Other things from Reno today

[Race 29]

Everyone already knows the major news from today, so all I will say about that is Blue skies and Prayers for those affected. If your so inclined, please say a Prayer for them tonight.

I'll share my other observations for today now.

Voodoo:
Flew during the first unlimited qualification session. Came down the course very fast and turned about 4 laps. The fastest lap was around 427.3 mph. Later when I talked to Stevo he said he was just "shaking the cobwebs". The team as a whole seemed very upbeat!

Rare Bear:
I didn't get any lap times on her, but she looked fast! Turned 7 or 8 laps at altitude. She sounded really good too! We might have a race on our hands!

232:
Hoot did about 3 laps, with the fastest one in the 460.1 mph range. He called a mayday on the back side of the course, and started smoking badly. He made it safely back to the runway with the motor shut down. I never found out what the problem was, or if it could be repaired. But there were a lot of concerned faces in her pits later in the day.

Precious Metal:
Race 38 didn't fly today. They're installing a new radiator that wouldn't fit last night, so today was spent machining the new radiator to make it fit. Powere runs were scheduled for either tonight or tomorrow morning.

Race 29

[comancheflyer]

Re: Other things from Reno today

Major bummer about 232 - is there a spare 3350 in the trailer?

[GRNDP51]

Re: Other things from Reno today

Major bummer about 232 - is there a spare 3350 in the trailer?

Think Rod is able to make something work if there isn't one in the trailer, another miracle on the hands but they have at least 4 days to think about what they need to do. Looks like it made a ton of metal though.

Always try to be hopeful when things happen in the beginning of the week rather than Saturday (eg. Strega canopy last year).

[ChrisMX105]

Re: Other things from Reno today

If history repeats itself 232 is parked, one of the biggest pains is flushing the cooler to get the chunks

[LoveOldPlanes]

Re: Other things from Reno today

Precious Metal finished the radiator install and got a number of ground runs in during the evening. They start the process of tweaking her into race trim with planned flights tomorrow....

[FlyKidChris]

Re: Other things from Reno today

Everyone already knows the major news from today, so all I will say about that is Blue skies and Prayers for those affected. If your so inclined, please say a Prayer for them tonight.

I'll share my other observations for today now...
Race 29

Thanks for posting the information, I genuinely appreciate it.

[Reno Box 77]

Re: Other things from Reno today

232 is out main took a powder.

[Race5]

Re: Other things from Reno today

Precious Metal finished the radiator install and got a number of ground runs in during the evening. They start the process of tweaking her into race trim with planned flights tomorrow....

PM made a few laps then quit cold. Thom landed with the props stopped and feathered. Did not see any major oil down the sides or anything though so hopefully it was minor. Could be an ignition issue maybe?

[GRNDP51]

Re: Other things from Reno today

PM made a few laps then quit cold. Thom landed with the props stopped and feathered. Did not see any major oil down the sides or anything though so hopefully it was minor. Could be an ignition issue maybe?

I heard he was running her a little over 400, couldn't be too serious if she ran 450 plus with the ferry? This is the RACE GRIFFON !!!

[flyingjibus]

Re: Other things from Reno today

Key point being that it is a different motor. What she did with the other motor is irrelevant to this incident.

[Race 29]

Re: Other things from Reno today

I had PM clocked at 401.2 mph when Thom called the mayday. He said the motor just quit. They installed a device to keep the blades from going into flat pitch when the motor dies (loss of oil pressure) and it worked perfectly! I could hear Thom breathing heavily over the radio as he has to "S" turn PM to get her on the ground. She touched down about half way down 26 and said he was going to have to ground loop it. He was able to stand on the breaks and get her slowed down enough to taxi off the runway and coast to where the Military displays are, a la Hoover! I've never seen a Mustang do that! Hat's off to Thom Richards for some great flying and a great landing!! When I left the field, they were tracking down the problem. Everything points to it being a fuel delivery issue, and if they could fix it, planned to do some motor runs tonight. I can tell you that before the mayday, the motor sounded GOOD and not taxed at all!! I overheard members of the crew talking, and if they can fix the problem they had "1000 more horsepower to play with"! Let's all cross out fingers and send some good mojo to this team! They're really working on a shoestring budget, and have tried some really inovative ideas to make her a front runner. And they're all great with their fans!!

