Silly Season's Latest Before Race Week

[Tigercat24]

What's the latest? i.e. ...

1. Is the RRIII scoop on Miss America the only thing tinkered with this year?
2. Will Mike Brown add some go to the show that Goldfinger already has?
3. Would the Sanders crew push Dread to stay ahead of Miss America if she threatened?
4. What Sport Gold runner has the juice to challenge One Moment? (it does helps One Moment that they are sponsored by the event's Title Sponsor.)
5. With Phantom not in the picture this year, who takes Biplane?
6. Will former big iron teams come back after I acquire 2-3-2, optimize the mods (including retrofitting the fuel injection system) and return her to Reno to kick and take names? (I'm poor, but i can dream )

[RAD2LTR]

Re: Silly Season's Latest Before Race Week

The Ridge runner scoop setup entailed enough changes that they had to get 15 hrs of testing on the plane. It also moved them from the Limited category to the Experimental category. Digging a bit deeper, there were likely cooling mods done, to take advantage of the lower profile scoop. The engine is apparently built by Rick Shanholtzer again. Apparently he can build a good engine, he's just never won before. I can't say for sure, but I don't think he does tube motors, so how does one get the induction temps down while still running an aftercooler? This is the $10K question. Apparently the aftercooler isn't even really needed at stock power settings, but when you push things north of stock, it rapidly becomes a very important part of the engine. So, did they do away with the plumbing for the aftercooler down to the radiator, or did they go a different direction by either using huge amounts of ADI, or perhaps using some sort of a heat exchanger in the place of the aftercooler? The new scoop assembly should pay some dividends in speed, but we come back to the question about the engine, and more specifically, the bottom end of it. Its an all new build since they holed the case of the yellow engine in 2019.

Mike Brown is a wild card. I do know that Bernie V was out flying Goldfinger about a week ago. If MB's wife okayed spending some $, the plane may go faster this year.

Dreadnought is pretty much all done about 455. I don't think they have ever gone 460+ in qualifying or in a race. With the small tail it will go faster than it can with the big tail, but apparently it gets unruly so who knows. I'd say if Miss A wants the win, they need 465 from the start and they need to stay out front from the get go.

Sport Gold is going to be a very interesting race. One Moment has set the standard, however Jeff L apparently has a brand new engine, and Relentless has been refined and apparently will be running an engine very similar to LeVelle's. There were a couple other gold contenders that also could be right there at the front. Sunday might come down to a war of attrition.

As for 5 and 6, that is hard to say.


Let the races begin!

Will

[GRNDP51]

Re: Silly Season's Latest Before Race Week

Echoing most of what Will said on 1, 2, and 3, I'll add a few comments to 4, 5, and 6

4 - I'm really hoping that Andy's 4-blade doesn't have teething problems. I've only seen ONE picture of the prop (have not seen the cowl mods), but the prop is insanely cool. However, I think Jeff is the one to beat this year. The plane isn't the same. From what I'm hearing they tore the plane apart and totally reconfigured the wing to alleviate the gear hanging out issue. Couple that wish a fresh engine and not really testing out anything as extreme as a 4-blade... I think Jeff has the reliable and VERY fast mount.

Then there's Race 24 which Jim has been flying a ton down here in San Diego, Kevin is ready to really run Relentless to the breaking point, aside from that you have Mojo, 181, 151, as wildcards to throw into the mix. 151 has a hot race engine (hopefully it works finally) and the three blade from 67 as 67 isn't racing this year.

5 - Bad Mojo. Miss Gianna dropped so that was a guarantee, not anymore. Bad Mojo is the fastest Bip unless Tommy Suell really made Shake N Bake into a hot rod.

6 - Next year should build upon this year's lineup. I'm not sure when the Super Unlimiteds will be back, but if Miss A puts up hot speeds and sounds good doing it, that's pretty sweet to me... RRIII is a favorite of plenty of people and I think Super Stockers are the future of Reno. Inline race-prepped Yaks, Goldfinger, Miss A, and hopefully Sweet and Lovely and Race 64... 3350 Sea Furies like Sawbones but with more race-prep (think Riff Raff / SOT / etc)...

[Fence Sence]

Re: Silly Season's Latest Before Race Week

Bad Mojo has some new mods and is apparently ready to kick ass. Miss Gianna fast? Ya, quite possibly. I hear it?s hot.

[Race5]

Re: Silly Season's Latest Before Race Week

Bad Mojo has some new mods and is apparently ready to kick ass. Miss Gianna fast? Ya, quite possibly. I hear it?s hot.

