The future of Pylon starts now
by Aaron "AJ" Seaholm [email protected]
Thanks to the dedication of Mike Langlois, Jimmy Katz, and the Old Julian Airport club, the Old Julian Airport Pylon Races have quickly become some of the most popular events in the country. Congratulations to the top finishers of the May races held at the airport in Julian, North Carolina.
Old Julian Q-500 results NAME TIME POINTS
- James Barr 1:40.55 24
- Chris Mulcahy 1:45.38 21
- Brad Clayton 1:44.70 21
Fast time—James Barr 1:40.55
Old Julian Q-40 results NAME TIME POINTS
- Dub Jett 1:04.36 23
- Tim Yousey 1:06.06 22
- Mike Helsel 1:02.97 20
Fast time—Mike Helsel 1:02.97
This club is also hosting the National Miniature Pylon Racing Association (NMPRA) Championship race in October, and early indications are that a full field of 80 contestants from around the world will attend.
Great Planes Proud Bird EF1 Continued
I am sponsored by Hobbico, which is the parent company of Great Planes. With that aside, I will enthusiastically state that the Great Planes Proud Bird is a fantastic model.
Assembly was quick and the instruction manual was full of great photos and was of exceptional quality. The flight characteristics and ground handling are superb. On the course at the recommended setup, the model is predictable, stable, and as fast as the other EF1 offerings. It flies on rails.
The only cons I can report are the plastic wing fairings and belly pan. These function properly but the color difference and strength would be better as fiberglass parts similar to the high-quality cowl and wheel pants.
You will not be disappointed with the Great Planes Proud Bird. Tip of the hat to our own Jim Allen for designing this racer and helping get it to market. Jim also provided the graphics for my new Proud Bird through his company, Fast Lane Graphics. Well done, Jim.
Third Annual Billings Bump and Run
As most readers know from previous columns, I grew up in the Billings Flying Mustangs club in Montana, so returning there now to race is special.
This year, my four-year-old son, Tagan, and I made the trip—it was a boys' weekend. On Friday, May 31, practice was washed and blown out, but the weekend weather was perfect and the race was a blast.
Longtime KC friend and racer, Ken “KVT” Van Tuyl came up from his new home in Colorado to participate, along with Duane Gall and Ken Diepenbroek. As you can see from the standings, the Colorado boys owned 424. Well done, gentlemen, and it was great to see you again, KVT.
Billings Bump and Run Q-500 results
NAME
- Ken Diepenbroek 1:42.42 11
- Duane Gall 1:31.59 10
- Ken Van Tuyl 1:29.41 9
Fast time—Ken Van Tuyl 1:29.41
Billings Bump and Run Electric Formula 1 results
NAME TIME POINTS
- A.J. Seaholm 1:15.51 24
- Leon Elbert 1:22.93 20
- Mike Cloninger 1:24.29 19
Fast time—A.J. Seaholm 1:15.51
Ed Alves was again the CD, and my father, Earl Seaholm, operated the starter position all weekend. The Helena, Montana, connections—the Cloninger and Elbert families—are also key to the success of such races. The Judgeman system they brought worked flawlessly all weekend and enhanced the quality of racing.
Congratulations to the winners of the two-day event and thank you those who made this race a reality.
The Future Starts Now
Hank Kauffmann is a longtime Pylon racer and the mastermind behind the Judgeman system which has been a quantum leap forward in executing Pylon races. He has been hard at work with a revolutionary next step in Pylon: ModelTracker.
ModelTracker is a system that will accurately track the location of a model aircraft. It can be used for racing, which should result in more races and more racers.
Here's an excerpt from Hank's blog:
"The ModelTracker system is configured as six base stations, each with a transponder, and with a mobile transponder deployed in each model being tracked. The base stations identify significant locations of the racecourse, such as the pylon locations and the position of the start/finish line. They include GPS to self-survey their own locations and the course layout.
"They incorporate a built-in charger and should be able to run all day on their internal LiFeP batteries. The starter's unit also incorporates the same modem as the Judgeman system so that it can operate the lights and number displays."
This is a major undertaking with tremendous potential benefit to our sport. I encourage everyone to visit Hank's blog and get more details on what I believe is critical technology for the future of RC Pylon Racing.
SOURCES:
NMPRA www.nmpra.org
ModelTracker www.modeltracker.blogspot.ca
Fast Lane Graphics [email protected]
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
