NMPRA Champs
AUTO RACING has the Daytona 500 and the Indianapolis 500, full-size air racers have the Reno Air Races-and model airplanes have the NMPRA Formula One Pylon Racing Championships. Sponsored by the National Miniature Pylon Racing Association, this annual event showcases the most beautiful and fastest Radio Control planes anywhere. One can qualify for the race in several ways: by finishing in the top 20% of one's district or in the top 10 at the AMA Nationals, by being a past championships winner, or as an officer of the NMPRA.
Radio Control: Pylon Racing
I'VE JUST returned from the NMPRA Formula One Championships. Wow, what a contest. More in a later issue. At the race I was told of a new Q-500 engine. This engine will be produced by Henry Nelson-yes, the same person who does the .15 and our new FAI and Formula One engines. The new engine will be available about the first of '91. For more information write Nelson Competition Engines, RD 2 Box 233, Ramsey Rd., Zelienople, PA 16063 (telephone 1-412/538-5282), or Dave Shadel, Performance Specialties. P.O. Box 4003, Carlsbad, CA 92008 (telephone 1-619/729-1658).
Radio Control: Pylon Racing
BEFORE we get started this month, please note the revised kit and engine list as a correction for the January 1991 issue. I had grabbed an old list that wasn't even close to being correct. Sorry, guys. I will try to keep this list updated and run it several times during the year. Since this is the building season for most of us, I thought I'd pass along an article by Duane Gall on putting in a firewall. It's from the Colorado Competition Society newsletter. Over to Duane:
Radio Control: Pylon Racing
First a special note about an old Formula One flier. The AMA Executive Council voted to present Gale F. Helms with a 1990 Technical Award. The award recognizes his innovative efforts in using and promoting the material, DMD, for use for model aircraft hinges. The modeling community has benefited greatly from his concept of creating a hinge that is strong, dependable, and simple to install. Let's back up to a race I always enjoyed attending, here as reported by Rex Knepper, the 17th annual Hobby Stop Silver Cup Quarter Midget Race, La Salle, MI., August 25 and 26, 1990. The 17th annual event, sponsored by Les Haddad's Hobby Stop and hosted by the Toledo Weak Signals and Flying Tigers clubs, was well attended. Forty-nine fliers from 13 states, Minnesota to Florida, California to New York, participated in this premier event. Two days without rain made for ideal racing followed by the Ron Haddad Memorial Trophy Dash which pitted the fastest 12 fliers in the final race of the event.
Radio Control: Pylon Racing
WOW! Our 1990 racing season is about at an end, and what a busy summer it's been. We have racing in Texas and up North. But first a handy new item. As most of you Pylon Racers know, setting a needle on just about any engine can be pretty tricky. No matter how you locate your tank, your engine will run from slightly rich at the beginning of the race to almost overlean at the end. If you set your engine too rich, you may just get moving as the race ends. If you start out too lean, you'll go like gangbusters to start, then begin to run too lean about midway through. You risk a blown plug and/or a ruined engine. I've found that a regulator helps me to control the richness of the mixture and, as a result, I can control some aspects of the race. Of course regulators have been used in Control Line Speed for years, but how do they work?
