Radio Control Pylon Racing -- 2004/01
AND THEN THERE WERE TWO: Just in time for holiday
shopping, I’m happy to announce that there is a reasonably priced
Almost Ready-to-Fly (ARF) sport model on the market that meets
the AMA Quickie 500 racing-rule formula. The new Great Planes
Viper 500 ARF joins Lanier’s Predator in offering up-and-coming
pilots a chance to get the feel of racing—or even just racing
airplanes—at minimal cost.
Radio Control Pylon Racing - 2004/01
THE NATIONALS! Aspiring competitors speak of this annual
contest in hushed, reverent tones, the way journeymen baseball
players in the movie Bull Durham spoke of “The Show”—the
major leagues. Seasoned pilots try to affect an offhand attitude,
as though the Nationals, or Nats, was just another well-publicized
local meet. They drop the name casually, the way one might say
“As I was telling Steve Spielberg at lunch just the other day ... ”
RADIO CONTROL PYLON RACING - 2003/01
F3d World chAmPion—that has a nice sound to it. The
best three pilots and mechanics the US had to offer went to
Bundaberg, Australia—a town of 20,000 people, three hours north
of Brisbane—which is locally known as the town where the Great
Barrier Reef begins.
We all departed from Los Angeles International Airport for the
trip overseas. The group consisted of pilots Stu McAfee (Los
Angeles CA), Bob Smith (Atascadera CA), and I (Battle Ground
WA), and mechanics/callers Bruce de Chastel, Lyle Larson, and
Bruce Thompson, with team manager Barry Leavengood.
Upon arriving in Bundaberg, we settled in for a week of
practice and competition. The flying field was magnificent, with a
clearing one-third of a mile in diameter which was ringed with
trees. The pits were in the tree lining.
RADIO CONTROL PYLON RACING - 2001/05
senioR RecoRD: No, it’s not the
latest release from Tony Bennett; it’s a
national record in Quickie 500 (event
no. 428) by an up-and-coming young
pilot.
We hear so much about how there’s
not enough new blood coming into the
racing community, it’s nice to know that
somewhere there are young people
competing and doing well. In this case,
“somewhere” is Silver Spring,
Maryland.
Following is quoted material from the
letter Dan Myer, the contest director of
the event at which the record was set,
sent to AMA Headquarters.
RADIO CONTROL PYLON RACING - 2001/04
cybeR-Flying ReviSiTed: I received some good
feedback on the January 2000 column feature about
practicing racing flight using the Great Planes flight
simulator.
Alert reader Jim Skolmowski of Toledo, Ohio writes:
“Thanks for the advice on setting up a racing machine. My
sons and I have been cyber-flying to get ready for next year’s
round of club contests. We do the SuperTigre .40 engine thing
at Toledo Weak Signals.”
Jim reminded me that Great Planes offers an “Add-Ons”
CD-ROM with additional airplanes and fields to try. I
purposely didn’t mention that, because the pylon course
included was less than satisfactory.
However, Jim managed to get around the problems. I’ll turn
the description over to him.