In other news:

Rare Bear qualified in the morning session. I had her clocked with my iPhone app at 471.8 mph.

Strega was qualified at 380.9 mph, but I really think Tiger was just getting used to the course again. You never know what wiley Tiger is up to. That's one of the things I love about this team! There's one more day to qualify, and we all know racers love to qualify a second time.

Voodoo's speed was in the 480.5 mph range when Steve-o called for the clock. They're sitting on top right now with the Bear right behind them. Everything seems to be working perfectly for Team Voodoo right now.

Czech Mate qualified twice. Once in the morning in the 414.2 mph range, and again in the afternoon in the 456.0 range. That R-2800 sounded wicked!!

La Patrona (the tigercat) qualified in the 357.4 mph range with Curt Brown at the controls.

Dreadnaught qualified with the smaller stock tail in the 426.6 mph range. She sounded really good and didn't sound like she was even trying!

Argonaught qualified in the 371.3 mph range. I'll try to get official times tomorrow.

Sparky turned the course with laps in the 304.3 mph range, but had her propellor off for the rest of the day after that. Let's all hope it's just a minor issue for this fan favorite!

More tomorrow!
Race 29

[RAD2LTR]

Re: Other things from Reno today

I really hope PM can get things sorted out and qualify. Those guys have done so much to that bird, and so far every year they have been plagued with bad luck. If they can get some luck to go their way, they are going to turn a lot of heads, and might even do something that hasn't happened since the '70s. Many of those guys have been racing for a long time, and they know what it takes to win. They believe they have a winner, they just need some good luck to make it happen.

Will

[Race5]

Re: Other things from Reno today

I had PM clocked at 401.2 mph when Thom called the mayday. He said the motor just quit. They installed a device to keep the blades from going into flat pitch when the motor dies (loss of oil pressure) and it worked perfectly! I could hear Thom breathing heavily over the radio as he has to "S" turn PM to get her on the ground. She touched down about half way down 26 and said he was going to have to ground loop it. He was able to stand on the breaks and get her slowed down enough to taxi off the runway and coast to where the Military displays are, a la Hoover! I've never seen a Mustang do that! Hat's off to Thom Richards for some great flying and a great landing!! When I left the field, they were tracking down the problem. Everything points to it being a fuel delivery issue, and if they could fix it, planned to do some motor runs tonight. I can tell you that before the mayday, the motor sounded GOOD and not taxed at all!! I overheard members of the crew talking, and if they can fix the problem they had "1000 more horsepower to play with"! Let's all cross out fingers and send some good mojo to this team! They're really working on a shoestring budget, and have tried some really inovative ideas to make her a front runner. And they're all great with their fans!!

In other news:

Rare Bear qualified in the morning session. I had her clocked with my iPhone app at 471.8 mph.

Strega was qualified at 380.9 mph, but I really think Tiger was just getting used to the course again. You never know what wiley Tiger is up to. That's one of the things I love about this team! There's one more day to qualify, and we all know racers love to qualify a second time.

Voodoo's speed was in the 480.5 mph range when Steve-o called for the clock. They're sitting on top right now with the Bear right behind them. Everything seems to be working perfectly for Team Voodoo right now.

Czech Mate qualified twice. Once in the morning in the 414.2 mph range, and again in the afternoon in the 456.0 range. That R-2800 sounded wicked!!

La Patrona (the tigercat) qualified in the 357.4 mph range with Curt Brown at the controls.

Dreadnaught qualified with the smaller stock tail in the 426.6 mph range. She sounded really good and didn't sound like she was even trying!

Argonaught qualified in the 371.3 mph range. I'll try to get official times tomorrow.

Sparky turned the course with laps in the 304.3 mph range, but had her propellor off for the rest of the day after that. Let's all hope it's just a minor issue for this fan favorite!

More tomorrow!
Race 29

Stewart Dawson was flying Patrona, not Curt.
Sparky had a leaky prop seal. Should be fixed today.