Unleashed 2013 Video

[Dudewanarace]

Finally finished editing this years races. I included some of the development photos as well, just to show there is more to racing than wiggling the stick. Later I'll go back and edit a complete, un-cut race with all the cockpit audio like I did last year.

Enjoy!

[Idaho_cowpony]

Re: Unleashed 2013 Video

Excellent video as always! I particularly enjoy the radio communication. Well done! I didn't realize there were that many modifications this year! Extraordinary! What types of benefits to you experience as a result from each?

- Joseph

[Dudewanarace]

Re: Unleashed 2013 Video

Thanks!

Well, some of the mods were done the year before, and some this year. I packed some of the more major ones in to the video as many people have no idea what all had been done.

The plenum, exhaust, cowl, and spinner were last year. This year was the fuselage mod, that was a big one. And some other small stuff that didn't make the video.

So, to sum it up shortly:
The diffusers and plenum reduce the overall cooling drag. In this case, I'm cooling 400 cubic inches, both cylinder head and oil, at 3,000 rpm, on less than 20 square inches of inlet area. And it works in all flight parameters, like an extended high power climb. I use the airplane outside of racing also..

I had a 4 into 1 exhaust, but it was physically huge. Good power, but huge. So I switched to the 4 individual pipes (next best for power) and I could reduce the center of the cowling by like 8 inches. So that was leading up to the new cowl project.

The cowl also was driven by the 2.25" prop extension I added. This allowed a more forward C.G. and a more pointy cowl. At the same time I changed the yaw angle of the engine, so again, this all led to the current cowl design.

The old spinner/bulkhead had to go. That damn thing, the time I had each year fixing more bulkheads makes me sick. Like this pic:
Old Bulkhead
So I said screw it, making my own. It ended up being a huge project. Spinners are hard.. But, it is all carbon, no visible screws, and has lasted 2 years so far at Reno with no issues at all. So I think I got that right. lol

The fuselage mod was just an attempt to reduce drag around the cockpit. It worked, but not as well as I would have thought. I did get a speed gain at cruise power, but I didn't see it on top end. That I think is just the limiting factor of my propeller. It is so far out of its envelope that it is the weak link now. Just won't pull and faster. I also changed the airfoil of the flaps this year. That reduced the camber of the wing and really seemed to help when the plane is G'd up. It would only slow about 3 mph under 2 G's on the course. So that was cool. But man, tons of work also. Now that the paint is screwed, I figured I might as well try everything I ever wanted. Going to cut the horizontal off next and try a different angle of incidence. When I get motivated and it thaws out.

If you want to read more about each, check out my website page called "Projects"
http://www.n54sg.com/projects/

Tom