Sport Class Impounding

[Lowell]

The races are over and the trophies are distributed. Can someone now give the story of what the impounding was all about in the Sport Class Saturday?

this was the strangest news we heard (very little about) last weekend in visits to the message boards.

[W J Pearce]

Re: Sport Class Impounding

Sorry but I don't know. All I know is that all the Sport Class Gold aircraft were required to stay in the Era hangar from the end of the race on Saturday, to the start of the race on Sunday. In addition, they all had red "Evidence" tape placed over all the fuel caps. One could guess that they (RARA/Sport class) did this to stop anyone from using any fuel additives, which is against the Sport class rules. Only fuel that is available to everyone on the flightline can be used.

Also, having all the racers in the same place I guess would make it harder for a team to inject the mystery additive via a vent line. I do not know how many (if any) racers use ADI or if they (RARA/Sport Class) tested that fluid. I would think that if you wanted to add something to the fuel, you could add it to the ADI just as easily. That would work right?

In the end, although odd, it was not a big deal and I don't think anyone got too worked up over it. All the sport racers except one are normally kept in the Era hangar. The one that is not is Blue Thunder and we just moved some tools and other stuff down there via a forklift. It was more confusing that it was an inconvenience.... although it did slow the t-shirt sales.

I honestly don't think any of the sport class racers do anything outside of the rules. They are a great group of people.

Bill

[Sky Critter]

Re: Sport Class Impounding

My understanding is that the impounding is normal....similar to NASCAR's tech inspection. Just keeping things honest. I believe some of the other classes do similar inspections after the race...except the unlimiteds of course.

[Unregistered]

Re: Sport Class Impounding

From what I heard, there were "suggestions" made that Darryl Greenamyer had too much of a performance gain this year over previous years and that he was probably using an "unapproved" additive to get that improved performance.

I do know that his crew disconnected the built in oxygen system and put in a temporary oxygen bottle to satisfy the complaint.

It was typical sour grapes. Darryl won ,not because of skullduggery, but because his Legacy outperformed everyone else. The move he put on the Thunder Mustang on Friday should leave no doubt in anyones mind that Darryl's Legacy has reserves not yet used

[flyingjibus]

Re: Sport Class Impounding

soory that was me, Darn work computers....

[W J Pearce]

Re: Sport Class Impounding

To me it is kind of funny. In 2002 Blue Thunder was impounded alone and John and crew were ordered to take off the cowling. The officials were looking for NOS. After a while of searching and demanding to know the location, the very talented (and a genius) Brian Jee with AAR said something to the effect of "Look, I helped build this plane. There are so many places to hide a NOS bottle you would never even think to look. But the simple fact remains that we need to get the NOS to the engine via the induction. So why don't you look for some tubes hooked up there. And when you finally come to the conclusion that there aren't any let us know. We have work to do and you are wasting our time."

Shortly after the plane was released. Blue Thunder has never had any NOS, or anything else that break the rules of the Sport Class.

Greenamyer is a smart guy. He has been around long enough to know who to go to to get the most power out of his plane, while keeping within the rules.

I think witch hunts are silly (unless it involved looking for Strega). Besides, there is no reason to cheat when you can crush the competition legally.

Bill