RADIO CONTROL PYLON RACING
Kurt Bozarth, 7825 S. Flanders St., Centennial CO 80016; E-mail: [email protected]
USA F3D Team Support: The 2005 F3D (FAI Pylon Racing) World Championships will be held in Tours, France, August 27-September 3. The US team consists of Richard Verano and caller Robert Holik, Randy Bridge and caller Lyle Larson, and Craig Grunkemeyer and caller Tom Scott. Bruce DeChastel is the team alternate and Jim Allen is the team manager.
To obtain additional funding for the trip, a raffle of racing items was held. The winners were drawn July 13 at the AMA Nats. My jaw practically hit the ground when I saw the incredible items on the list.
Fast Lane Graphics donated a limited-production, fully composite, painted-in-the-mold Quarter 40 (Q-40) Proud Bird. The winner will have his or her racing numbers applied and will have input on colors, which will be included. The retail value of this model is $800!
Horizon Hobby donated a JR XP9309 nine-channel computerized radio system, including digital servos. This prize has a retail value of $799.
Chuck Bridge donated one of his multiple-National Championships-winning Vortex Quickie 500 (Q-500) airplanes. As with the Proud Bird, the winner will have input on the colors and have his/her racing numbers applied. The retail value of this model is $700. I'm starting to get dizzy again.
Performance Specialties (www.psspec.com) has donated a Nelson .40 Pylon Racing engine. The winner will have the choice of a Q-40 or Q-500 version. Each carries a retail value of $375. YS Performance (www.ysperformance.com) donated a YS 63FZ four-stroke engine with a retail value of $265.
Tickets were $5 each, five for $20, and 15 for $50. Winners did not need to be present. The owner of the first ticket drawn had his or her choice of prizes, and so on down the line. This means it may take a few weeks to learn which items you actually won. I hope you can stand the wait!
The id side of me told me not to tell anyone about this raffle in an attempt to win these items for myself. The sad thing is that my ego and my superego told me to do the same. Fortunately I'm married, and her voice is somewhat louder than my inner Freudian voices. The only challenge was how much to spend. Correction: the only challenge was how much I could spend. (I'm married, remember.)
You can find more information about the US Pylon team and the raffle at the National Miniature Pylon Racing Association Web site: www.nmpra.org.
Lateral Balance: There has been interesting discussion on the Web
RC Pylon Racing
Kurt Bozarth
regarding lateral balance. And no, I'm not referring to the kind Dave and Mongo are challenged with after a late night of postrace rehydration. I mean the lateral balance of a Pylon model.
Although I have an aerospace engineering degree, I have learned that it is much faster (and easier) to emulate what the winners are doing instead of trying to reinvent the wheel. Most often the winners have "been there and done that", and they have developed the best or most practical solutions.
Mike Del Ponte, designer of the ReVlutlon and producer of Q-40 champion racer Gino Del Ponte, wrote the following concept into my head several years ago: If you must create your own monster, at least start where the fast fliers left off. My point is that the following ideas are not mine, but rather what I've seen the fast pilots do.
Most would agree that the objective of laterally balancing a model is to prevent any unwanted tendencies and help make the airplane respond as predictably as possible. Any slight imbalance will rear its ugly head during the high-speed, high-G turns that we put our models through. Ballooning or diving during the turn at Pylon One is the most common unwanted tendency.
Let's assume we have convinced ourselves and anybody watching that we have successfully trimmed our Pylon racer for straight and level flight. If it's a V-tail, we have taken the time to ensure that both elevators physically move the same amount (rather than simply setting the ATV [Adjustable Travel Volume] to be the same).
(If you want to delve into extensive trimming techniques, you will find an excellent trim chart at www.nsrca.org. It's not just for Pattern airplanes and it's free.)
Assuming we have accomplished all of the preceding, what do we do when the airplane balloons or dives when cranked around Pylon One with 90° of bank?
Most racers will correct these issues with wingtip weight. Which wing needs the additional weight? One simple way to answer this question (there are many complexities which I will tactically avoid) is to view each wing half as separate objects.
Newton's first law of motion states that an object in motion prefers to stay in motion with the same speed and direction, and an object at rest prefers to stay at rest. (I use this argument with my wife, but she never buys it; I still have to get up and mow the lawn.) Some type of force is needed to change our wing's speed and direction. If one wing is heavier, it will be more resistant to change than the lighter one.
Therefore, when you roll to 90° and pull around Pylon One and the model balloons, the top (right) wing would appear to be heavier. This weightier wing wants to continue past Pylon One more than the lighter wing does. Most racers will add weight to the low (left) wing in small increments until the airplane turns in a predictable fashion.
The most popular and easiest method of adding weight is to tape coins to the bottom of the wingtip. A US quarter is approximately 8 grams and is normally a good starting point. Another method that is becoming more popular is to use golf-club lead tape. It has an adhesive on one side and is extremely thin. One inch of golf tape weighs approximately 2 grams.
If you are just starting out in Sport Quickie (AMA event 424) and have been wrestling with unwanted pitching up or down in the turns, maybe a bit of wingtip weight will help. Just make sure you put it on the right—I mean correct—wingtip.
If you want to learn about other techniques and opinions regarding lateral balance (static vs. dynamic, "bad air" defense, torque, p-factor, angular momentum, etc.), go to the www.nmpra.org and click on the discussion forum. This is a great place to learn what the big dogs are doing.
In previous columns I have presented some of the more popular and successful racing designs and manufacturers. This month I will feature Terence Palaschak of Saskatchewan, Canada, who is the designer/manufacturer of the Neme-Q — a popular and successful Q-500 model. He is a most likable fellow.
Terence started Pylon Racing in 1994 and was immediately hooked. Having built several Hobbico Vipers and Flettene Scatcats, he thought he could save a few bucks by building his own design. He had spent the previous eight years working in an auto-body shop and had developed excellent skills that allowed him to easily design and build his own racers.
Terence was right, and little did he know how successful his design would become.
He had always been a big fan of full-scale Formula One Pylon Racing, and the Nemesis was his favorite aircraft. Terence found a set of 42% Nemesis plans, shrunk them to Q-500 scale, and used the actual Nemesis airfoil in his design.
In 1995 he finished his first Q-500 design: a balsa-and-foam midwing racer he called the Neme-Q. He flew this early design to a second-place finish at the Canadian Nats in 1996.
The Neme-Q evolved in the next few years. The nose was slowly shortened, and the V-tail aspect ratio was increased to eliminate tail wagging.
It remained a midwing design until Terence transitioned to all composites. According to him, it was much easier to make a high-wing composite fuselage compared to a midwing design. This all-composite Neme-Q remained unchanged (and successful) for years.
Chip Hyde flew a Neme-Q to its first big-league win at the 2001 Winterfest and set fast time. Jim Allen took first place at the 2003 Winterfest with a Neme-Q and set fast time that weekend.
In 2003 Terence teamed up with Jim Allen and Eric Bittner to make the Neme-Q even better. 3-D CAD drawings and computer airfoil analysis were used to reduce parasitic and induced aerodynamic drag.
This new computer-generated design was built and flown successfully without the usual design-change iterations. In fact, I flew right off the board, placing second and fifth at the 2003 Nats, only days after the initial prototype test flights. Terence dubbed this new design the Neme-Q Plus.
Most recently, Gary Freeman Jr. won the 2005 Winterfest Q-500 Race in January with a Neme-Q Plus. If you would like more information about Terence and his Neme-Q Plus, go to www.flyfastcomposites.com.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
