RC Pylon Racing
Duane Gall, 1267 S. Beeler Ct., Denver CO 80231; E-mail: [email protected]
JR Gold Cup
We're in the middle of the third season of premier Quarter 40 (Q-40) racing under the auspices of JR Remote Control. The first contest of the season took place in February in sunny Phoenix AZ, with 46 entries.
For those not familiar with the JR Gold Cup series, it was the brainchild of former National Miniature Pylon Racing Association (NMPRA) president Vern Smith.
Vern had heard complaints from fellow pilots about the spotty "quality control" at some contests—such as the lack of a bathroom at the field or not enough workers to officiate—and decided it would be worth some NMPRA dues money to ensure that at least a few major contests nationwide would warrant the equivalent of a Michelin three-star rating.
This, in turn, would draw a respectable number of entrants willing to make a long trip and spend significant bucks in the local community.
To offer these benefits, there would need to be commitments made on both sides. The local club and local sponsors would commit to providing a truly national-class facility and good help.
In return, the NMPRA and national sponsors would commit to making each contest financially worthwhile to the club. This would involve guaranteeing a certain number of entries (or at least a certain amount of entry-fee money), rather than the usual "bet on the come" situation.
With generous donations from JR Remote Control and PowerMaster fuels, the Gold Cup series was born. Five contests, spread across the calendar and the map, made up the first full schedule for 1999.
These first Gold Cup races consisted of major, traditional contests, such as the annual February meet in Phoenix, Arizona; the May "spring opener" held in Bowie, Maryland; and the Tangerine meet in Orlando, Florida in December.
In time, other national sponsors were added and other clubs applied for spots on the schedule. Now the official list of sponsors also includes Horizon Hobby Distributors and our friendly competitors at Model Airplane News.
Full details about the series and the perks available to hosting clubs can be located at www.nmpra.net, under "JR Gold Cup."
The 2001 JR Gold Cup schedule:
- February 24-25, Phoenix AZ
- April 21-22, Las Vegas NV
- May 19-20, Bowie MD
- August 25-26, Toledo OH
- October 20-21, Ft. Lauderdale FL
These contests are well worth attending, whether you compete or just watch and mingle. (There's no charge for spectators.)
It's similar to attending the Indianapolis 500; even if you're familiar with car racing and hang out at the local track each week, there's nothing like seeing how the big boys do it. The professionalism soaks into your pores, and you go home enriched by the experience.
Thanks to Drew Telford for a full race report. The following contains graphic descriptions of crashes, which may be too intense for some readers. This contest had an abnormally high attrition rate.
Nevertheless, such things do happen. Omitting all mention of crashes would be just as false and dishonest as the typical local television news broadcast of model-aircraft activity, which usually consists of nothing but crashes, bloopers, and blunders. But I digress.
Back to you, Drew!
"The JR Gold Cup Q-40 series for 2001 started off with a bang in Phoenix, thanks to a great effort by the Speedworld R/C Flyers. Stan Douglas, Jim Allen, and their Speedworld crew did an outstanding job. A big thank you to you all, and also to our national sponsors, Horizon Hobbies and PowerMaster fuels. Without their support, our JR Gold Cup series would not exist.
"The field of 46 pilots represented much of the continental, with our frozen pals from Canada thawing out during the long drive south and our pals from Mexico coming northward.
"Even Bruce DeChastel of Australia joined in, although commuting from Washington state was easier than the overseas jaunt would have been. Bruce has a new Q-40 El Bandito design which he hoped to campaign, but unfortunately his bird suffered a broken wing prior to the contest.
"The racing began in earnest, as many folks already had a good two days of practice in honing their skills and fiddling with propellers. Many of the regulars were going fast as usual, and some unsuspected sleepers stood up and kicked some butt!
"Most notable was Gino Del Ponte of Colorado, who flew a Lyle Larson Dago Red in spectacular fashion doing many 1:07s, then 1:06s, and several 1:05s, winding up in 1st place and making his dad Mike very happy by not crashing any airplanes. (They lost four Q-500s in January.)
"Way to go, Gino! Had you not had that zero, you would have been well up in the top 10! Watch for him in Las Vegas, and be afraid—be very afraid!
"Team Ohio escaped the snow, and Tom Scott and Craig Grunkemeyer did their normal impressive performance, giving Randy Bridge and Stu McAfee some trouble on their home turf. After five rounds on Saturday, three of the above were clean in a tie for first, and Stu was only one point down in the fourth.
