THE FUTURE IS/OF UNLIMITED? WHAT'S IT LOOK LIKE? THOUGHTS?

[GRNDP51]

Re: THE FUTURE IS/OF UNLIMITED? WHAT'S IT LOOK LIKE? THOUGHTS?

Do I think the rules should be given some leeway to allow for more experimental designs such as Tsunami, Shockwave, and The Cornell racer? Absolutely. But they have to retain a reciprocating engine. Would I mind seeing the minimum qualifying speed lowered so T28s can race? Nope, it would make the bronze race a pretty good battle, like a T6 race.


There were a lot of years where the top speed was less than 470 mph. Going 500 mph doesn't make the race, its amazing to see, but it doesn't usually make for that great of racing because its usually two planes WAY off the front and everyone else trying to stay out of the way. If there are 5 or 6 planes all going hard at 450, that is a good race to me.

Will

Was going to reply to Thomas, but I'm pretty sure unless it reverted back to normal minimum qual speed, when TFL entered they brought it down to 275 or 250? 250 can surely support a T-28, 275 might take a little modification, but far from impossible.

I think the idea of "500 mph" is more or less that even if Strega/Voodoo/Bear finish the race at 475 average, they were going over 500 at one point more than likely. But given that mentality, Dreadnought is a 460 mph plane too I have no problems with Dreadnought having to be pushed to what we know it can do, that is good racing to me. LASTLY, if there was ever the chance for ONE Super Unlimited to come back by itself, I would hope a plane with speeds like Czech Mate would be present to keep them honest because Strega is only Strega if the MP is up there. That's why I've enjoyed watching and listening to Miss A. Reno is still the only place to hear a non-stock Merlin

[GRNDP51]

Re: THE FUTURE IS/OF UNLIMITED? WHAT'S IT LOOK LIKE? THOUGHTS?

At the end of the day, the romance and adventure of flying has diminished for the general public, the magic and mystery of flight has been quantified and packaged within your Boeing product experience. Can live air racing somehow draw a fan base to it so we can sustain air racing as the current fan base ages and fly West? Can air racing be “mainstreamed” so it can somehow be monetized? Are the Super Sport class airframes the real future of unlimited air racing? Should turbine powerplants be allowed for reliability and safety factors? And what do we fans want out of air racing now? Our current racecourses are already maxed out as far as the max speeds as evidenced by the Jet class, so I think we need to witness the competitive evolution of the super sport class to the 500mph mark. That would be fun. And then there is the not so distant future, what will the NCAR be like in 2050? Electric powerplants and the end of the competitive I.C. engine? My bet is there will not be any WWII warbirds bending the pylons at the 2050 NCAR.

One thing I haven't really mentioned in this thread is gaining more interest in Air Racing (all classes) and how to do that.

I've said it in another thread and thanks to young Thomas for bringing it up, a Netflix show rather than NBC sports would be incredible. I am a loose motorsport fan, but die hard air race fan. Because of the F1's Drive to Survive on Netflix, I am now an F1 fan and I never thought I would be interested in something that is becoming more and more restricted every year, but for some reason I am.

It would be so easy to make an entertaining show. There are so many personalities and stories that take place over a 10-day period that could fill up hours on top of hours of Netflix content. Episode 1: PRS. Episode 2: Arrivals. Episode 3: Meet the players. Episode 4 & 5: Qualifying... etc. Now I have no idea the costs of this, but in my eyes this would be the only way to get people interested in Reno. The general population and younger generation can't learn how bad ass Reno is if they don't see anything about it

I'm 24, everyone I know has a Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, HBO account. That's just how it is and RARA needs to get into the future.

[morss]

Re: THE FUTURE IS/OF UNLIMITED? WHAT'S IT LOOK LIKE? THOUGHTS?

[QUOTE=GRNDP51;140888]Was going to reply to Thomas, but I'm pretty sure unless it reverted back to normal minimum qual speed, when TFL entered they brought it down to 275 or 250? 250 can surely support a T-28, 275 might take a little modification, but far from impossible.

i remember racing a stock t28 an qualed over 300
dave

[GRNDP51]

Re: THE FUTURE IS/OF UNLIMITED? WHAT'S IT LOOK LIKE? THOUGHTS?

[QUOTE=morss;140892]

Was going to reply to Thomas, but I'm pretty sure unless it reverted back to normal minimum qual speed, when TFL entered they brought it down to 275 or 250? 250 can surely support a T-28, 275 might take a little modification, but far from impossible.

i remember racing a stock t28 an qualed over 300
dave

Hey Dave, I thought "The Bear" was pretty well modified for a T-28 to get it to go that fast? IIRC Brad Haskin mentioned it before.

