Czech Mate made it'd first flight with the new wing and tail!
It will be racing at Reno
It will be racing at Reno
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Re: Czech Mate Flies!!! Exclusive Coverage!!!
a.k.a.~ "Baby Shockwave"
DBD
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Re: Czech Mate Flies!!! Exclusive Coverage!!!
Needs more pusher propComment
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Re: Czech Mate Flies!!! Exclusive Coverage!!!
Some info on Czech Mate from a Facebook page:
Race 86 "Czech Mate": The "Giant Killer" and world's fastest Yakovlev Yak 11.
Description
Race 86, "Czech Mate", the brainchild of the late Bob Yancey and the "baby" of John and Marcia Moore, is an extremely modified Russian Yakovlev Yak-11 "Moose" trainer that has been racing at the Reno National Championship Air Races since the 1980's. The basic Yak-11 had a 700 horsepower Shvetsov Ash-21 7-cylinder radial engine, a 2-seat trainer's cockpit and canopy, and a top spead in a straight line of 289 mph. While those performance stats aren't exactly what would be associated with an Unlimited Class Gold racer, the Yak was based on the small and light-bodied Yak-3U, possibly the finest and highest performing Russian fighter of WWII, and it was designed to withstand 15.4 G's, numbers normally associated with modern jet fighters. In short, the basic airframe is an Unlimited hot-rodder's dream: small, short-winged, equipped with very wide landing gear, based on a very fast and compact piston-engined fighter, and can withstand more G-force than most front-line fighter jets.
Bob Yancey replaced the 700-horse 7-cylinder radial with the engine from his lightly modified Chance-Vaught F4U-4 Corsair: the Pratt & Whitney R-2800 CB-3 18-cylinder radial engine putting out over 2,500 horsepower. He also replaced the trainer canopy with a turtledecked Formula 1 racer canopy. Two Grumman S-2 oil coolers were installed behind the pilot seat with an NACA air duct on each side of the fuselage feeding the coolers. Later modifications include the removal of the NACA ducts and the installation of a single rectangular duct on the right side, a taller tail to handle the engine's power and improve stability issues created by the engine's added weight.
A very important modification was the installation of a -44 nose case to prevent supersonic prop tip speeds from the cut-down Skyraider propeller. Because of the short landing gear, the prop had to be shortened to prevent it turning into a very expensive weed-eater on take off. The nose case installation allowed a still-shortened but somewhat longer prop, and it necessitates 3-point take-offs and landings. The nose case has a reduction ratio of .350:1...this is even lower than the .355:1 ratio on the EA-2 nose cases used for modified racers sporting the Wright R-3350 engine. The case was built specifically for the North American AJ (A-2) Savage naval patrol bomber built in the 1950's, which makes it rare, like the EA-2 case.
Here are some early articles on Race 86's history:
"3,000 Horsepower And One Flaming Yak!":
"Czeching In With Sherman Smoot":
"A Look Back At A Colorful Yak":
Czech Mate gets faster each year, always being seen as the underdog that could move up a spot when one of the fastest Unlimited Gold racers breaks, which it has done for many years, giving long time pilot Sherman Smoot several podium finishes. In 2009, things changed...
The aircraft arrived at Reno with a new modification: reduction in the cowl-spinner gap from 6 inches to 1.5 inches, similar to "Rare Bear", "September Fury", "September Pops", "Fury", "Riff Raff", "Spirit of Texas", "Sea Hawk", "Conch Fury", and others. This drastically reduced the racer's frontal area and, in turn, its drag at speed. This resulted in the racer called out by Unlimited announcer Steve "Wild Thing" Stavrakakis as "The Giant Killer" becoming a giant itself, giving perennial champion "Strega" all it wanted in heat racing. A cut pylon put a damper on that, but it still finshed in 3rd Place in the 2009 Gold Final behind "Strega" and "Rare Bear".
2010 marked Race 86's absence from racing. Known photographer Don 'Bucky' Dawson took pictures in the '09 race that revealed buckling in the left wing. In the interest of safety, "Czech Mate" was not raced in 2010. The team has been hard at work repairing and rebuilding the wing, as well as possibly implementing a boil-off cooling system that would eliminate the wing root intakes and fuselage intake for another reduction in drag. Here's to hoping that the Reno National Championship Air Races will continue, and here's to hoping that "Czech Mate", the Gold race's smallest and lightest racer, will be back in 2012 to re-establish itself as an underdog no more, but as a full-fledged contender for the Unlimited Gold Championship.