"Now, if you've ever raced the course in Phoenix and fly in the groove around Pylons 2 and 3 just above the poles, you have probably experienced a very strange phenomenon. I believe the field or the runway must be creating a permanent, inverted thermal (i.e., sinking air) that lingers right between the poles.
"Many times you'll go through the turn, not even near any other airplanes, and get a wing wobble that feels just like wake turbulence. Other times it seems like the 'gravity machine' just received a power surge, sending your airplane in a knife-edge into the hardened desert floor going around Pylon 3.
"This invisible black hole force grabbed Lyle's Dago Red and Gary Schmidt's Miss Ashley II in Round Two, and probably played a role in the demise of both Dub Jett's Silverliner and Darrol Cady's Miss Ashley II on Saturday. Call it bad air or whatever, the trash can started to fill.
"Many of the Sun City retirees started showing up to watch the races midmorning Saturday (friends of many of the Speedworld club members who live there), so this gave the NASCAR fans among them some familiar excitement.
"Add to this a few midairs, and more than a few DQs began to appear on the scoreboard—many of them associated with big names whose regular diets doesn't usually include goose eggs.
"Chuck Anderson's beautiful Wildcat finished third in the B-main.
Phoenix JR Gold Cup results
- Tom Scott
- Randy Bridge
- Stu McAfee
- Craig Grunkemeyer
- Drew Telford
- Darrol Cady
- Mike Helsel
- Jim Allen
- Henry Bartle
- Dub Jett
- Gino Del Ponte
- Tim Lime
- Lyle Larson
- Roy Andrassy
- Harold Sattler
- Chuck Anderson
- Fred Burgdorf
- Norm Johnson
- Dave Hill
- Bob Brogdon
- Gary Long
- Jerry Small
- Pat Galarneault
- Dave Doyle
- Dave Latsha
- Jim Lime
- Jeryl Smith
- Bill Johanson
- Scott McAfee
- Jerry Ebert
- John Gerhart
- Jeff Carpenter
- Phil Zuidema
- Pete Reed
- Tony Pacini
- Dan Kane
- Barry Leavengood
- Bruce Coffey
- Ray Blake
- Travis Flynn
- Rich Beers
- Brian Buas
- Dave Martinelli
- Jaime De La Vega
- Gary Schmidt
- Jake Jacobson
- Mike Tallman
The Wizard of ID
Sideline judging of races—which is now required, so the racecourse workers stay out of harm's way without the need for cumbersome barrier cages—has turned out to be a "bad news, good news" phenomenon.
The bad news is (or was) that subtle differences in color schemes and racing numbers on the small, fast-moving objects are hard to discern from 300 feet away.
However, the good news is that strategic placement of big splashes of color are easy to spot, and they enable the officials to track a selected airplane all the way around the course. This can also actually speed up the running of the race, by eliminating one time-consuming step in the process. Here's how it works.
The contestants have already been divided into four frequency groups, or columns, as a part of the "matrix" process diagrammed on pages 106-107 of the 1999-2001 AMA rule book, Competition Regulations. Call these groups Line 1, Line 2, Line 3, and Line 4.
After the matrix is set up, a fluorescent-yellow patch will be applied to the left wingtip of each aircraft in Line 1. The patch wraps around the leading edge, so it will stay on and will be visible on the top and the bottom.
Each model in Line 2 receives a similar patch, but it goes on the right wingtip instead of the left.
Each aircraft in Line 3 is given a pink patch on the left wingtip. Each airplane in Line 4 gets a pink patch on the right wingtip.
As the four-airplane heats and their pilots come to the starting line, there is guaranteed to be only one from each line of the matrix. The officials don't need to see them one by one, and assign each one a color or lane for identification during the heat using the standard "aircraft ID" procedure.
Instead, each timer, lap counter, and cut judge knows that he/she will be watching for the "Low Yellow," "High Yellow," "Low Pink," or "High Pink" aircraft.
Since the aircraft are in a more or less constant bank to the left, a band on the left wingtip will look "low" as the airplane goes around the pylons, and a band on the right wingtip will look "high."
This provides positive identification regardless of the aircraft's basic color scheme and regardless of whether two otherwise identical aircraft are in the heat.
It also allows for clearer communication via walkie-talkies or headsets during the pandemonium of a close heat. A phrase such as "Cut on Low Pink" is much easier to hear and understand than "Cut on Greenwhitesunburst" or "Cut on Redblacktail."
Kudos to Jerry Small for coming up with this idea. Refinements are still being worked out. I'll have more about it in a future column.
Until then, keep the shiny side "high"! MA
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