Miss Gianna isn't coming. Jeff ran out of time to get the bugs chased out of it. It has flown again though after many, many years of just sitting so progress is being made.

[Race5]

Re: Silly Season's Latest Before Race Week

What's the latest? i.e. ...

1. Is the RRIII scoop on Miss America the only thing tinkered with this year?
Won't matter if the engine isn't up to the task.

2. Will Mike Brown add some go to the show that Goldfinger already has?
Nope

3. Would the Sanders crew push Dread to stay ahead of Miss America if she threatened?
If they have any room left to push with the small tail.

4. What Sport Gold runner has the juice to challenge One Moment? (it does helps One Moment that they are sponsored by the event's Title Sponsor.)
Four airplanes this year with 400 mph potential.But I think Andy takes it home again.

5. With Phantom not in the picture this year, who takes Biplane?
Bad Mojo barring any mechanical gremlins

6. Will former big iron teams come back after I acquire 2-3-2, optimize the mods (including retrofitting the fuel injection system) and return her to Reno to kick and take names? (I'm poor, but i can dream )
Nope. Those days are gone forever.

I just hope we have enough fan turn out and $$$ this year to keep the whole event from being turned into just another airshow.

[Fence Sence]

Re: Silly Season's Latest Before Race Week

Miss Gianna isn't coming. Jeff ran out of time to get the bugs chased out of it. It has flown again though after many, many years of just sitting so progress is being made.

I know. Miss Gianna is know as a faster bird than Bad Mojo but maybe not for long.

[Tigercat24]

Re: Silly Season's Latest Before Race Week

The Ridge runner scoop setup entailed enough changes that they had to get 15 hrs of testing on the plane. It also moved them from the Limited category to the Experimental category. Digging a bit deeper, there were likely cooling mods done, to take advantage of the lower profile scoop. The engine is apparently built by Rick Shanholtzer again. Apparently he can build a good engine, he's just never won before. I can't say for sure, but I don't think he does tube motors, so how does one get the induction temps down while still running an aftercooler? This is the $10K question. Apparently the aftercooler isn't even really needed at stock power settings, but when you push things north of stock, it rapidly becomes a very important part of the engine. So, did they do away with the plumbing for the aftercooler down to the radiator, or did they go a different direction by either using huge amounts of ADI, or perhaps using some sort of a heat exchanger in the place of the aftercooler? The new scoop assembly should pay some dividends in speed, but we come back to the question about the engine, and more specifically, the bottom end of it. Its an all new build since they holed the case of the yellow engine in 2019.

Mike Brown is a wild card. I do know that Bernie V was out flying Goldfinger about a week ago. If MB's wife okayed spending some $, the plane may go faster this year.

Dreadnought is pretty much all done about 455. I don't think they have ever gone 460+ in qualifying or in a race. With the small tail it will go faster than it can with the big tail, but apparently it gets unruly so who knows. I'd say if Miss A wants the win, they need 465 from the start and they need to stay out front from the get go.

Sport Gold is going to be a very interesting race. One Moment has set the standard, however Jeff L apparently has a brand new engine, and Relentless has been refined and apparently will be running an engine very similar to LeVelle's. There were a couple other gold contenders that also could be right there at the front. Sunday might come down to a war of attrition.

As for 5 and 6, that is hard to say.


Let the races begin!

Will

So I take it that...take a breath...GG had a non-tube motor as well? It was highly documented that it had a Rick Shanholtzer-built motor. Sounded like it was running quite hard & fast, though...maybe they were getting away with the non-tube motor due to the boil-off oil cooling?

[GRNDP51]

Re: Silly Season's Latest Before Race Week

So I take it that...take a breath...GG had a non-tube motor as well? It was highly documented that it had a Rick Shanholtzer-built motor. Sounded like it was running quite hard & fast, though...maybe they were getting away with the non-tube motor due to the boil-off oil cooling?

Correct, GG had a non-tube.

[mdwflyer]

Re: Silly Season's Latest Before Race Week

So I take it that...take a breath...GG had a non-tube motor as well? It was highly documented that it had a Rick Shanholtzer-built motor. Sounded like it was running quite hard & fast, though...maybe they were getting away with the non-tube motor due to the boil-off oil cooling?

Very simplistic description, tube vs non-tube. Non-tube would generally be higher rpm lower manifold pressure for a given HP. Achieved one way or the other with different nose case and blower ratios.

A quote from Z from a long time ago, "over 100", you have approximately 8 minutes before a bearing goes, chose those 8 minutes wisely"