Sport class race 8 question

[planecrazy2]

Anyone know what happened to Dave Sterling in the Sport Gold? He was DNF. Wondered why?

[GRNDP51]

Re: Sport class race 8 question

Anyone know what happened to Dave Sterling in the Sport Gold? He was DNF. Wondered why?

I follow sport and sadly wasn't there Sunday or I would tell you. I was also surprised at how "slow" he was running. Farnsworth passes him like nothing and held that number 2 spot for the whole weekend. IIRC, Sterling qualified at 380+ a couple years back??

[Dudewanarace]

Re: Sport class race 8 question

Mr. Sterling knows his airplane very well and started to feel a very slight vibration. Although running fine, he suspected something was a bit off. Do be safe he called a Mayday and landed. Turned out to be a very wise move as I heard the prop bolts were, well, not where they started..

[Idaho_cowpony]

Re: Sport class race 8 question

Mr. Sterling knows his airplane very well and started to feel a very slight vibration. Although running fine, he suspected something was a bit off. Do be safe he called a Mayday and landed. Turned out to be a very wise move as I heard the prop bolts were, well, not where they started..

Wow.. good move!

I was curious to this as well. Best of luck next year.

Looking forward to your 2015 in-cockpit cams 'dude' -

- Joseph

[Race 8]

Re: Sport class race 8 question

After passing three I picked up a "vibration".
I was pretty certain it was coming from the engine.
That kind of noise will definitely get your attention.
It was almost undetectable at first, but got more noticeable.
When you're pulling that much horsepower little things
are really big things. Approaching five I decided it was time to pull the plug,
pitch up and call Mayday. Landed on 14.
After a taxing in we discovered the propeller was loose.
I really like to land with all the stuff I took off with.
Probably not much longer and I would not have.

The speeds were lower this year compared to last year because
we were down on horsepower. I also need to get the new prop airfoil
optimized.

Other than that the plane was running great.
This will give me something to do this winter.


David

[AAFO_WSagar]

Re: Sport class race 8 question

After passing three I picked up a "vibration".
I was pretty certain it was coming from the engine.
That kind of noise will definitely get your attention.
It was almost undetectable at first, but got more noticeable.
When you're pulling that much horsepower little things
are really big things. Approaching five I decided it was time to pull the plug,
pitch up and call Mayday. Landed on 14.
After a taxing in we discovered the propeller was loose.
I really like to land with all the stuff I took off with.
Probably not much longer and I would not have.

The speeds were lower this year compared to last year because
we were down on horsepower. I also need to get the new prop airfoil
optimized.

Other than that the plane was running great.
This will give me something to do this winter.


David

Thank you David for sharing here!

[GRNDP51]

Re: Sport class race 8 question

After passing three I picked up a "vibration".
I was pretty certain it was coming from the engine.
That kind of noise will definitely get your attention.
It was almost undetectable at first, but got more noticeable.
When you're pulling that much horsepower little things
are really big things. Approaching five I decided it was time to pull the plug,
pitch up and call Mayday. Landed on 14.
After a taxing in we discovered the propeller was loose.
I really like to land with all the stuff I took off with.
Probably not much longer and I would not have.

The speeds were lower this year compared to last year because
we were down on horsepower. I also need to get the new prop airfoil
optimized.

Other than that the plane was running great.
This will give me something to do this winter.


David

Awesome Mr Sterling, nice to hear the reason straight from the source. Good luck with finding the horsepower, would love to see Race 8 give some challenge to Race 39 and Blue 2 next year!!!

[planecrazy2]

Re: Sport class race 8 question

Thanks for the report David. I will let my Dad, Howard Merritt know as he was asking about you. Howard and I did not make it up there this year. He is very ill and at Kaiser hospital right now. We are glad you and race 8 are safe.