Radio Control: Pylon Racing
WANT to start racing? If so, where do you start? Quarter Midget and Formula One are the racing events that you hear the most about, but you would like to start out in something that is not quite so competitive and work you way up. What about Q500? You have heard a lot about this kind of racing. So, maybe this is the place for you to get started. After all, the Q500 event is the event designed for the novice. As you look into the situation in various areas of the country, you may be in for some surprises. If you live on the West Coast, you find that they are using tuned pipes and racing engines. These planes are going almost as fast as Formula Ones were going just a few years ago.
NMPRA Championships
THE NMPRA Championship Race is to Formula I Pylon Racing what the Indianapolis 500 Race is to auto racing. Pylon fliers work all year to qualify for this race, as it is by invitation only. To qualify one must finish in the top 20% of his NMPRA district, finish in the top 10 at the AMA Nationals, be a past champion, or serve as an officer of the NMPRA. Each year the race is held either on the East Coast, the Southwest, or the West Coast-usually in Florida, Texas or California. This somewhat evens out the distance a competitor has to travel each year, and it also offers kind of a home-field advantage when it comes to the flier's area.
Radio Control: Pylon Racing
IT'S WINTER. As I write this, the National Weather Report tells of heavy snows and very cold weather all over the North. For those of you who still wonder why I moved to Texas from Ohio, it was 76º here today. Eat your hearts out, gang! Let's look at the good side of it. You spend more time at home, and you have plenty of time to rebuild your fleet of racers for next season. Some things to remember when putting your planes up for the winter-I find it wise to pull the radio gear out of the plane and go over it thoroughly. If it is in need of factory service, do it now. Don't wait until spring, when everyone else sends their gear in. Also, the technicians won't be as rushed and they can do a better job.
Radio Control: Pylon Racing
WHILE WRITING the last column, I noted that the weather over most of the North was very cold. Well, it will do your hearts good to know that here in the sunny South we got ours-we also had record cold weather. So there. In the February issue I wrote that the NMPRA, which is the special interest group for Pylon Racing, has taken on the task of putting together a unified set of rules for Q500 Racing. Wait a minute before you start to jump up and down. Let's take a closer look. Will this be good or bad for Q500 Racing?
Radio Control: Pylon Racing
WHILE most of us are putting logs on the fire trying to keep warm, or shoveling snow, there are still some people racing. Every year, over the Christmas and New Years Holidays, the people in Orlando, FL put together sort of a winter Nats. Included, of course, is Pylon Racing. This offers some of us a mid-winter break. Here is a report by Dennis O'Brien on how this year's racing turned out. Racing at this year's Tangerine Races found the weather cold and windy but the racing hot and furious, as both Quarter Midget and Formula I times attest.
