timers
had a watch on it. Then he discovered that
something had come loose inside the model,
making it impossible to put up another flight
at that time.
Glen returned to the pits and spent several
hours repairing his model. He was able to fly
again late in the day and took third place with
a speed of 181.56 mph. NASS is looking at
methods to smooth out the start of
competition so that this does not happen
again.
The New-Math team had fuel-feed
problems on three of its attempts, but when
everything came together John Newton and
Joey Mathison turned a speed of 186.26 mph
for second place with a Profi-powered model.
Bill Hughes made it look easy by placing
three official flights, and the first was the
fastest. He took first place with a speed of
188.40 mph. His engine was a Profi Jr.
Scott Matson took first place in
Junior/Senior A Speed with a flight of 129.81
mph. James VanSant placed second at 124.34
mph.
In Formula 40 on Thursday, 11 contestants
placed official flights and six of them had
times faster than 154.00 mph. The Nelson
front-intake, rear-exhaust engine dominated
the event. Modelers in the first three places
used the 17-millimeter-crank version of the
engine instead of the larger 3⁄4-inch-crank
version. Vibration problems with the 3⁄4-inchcrank
engine have been so severe that many
have experienced cracked speed pans. This
problem does not seem to arise with the
smaller-crank engine.
Glenn Lee finished in first place with a
speed of 159.43 mph. Barry Tippett took
second at 157.69, and I placed third at 156.32
mph. This pattern of Glenn, Barry, and me in
first, second, and third has repeated itself
several times at contests this summer.
Some of the performance difference can
be found in the models’ weights; Glenn’s
weighed 23.0 ounces, Barry’s weighed 26.0
ounces, and mine weighed 27.5 ounces, with
fuel. Barry and I are building new models
with Glenn’s model’s weight as a target.
Team Brown had pressure-tank problems
on three of its attempts. On the last attempt,
an error that the timers made prompted the
event director to grant the team a reflight.
The model performed flawlessly and
produced a speed of 155.31 mph for fourth
place.
The Formula 40 models weighed
anywhere from the lightest at 23 ounces to
the high end at 33 ounces.
Scott Matson flew a Texas Quickie Rat
(TQR) powered by a K&B engine modified
for that event. Pat Matson said that he
expected the model to turn near 100.00 mph,
December 2003 81
CONTROL LINE
but no faster than that. If the TQR models run
faster than 100.00 mph, the rules are changed
to hold them slower than that speed. True to
his prediction, Scott’s model did 95.12 for
first place in Senior Formula 40.
The .21 Proto turnout was light, at five
contestants. Glenn Lee finished first at
135.84, Karl Caldwell was second at 134.33,
Bob Whitney was third at 130.47, and Barry
Tippett was fourth at 117.21. Richard Yatson
placed fifth with a 108.16. These numbers
include appearance points. The top score in
appearance points—3.0—was awarded to
Bob Whitney’s inverted Proto. Richard
Yatson received 2.5 for his Viper.
Late in the day on Thursday, the crowd
begins to build around the Speed circle and
the Jet fliers from Texas appear. Many
people set up their lawn chairs and await the
test-flying that is done Thursday after the
completion of the day’s events.
In a normal year some impressive times
are turned in practice that night. Pilots want
to shake the bugs out of their big iron to be
ready to compete in Jet and D Speed on
Friday. This year they were disappointed big
time; nothing would go. The fastest Jet fliers
were lucky to hit 180 mph.
Watching The Weather Channel that
night, we saw that Muncie had set a record
for the lowest barometric pressure recorded
since records had been kept. It also rained
that night.
Friday started out with a blue sky and a few
clouds and stayed that way till 5:30 p.m. Of
the 15 contestants who processed their
models for D Speed, 14 made official flights.
Bill Hughes earned a first-place finish.
He used all of his four attempts to get
three official flights. On his second effort he
learned that he had a leak in his metal tank. I
loaned him my butane-powered soldering
iron and solder flux to make a repair. On the
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third try he hit 191.82 mph, and his fourth
and last attempt was 192.84 mph.
Second place went to Glenn Lee with a
speed of 189.59 mph. He turned it twice in a
row. The third spot went to the New-Math
team with a speed of 186.06 mph. Bob
Ytuarte was fourth at 184.54 mph. He had
been out of flying for a few years, and it was
good to see him back at it.
The D models weighed 38-46 ounces.
In Jet, current record-holder Len
Waltemath took first place at 196.64 mph.
The second spot went to Mike Couts. On
Mike’s first flight the timers counted for
seven laps instead of six. They divided the
time by seven then multiplied that by six and
came up with a speed of 192.00 mph. When
this was brought to the event director’s
attention, he scratched that flight and had
Mike redo it. On the refly Mike turned
192.84.
Third place went to Arlyn Valentine at
191.61 mph, and Bill Capinjola finished
fourth at 190.19 mph. Bill flew a new model
and said that he was still in the tuning
process with it.
The Jets hit the scales at a range of 34.0
ounces to 43.0 ounces, including fuel.
The NASS banquet and awards ceremony
were held at Cardinal Hills Country Club.
Trophies went to Glenn Lee for High Speed,
at 98.4% of the existing record; Scott Matson
for High Point Junior at 400 points; Glenn
Lee for Open High Point at 398 points, first
place in B Speed, Formula 40, and .21 Proto,
and second place in D Speed; and Leonard
Waltemath for the Doc Davis Memorial at
196.64 mph.
The Open High Point trophy was showing
wear from traveling around the country with
the various modelers who had won it. Before
the Nats this year, Ken Barthel took it to Karl
Mouch Jewelers of Cincinnati, Ohio, to have
it refinished. Owner Jerry Mouch did a
beautiful job on it and donated his time and
materials to NASS. We thank Jerry for his
generous support of our hobby.
As in the past, Pro Blend Fuels owner
Steve O’Donnell paid for all shipping and
supplied all of the fuel used at the Speed
circles this year. NASS and all of the pilots
who used the fuel thank him for his generous
support at the Nats and at other contests
throughout the year.
NASS also thanks two people who have
made the Speed Nats happen in the past
several years. Event Director Barry Tippett
does his best to run the event and maintain
all of the equipment to ensure that it works
when needed at the contest.
The second person is Bob Taipale, who
does all of the tabulating and paperwork that
is required to run the meet. He donates his
full week at the Nats to make this happen.
The event could not take place without the
help of people such as these.
As in past years, the Muncie Boy Scout
Troop supplied several members to help with
pull-tests, line measurement, and paperwork.
NASS made a donation to the troop in
appreciation of its efforts.
Ken Barthel and I donated our time as
assistant event directors. Speed fliers who
helped with timing were Frank Garzon, Al
Jones, Charlie Legg, Warren Kurth, Al
Stegens, Bill Hughes, Bob Ytuarte, Santo
Rizzotto, Joey Mathison, Mike Couts, Steve
Matson, John Camp, Chris Montagino, and
Tom Lauerman.
A schedule of all Speed meets in the US can
be found on the NASS Web site at
www.clspeed.com. Those who are interested
in joining the organization will also find a
membership application there, or send a
letter to NASS at Box 371, Fenton MI
48430. MA