LAST RENO PYLON RACING SCHOOL 2023

[shadow]

Thanks for sharing these great pictures!

[Wingnut]

Looks like sport 30 has the wingtips re-installed. Has anyone from the team mentioned the change?

[GRNDP51]

Looks like sport 30 has the wingtips re-installed. Has anyone from the team mentioned the change?

Andy flies it cross country with the stock wingtips, said it gets better fuel efficiency and performance. They put the race tips on at Stead before race week.

[RAD2LTR]

Today's installment. First day on the pylons.




























The weather got ugly, a thunderstorm rolled in and the called the final session of Jets early. Then the rain came and dumped for an hour or so. The tent does seem to be waterproof.
Will

[GRNDP51]

First set of Unlimited news - Wee Willy II just arrived with the P-40 "Sneak Attack". No idea who is flying either.

[GRNDP51]

Looks like Joel and 924 are there as well.

[cheapskater]

As much as I like the still photo genre that dominates this forum completely it will be the videos done over the years that will be the way that we can really experience the Reno Air Races in all of their glory. I talked to a 'stills guy" one year on the barriers in front of the pits. He told me he shoots at least 10000 shots a year of the air races. With those odds there have to be a few good ones. I have hundreds of hours at least of video shot from the pits, the grandstands, the fenceline and Cheapskate Hill shot by myself and other true racing fanatics. I can put in a DVD and watch most of the racing from 2005 to 2022 and crank up the sound on the stereo. We speculated for decades about when the final year of the races would come and it looks like we may be there. I for one will miss it. A small bit of my footage is on Utube under Reno Air Races 1980s and posted by Joseph Thompson for me. I waited until after the disaster of 2011 to make the footage available because I didn't want to screw things up for the fans that like to get close to the racing and I mean really really close. Lefty cleared my head by about 10 feet while I was standing on top of my camper shell on my pickup truck. Those were the good old days of Reno Air Racing!

[RAD2LTR]

There are a LOT of people who think photography is best done with a "spray and pray" technique. 10K shots isn't uncommon, and is easy to shoot that many at 10 frames per second. I don't shoot that way. In a week of shooting, I might get to half that. Still it takes ages to get through all those pics.

Had a good day at pylon 7, and then we picked up and went to 6.... Oh, I like 6. The light was AMAZING. Then the thunderstorms rolled in, and the cloud texture and light was AMAZING. I'm working on those pics as I type.

Will

[RAD2LTR]

Today I was at the pylons, and for the first time since I've had credentials, we went out to Pylon 6. Oh what a glorious place. We had some great clouds to work with, then they got worse, and eventually it started to rain. They called the last jet flight after lightning was seen 6 miles north of Pylon 5.

Here are a few random shots from today.























Tomorrow is likely just an arrivals and departures day. Hopefully there will be a few more Unlimiteds here. I saw Scotty Crandlemire, but it looks like he has a broken foot and may not be flying. Apparently Stevo is here to requalify, and as its been pointed out, Sneak Attack is here as well.

Will

[AAFO_WSagar]

"Apparently Stevo is here to requalify"

Assuming you mean the same Stevo that you and I discussed a while back...

Will, this could be huge? What are his plans? Remember I spoke with him a couple months ago and heard nothing about plans for this year.. Could someone been holding their cards VERY close to their chest?? Tell me more PLEASE! I may need to make another phone call and hope he picks up!! (Love you Stevo! You ALWAYS pick up! True Gentleman!)

[RAD2LTR]

"Apparently Stevo is here to requalify"

Assuming you mean the same Stevo that you and I discussed a while back...

Will, this could be huge? What are his plans? Remember I spoke with him a couple months ago and heard nothing about plans for this year.. Could someone been holding their cards VERY close to their chest?? Tell me more PLEASE! I may need to make another phone call and hope he picks up!! (Love you Stevo! You ALWAYS pick up! True Gentleman!)

I know nothing other than the fact that he is here, and with Voodoo suddenly being dismantled potentially for use on Bardahl, it would not that big of a stretch to think he might be flying Bardahl in Sept. At the same time, perhaps he's there to fly something else come Sept. Hard to say. I wasn't able to talk to him. He did get out of a truck with either a -7 or -9 Merlin Supercharger assembly in the back of it. I dont know where it came from, but it was used, but still covered in cosmoline from Rolls Royce.

Will

[RAD2LTR]

So I got curious about how my exciting Air to Air stuff came out... I started out in the back of Olivier's Epsilon...






That was cool, but chasing an RV8 around the sky is a lot different from chasing a 400+ mph Legacy around the sky...























Yeah, that was awesome!

Will

[Bigger Al]

Thanks for getting these fantastic images out to the panting masses!

I had the bike all packed up to ride to Stead today, then I watched videos of the hail on I-80 yesterday. Nope. Not gonna ride in that.

Hey Will, do you know what Friday's schedule looks like? I've got too much work to do tomorrow, and the weather situation will be about the same as today, but Friday is supposed to be just about perfect. I'm hoping that all of the stuff that has been shelved during the week will be consolidated into the last day.

Thanks in advance!

[RAD2LTR]

Thanks for getting these fantastic images out to the panting masses!

I had the bike all packed up to ride to Stead today, then I watched videos of the hail on I-80 yesterday. Nope. Not gonna ride in that.

Hey Will, do you know what Friday's schedule looks like? I've got too much work to do tomorrow, and the weather situation will be about the same as today, but Friday is supposed to be just about perfect. I'm hoping that all of the stuff that has been shelved during the week will be consolidated into the last day.

Thanks in advance!

I'm thinking we might be all done tomorrow. There are only two Unlimiteds here, plus 924. So much for the great turnout of Unlimiteds this year (Fail)

Will

[Bigger Al]

Thanks Will! I will probably call RARA tomorrow early afternoon and see if they're planning anything for Friday. Sure hope so.