[Fence Sence]

Re: THE FUTURE IS/OF UNLIMITED? WHAT'S IT LOOK LIKE? THOUGHTS?

I understand the generation gap. You have to keep in mind the development of cell phones/electronic devices have reshaped modern society as well as captured the interest in of every man, woman, and child beyond what anyone ever imagined. The times of mechanical beasts being the coolest thing in the world have been replaced by touch screens and the internet. However, now that modern electronics have just become part of everyone’s world, the fascination of them is tapering off and interest in mechanical things has been picking back up. The Sport class is the perfect example. It’s brought in so much new blood to the sport. IMO, more so than any class in the last couple decades. The Jets are on that list too but, the Sports are more of a bridge from the past to the future. They are accessible to pilots and owners that might not have a spare 3million to just to purchase a stock bronze racer, let alone race it. Modern designs, materials, and methods are now more interesting to the next generation and competitive nature will always exist. That’s just human dna. Now that a generation or two are not quite so fascinated by the simple existence of tiny screens, they are turning to the next things/returning to the old things to make everything better. It has been an unprecedented lull in “new” Unlimiteds but with several new projects currently underway, I’m hoping we are on the precipice of a new era. If they do make it to Reno by 2023, I’d like to think the old timers would like to come out and show the “kids” how it’s done. Those kids will love to show the old timers just how old they are.

[Guest]

Re: THE FUTURE IS/OF UNLIMITED? WHAT'S IT LOOK LIKE? THOUGHTS?

I understand the generation gap. You have to keep in mind the development of cell phones/electronic devices have reshaped modern society as well as captured the interest in of every man, woman, and child beyond what anyone ever imagined. The times of mechanical beasts being the coolest thing in the world have been replaced by touch screens and the internet. However, now that modern electronics have just become part of everyone’s world, the fascination of them is tapering off and interest in mechanical things has been picking back up. The Sport class is the perfect example. It’s brought in so much new blood to the sport. IMO, more so than any class in the last couple decades. The Jets are on that list too but, the Sports are more of a bridge from the past to the future. They are accessible to pilots and owners that might not have a spare 3million to just to purchase a stock bronze racer, let alone race it. Modern designs, materials, and methods are now more interesting to the next generation and competitive nature will always exist. That’s just human dna. Now that a generation or two are not quite so fascinated by the simple existence of tiny screens, they are turning to the next things/returning to the old things to make everything better. It has been an unprecedented lull in “new” Unlimiteds but with several new projects currently underway, I’m hoping we are on the precipice of a new era. If they do make it to Reno by 2023, I’d like to think the old timers would like to come out and show the “kids” how it’s done. Those kids will love to show the old timers just how old they are.

Your Lips to God's Ear, my friend. Yes, the Sport Class is cutting edge right now and that's a welcome thing. Amazing speeds from those guys in the Gold but all around an impressive class up and down the line.

I'm just damn glad we're racing in every class. My question is whether this "lull" is unprecidented or just a bump in the road. Hoping it's the latter...but in the mean time let's be the best ambassadors we can for the event as a whole!

[AAFO_WSagar]

Re: THE FUTURE IS/OF UNLIMITED? WHAT'S IT LOOK LIKE? THOUGHTS?

i remember racing a stock t28 an qualed over 300
dave

Daaaaaave! We used to chat all the time, it's soo good to see you here!!

[Samuel]

Re: THE FUTURE IS/OF UNLIMITED? WHAT'S IT LOOK LIKE? THOUGHTS?

I hope the Unlimited class grows in the future as the Sport Class racers realize they need an Unlimited size aircraft to go significantly faster than they are going now.

[Fence Sence]

Re: THE FUTURE IS/OF UNLIMITED? WHAT'S IT LOOK LIKE? THOUGHTS?

Your Lips to God's Ear, my friend. Yes, the Sport Class is cutting edge right now and that's a welcome thing. Amazing speeds from those guys in the Gold but all around an impressive class up and down the line.

I'm just damn glad we're racing in every class. My question is whether this "lull" is unprecidented or just a bump in the road. Hoping it's the latter...but in the mean time let's be the best ambassadors we can for the event as a whole!

An unprecedented bump in the road? ****s pretty F’d up right now. The talk the few decades has been “where they gonna get more warbirds to chop up into racers?” Those answers are finally starting to see the light of day with Tsunami and the growing Yak racing community. So, with that in mind, perhaps we are on the downside of the speed bump? COVID is screwing everything up so I guess the world is in a holding pattern for this year but, I truly feel new life in the races compared to say 5 years ago when everyone was very much questioning the survival of the event. The changes RARA have made seem pretty damn solid. The door is wide open for a new Unlimited champ. Sports are stronger than ever. All classes are still healthy for that matter. Every year the NCAR is up in the rarified air of the must see events in the aviation world. The safety protocols are world renowned. Reno has its **** together, we just need more money to give the teams. That seems to be the only mountain of struggle still left to climb.

