Updates from Reno...

[RAD2LTR]

So, I've managed to get my internet hotspot up and working (only took an hour of screwing with it.)

So, here is the cliff notes from the past couple days.

Apparently on Saturday Andy Finley had a turbo let go the first time he really pushed the power up. He will likely have to race his way into the finals, if it shows up in time to do so.

Thunder Mustang "Guardian Angel" blew up their race engine in spectacular fashion. Called Mayday, had a hard landing with several big bounces.

In Qualifying today, Vicky Benzing may have called a mayday after her hot lap. She pulled way up, landed hot with fire trucks on standby. She taxied in however. I don't know what happened there.

Unlimiteds had their drama as well.

Bernie Vasquez flew a perfect line in 924 aside from one lap where he was passing the P63 and went WAY wide, like right out to the very deadline wide. He still got a time and is good to go.

Shanty Irish apparently had a rather large stack fire on start up. i wasn't there, so I can't say for sure what actually happened. They seem optimistic that they will be up and running tomorrow. I don't know anything more.

Now for the big one. Scotty Crandlemire was black flagged after his timed laps. Apparently he could be out. The infringment was "low and erratic flying" From my standpoint on the hillside, he flew an amazing low and very precise line. In talking with one of his crew members he was +/- 1 second per lap on all 4 of his laps. (You can't be erratic if you are +/-1 second on every lap.) He apparently mistook the guide pylon for being P4, cutting 4. He is hoping they will give him another chance. We will find out tomorrow. That all said, the plane sounds beastly. I hope he is allowed to continue to race. Getting booted seems like an overly harsh penalty for an easily remedied issue.

That is all I have for now, I'll try and get some pics done and posted at some point. We shall see if that happenes.

The smoke has been minimal in the morning, rolling in about 2pm or so. We did get a thunderstorm today that had one MASSIVE lightning bolt, and another small one with some rain.

Okay I need some sleep.

Will

[Race5]

Re: Updates from Reno...

More to that Yak story, but he is out. Appeal was denied. He does plan to come back next year.

[Matt58]

Re: Updates from Reno...

More to that Yak story, but he is out. Appeal was denied. He does plan to come back next year.

Interesting move?

Are you able to give more details on why?

[RAD2LTR]

Re: Updates from Reno...

Okay, here are the cliffs notes for tonight. Sport class had some heavy hitters mayday out during qualifying. Karl Grove popped his engine after 3 laps, right at the home pylon. Not a minute later, Jim Rust did as well. Both think they can fix the issue and get back into racing. (I haven't seen the damage to either engine, but we'll see how it plays out.) Andy Findley got his old turbos back from last year, got them installed and went up in IFR conditions to test them out. All appears to be good to go. Clas Thunder did an engine change, tried to do a night run, but the ignition map was wrong so they packed it up and put it away for the night.

Unlimiteds. Dusty got Shanty Irish sorted out, test run, and buttoned up. He will go up for qualification tomorrow morning.
As has been stated above, Scotty is out. He's super bummed and I'm happy to hear he's willing to give it another go next year. Blondie qualified fine, but the spray bar system was having some issue. They think they can get it fixed. I think one other Unlimited will be doing qualifying tomorrow as well.

IF1 and Bipes: I don't have a clue what is going on down there. I was busy helping Dusty and shooting pics when I could.



Tomorrow I'll be out on the pylons. I hope the smoke stays away. So far every day this week the smoke has rolled in at 2:45 like clockwork and closed the field. If conditions continue this way, Sunday's races are going to be tough to hold in the afternoon.

A couple of the NAHI guys snuck in through the smoke this evening. The Firefly is here, a DC3 is here, the Cessna 180 arrived, and a something on floats arrived. I think there might have been a T6 as well.

That is all I have for tonight.

Will

[shadow]

Re: Updates from Reno...

7:51am Wed, smoky, from near the top of the reserved bleachers I cannot make out the pylons on the other side of the course. As the sun comes up visibility is improving. Shanty Irish is on FL. A T6 started up. Saw trucks / cars drive to home pylon, unsure where from or what they were doing.

Remember the bleacher that has been in the pits? Two of those same size are what the GA bleachers are now.

[shadow]

Re: Updates from Reno...

Nothing's been up so far, no qualifiers, no formula 1, STOL are supposed to go up now but they're still in their pits.

Edit: 9:08; STOL are now on flightline.

[shadow]

Re: Updates from Reno...

STOL qualifiers done, looks like a F1, biplane, and three T6s are going to do some qualifying now too.

Smoke has cleared ALOT. Can now make out the other end of the course and even the hills to the north.

[wadeh]

Re: Updates from Reno...

T-6?s are up qualifying now. There are a number of sports on the ramp, including both 30 and 39 (I don?t know which others are there). I presume that they will have the course next for more qualifying.

It looks like they cancelled all the bipe and F1 heats, probably so they could have the last qualifying window, since the smoke situation is much better now.

[wadeh]

Re: Updates from Reno...

So they didn?t actually cancel bipe & F1 heats.