UPDATE: "Czech Mate" is slated to return for Reno 2012 with a new NASA-grade supercritical airfoil for its wing.
DISCLAIMER: This is not an official page by the racing team. I could not find any pages dedicated to this aircraft, and therefore made my own as a fan.
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Re: Czech Mate Flies!!! Exclusive Coverage!!!
I read the thread title and I was soooooo happy....................
KevinComment
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Re: Czech Mate Flies!!! Exclusive Coverage!!!
What an awesome piece of machinery the hot rodded Yak is.
In short, the basic airframe is an Unlimited hot-rodder's dream: small, short-winged, equipped with very wide landing gear, based on a very fast and compact piston-engined fighter, and can withstand more G-force than most front-line fighter jets.
Bob Yancey replaced the 700-horse 7-cylinder radial with the engine from his lightly modified Chance-Vaught F4U-4 Corsair: the Pratt & Whitney R-2800 CB-3 18-cylinder radial engine putting out over 2,500 horsepower.Comment
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Re: Czech Mate Flies!!! Exclusive Coverage!!!
Victor...
Would love to get a print of this, with a little extra (if that's possible...). Could some afterburner flames be added ?
BobComment
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Re: Czech Mate Flies!!! Exclusive Coverage!!!
Man that really got my hopes up for a minute...Comment
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Re: Czech Mate Flies!!! Exclusive Coverage!!!
Looks like there is a naked F-86 somewhere.
Comment
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Re: Czech Mate Flies!!! Exclusive Coverage!!!
1. Does Czech Mate have it's own website?
2. Do you have more photos/video of the refit that we can see?
3. Will the owner, pilot, mechanics please understand that as Air Race Fans, we are a reasonable, but obsessed group. It is unreasonable to show us a picture of a racing airplane, then just walk away and disappear.
We want data, interviews, pictures, videos...and will not sleep well until we get what we need. We are like drug addicts, but instead of drugs, our addiction is to your racing airplanes. All we ask is that you give us what we need, to pacify our addiction, to sedate us back to sleep.
Last edited by SkyvanDelta; 08-01-2012, 07:49 PM.Comment
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Re: Czech Mate Flies!!! Exclusive Coverage!!!
Meet David
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Re: Czech Mate Flies!!! Exclusive Coverage!!!
Wow! it looks really cool !
Any idea how fast?
When will it be in Reno?
Can I get my picture by it?
Wait a minute....................Comment
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Re: Czech Mate Flies!!! Exclusive Coverage!!!
Here's a hint. They are now sponsored by Photoshop....Originally posted by SkyvanDelta View Post1. Does Czech Mate have it's own website?
2. Do you have more photos/video of the refit that we can see?
3. Will the owner, pilot, mechanics please understand that as Air Race Fans, we are a reasonable, but obsessed group. It is unreasonable to show us a picture of a racing airplane, then just walk away and disappear.
We want data, interviews, pictures, videos...and will not sleep well until we get what we need. We are like drug addicts, but instead of drugs, our addiction is to your racing airplanes. All we ask is that you give us what we need, to pacify our addiction, to sedate us back to sleep.Comment
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Re: Czech Mate Flies!!! Exclusive Coverage!!!
Arrrguh....
We're a pretty high strung bunch here, we live eat and breath Air Racing and the thought of and wish for something new and inspirational might have some of us missing Victor's very big tongue sticking firmly in his cheek...
Let this serve as a tribute to Victor's Alien skills.... this is a pretty good example of what the mother ship can create on the... what did they call it in the Star Trek, next adventures or whatever it was.. the "holodeck" or something like that??
So for now, from what I know of my alien friend's skills, I'm calling this a dream.....
But one never knows about dreams now do they.....
Wayne Sagar
"Pusher of Electrons"Comment
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Re: Czech Mate Flies!!! Exclusive Coverage!!!
It's fake? I had high hopes of a new high strung racer. Now I'm suffering from...choke, depression. My dreams...gasp, shattered. My life...sob, in pieces.
Who else was mentally tormented by this? Where do I file my lawsuit? We can get together and do a Class Action Lawsuit. Let's all meet in front of Victors house with our torches and pitchforks.
Last edited by SkyvanDelta; 08-01-2012, 10:43 PM.Comment
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