Decades ago, the NDBA (National Drag Boat Association) held its one and only ever event at Lake Lahontan out in Silver Springs, NV. The story as I know it was that a bunch of APBA officials had shown up and got the NDBA officials HAMMERED on Saturday night. The next day, the NDBA boys, with hangovers in head, forgot to bring the timing lights. One the racers, a local guy by the name of Steve Hess, owner/driver of the BAH The Sting, drove a couple of them back to get them and also added 20k of his own money to the purse. We some big money guys with attitudes like that. I know it’s a bit apples to oranges but, it’s a nice thought.

[IcePaq]

Re: THE FUTURE IS/OF UNLIMITED? WHAT'S IT LOOK LIKE? THOUGHTS?

Open two turboprop classes.

One for smaller planes and one being "unlimited".

This would get manufacturers to maybe think about bringing a "works plane".

Of course, someone would eventually show up with this on the nose of their race plane.

[Guest]

Re: THE FUTURE IS/OF UNLIMITED? WHAT'S IT LOOK LIKE? THOUGHTS?

Open two turboprop classes.

One for smaller planes and one being "unlimited".

This would get manufacturers to maybe think about bringing a "works plane".

Of course, someone would eventually show up with this on the nose of their race plane.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]24825[/ATTACH]

Dang...you sure that isn't a photoshopped pic of a VitaMix?

[AAFO_WSagar]

Re: THE FUTURE IS/OF UNLIMITED? WHAT'S IT LOOK LIKE? THOUGHTS?

Dang...you sure that isn't a photoshopped pic of a VitaMix?

I didn't buy a vitamix but I did buy one of those "will it blend?" guys.... WHOLY CARP! That thing would blend your arm, your shoes, phone, broomstick!!

They used to be waaaaaay too spendy but I got mine for right around $200. cheap, considering the amount of blenders I've destroyed over the years making smoothies... I always overwork them and the motors burn out.....ahhh Blendtec is the brand name!

They have some hilarious corporate videos on youtube!

Back on topic.

As it was in '64, prior to the "super unlimited's" being fielded, there will be guys who own classic warbirds who would like to take their baby around the sticks. =Bronze

Within that crowd, there will always be a few, hopefully a bunch, who figure subtle ways to increase speed and keep the stock appearance, or be able to quickly take off/add stuff to bring it back to "stock".. =Silver

Then there will, HOPEFULLY, always be ENOUGH guys who want to win the Gold, like the folks restoring the legacy of Tsunami!

Field may be smaller, but, I think as long as RARA can remain solvent (as I've written in other messages, go to their site and donate) get the site insurance paid from ticket sales, or what would be wonderful maybe get a major insurance giant to underwrite the event... hummn…

Stihl / Progressive Insurance
Reno National Championship Air Races
And Air Show

What are some big name Aviation Insurance Companies??

Avemco

Thinking we all got to keep the creative juices flowing, I'm pretty sure that RARA is in damage control mode at the moment as Air Boss has said, but compiling a database of good ideas is.. a good idea!

[gp70442]

Re: THE FUTURE IS/OF UNLIMITED? WHAT'S IT LOOK LIKE? THOUGHTS?

Pretty sure that double vegamatic propeller is from an AN-70 cargo plane. The byproduct of the double 8 blade setup is the most horrendous awful sound you can imagine coming from an airplane. Sounds artificial.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhJNllbXBXo

A Griffon turning a contra-rotating prop is one thing, the AN-70 is something else.

GP

[Guest]

Re: THE FUTURE IS/OF UNLIMITED? WHAT'S IT LOOK LIKE? THOUGHTS?

Pretty sure that double vegamatic propeller is from an AN-70 cargo plane. The byproduct of the double 8 blade setup is the most horrendous awful sound you can imagine coming from an airplane. Sounds artificial.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhJNllbXBXo

A Griffon turning a contra-rotating prop is one thing, the AN-70 is something else.

GP

Just when you thought you'd seen all there is to see...wow.

[IcePaq]

Re: THE FUTURE IS/OF UNLIMITED? WHAT'S IT LOOK LIKE? THOUGHTS?

The alternative is this engine where the tips of the props operate quite well going supersonic.

Of course, these engines are the loudest in the world.