The schedule that they handed me from the announcer?s booth had them blacked out, but the bipes just ran a heat, and we?re expecting F1 next, followed by another bipe heat.

In the earlier sport qualifying session, both 30 and 38 got two laps on the clock. I?ve not seen the times, but to me, 39 looked fast. 30 looked like he wasn?t pushing it.

And in unlimited, race 6 (Shanty Irish) got two laps on the clock. So did 81 and 3.

[Matt58]

Re: Updates from Reno...

Thank you for all the updates! Very much appreciated!

[Sky Critter]

Re: Updates from Reno...

39 on the pole @ 402
30 second @ 334.8
24 will start at the back of 1A
181 out with a hole in the case

[Mark K]

Re: Updates from Reno...

Great update guys, thanks

[AAFO_WSagar]

Re: Updates from Reno...

I'm very happy you guys are keeping is informed here at home! I'm pretty baffled by the lack of updates on FB.. Unless I'm looking wrong place, or they are getting their info here LOL!!!

[Sky Critter]

Re: Updates from Reno...

I'm very happy you guys are keeping is informed here at home! I'm pretty baffled by the lack of updates on FB.. Unless I'm looking wrong place, or they are getting their info here LOL!!!

I don't think you're looking in the wrong place... FB has been dismal so far for coverage.

I'm really missing being able to listen in on LiveATC.net as they don't have anyone hosting the race frequencies this year.

[wadeh]

Re: Updates from Reno...

Here is my update for today.

It was really busy today - much busier than I've seen on a Wednesday. We started the day cold, and with lots of smoke, so things got off to a late start. They delayed the morning heat racing to get the last qualifiers in. Off the top of my head, I think that everyone who needed to, qualified (except possibly sport race 24). That's great news.

The first planes in the air were the STOL Drag guys, since they can work with less visibility. Most of my flying time is in Piper Cubs, so these guys are doing my kind of flying. I noted a few days ago, that there are two 182 tricycle gear planes this year. When they were announcing the pilots today, I thought that I heard that one of the pilots was from Ellensburg, WA, which is my home town. When I checked out the program, it turns out that both of the 182's are from Ellensburg.

In F1, we had an excellent race in Heat 1B. Our grandstand seats are about 30 feet west of the start/finish line, right behind the announcers, and the finish was too close for us to call. Race 48 trailed high and wide, behind race 52 for most of the heat. On the final lap, 48 closed on 52 and caught them right at the finish line. We had to wait a while for the results. The separation was 6/1000 of a second.

There was a small incident as they were recovering the jets from heat 1C. One of the L-39's, race 73, blew the right main gear on landing. I was looking elsewhere at the time, but it looked to me, like he landed behind an L-29 and was closing pretty quickly. I wonder if he locked up the brakes (wild speculation on my part). In any case, that kept runway 08 closed for a while, until they brought out a dolly for the right main gear and towed it off.

I did hear a funny radio call on the T-6 heat 1C. When the pace plane was calling in the race numbers on the flight, he mentioned the raffle plane as the last in the lineup. The tower responded "What is a raffle plane?", followed by a brief description of the T-6 raffle rides. I was surprised that the controller in the tower was unfamiliar with this. I wonder if it's her first year at Reno...

The F1 and biplane racers were greatly helped by the weather. After the smoke cleared, it stayed calm until about 3:00. That allowed them to run the heats well into the afternoon. The last F1 heat of the day was about 2:15. I don't remember ever seeing them run that late in the day.

In non-racing activity, we got to see Jim Peitz do his routine with the Bonanza. We had a U2 fly-by, with three simulated landing passes with the chase car. Finally, the Honda Jet did it's demo.

After the racing was done, we went back through the pits. We had some great conversation with the crews for Sport 181 and 30.

In the pit for 181, they confirmed that the mechanical problem was a broken rod (and went into some detail as to both where it came from, and quite a bit about their engine program). In the 181 pits, he mentioned that they have a second engine in their shop. They considered a swap, but decided it wouldn't be feasible. They are done for the year.

In the pit for 30, they confirmed that they did run slow in this morning's qualifying run, just so that they'd be in. They had one of their new turbos fail (in an usual way), and switched over to their 2018 setup to get qualified. They have more parts coming in, and will decide later whether to go with what they have now, or whether to make some changes for the new parts. They have lots more speed than what they showed in qualifying this morning. We were actually there for quite a while, and we talked about the history of the airplane, some about the modifications, and some interesting stuff about how they get it back and forth to Reno. I'll try to summarize: The plane is based in Virginia. They ferry it to Reno via Witchita on a 3 blade prop. In Witchita, McCauley has their 4 blade race prop, and they install it there. The plane continues to Reno. On the trip home, they reverse the process. Also, it is interesting how they cool the engine. In race configuration, it is mostly cooled by water spray. They drain the fuel out of one of the wing tanks, change the connections, and fill it with water for cooling. They also reverse that process for the trip home. It was a really run and educational visit with them.

We stopped by the Clas Thunder hanger and they were just buttoning up the cowl on race 51 after an engine swap. As I started typing this, I heard the radio call for a clearance, so it seems like they are back in business.

So that's about it, off the top of my head.