Some old Reno pics

[RAD2LTR]

The '' Tiger claw was a lot of work. The spinner took a lot of time to make. One of its problems was it was too heavy.

What did the blades start out as?

Will

[Big_Jim]

What did the blades start out as?

Will

They were custom built blades built to spec by US Propeller Service. Between 1995 and 1997 the profile was 'sculptured' and cut down significantly.

[Big_Jim]

Tsunami's trick prop came apart in the test cell if I remember correctly.

There were two, actually. The Montagne "Sky Prop" was the big blue carbon fiber one that blew apart on the test cell almost as soon as they put power on it....and then Montagne started tap-dancing that 'that prop was never meant to be flown', that it was just a prototype that he knew was damaged from crimped/crushed foam (but he apparently was happy to cash Mr. Moneybags check for it).

The other prop was a compromise...the one that ran at Reno '91 during the heat races after they oversped the normal race prop. Those, if I remember correctly, were tapered S2F Tracker "triangle" blades. Was not as fast as the regular race prop.

[BellCobraIV]

Tsunami's trick prop came apart in the test cell if I remember correctly. Normally they ran T28 blades. The Tiger Claw was a very cool looking prop, and that is the first time I've seen the cuffs on it. As for Howard's Sea Fury prop, it didn't pan out and was actually slower than the normal one. We talked about it in either this or another thread on here not too long ago. I don't remember the specifics however.

As for the Merlin powered aircraft going 500+, Dago had the only answer. The custom made reduction gears, in other words, a very slow nose case (currently on Miss A's race engine). Now, what would happen if someone ran the custom nose case gears with a scimitar blade?

On the note of what the future could bring, we do have Andy Findley's unlimited project. I'm not going to let the cat out of the bag here, but we've already seen some of the development on prop design there. I also have to wonder what the Shockwave project will produce? Both projects have background with very high performance modern props with the Sport class racers. Clearly they are exploring what needs to change in order to make the props effective when they are up against an RPM barrier. The exciting thing here is, there is communication between the Tsunami, Shockwave, and Andy. They are comparing notes, and sharing some info. This can only point to some exciting racers if/when we get to see the Unlimiteds race again when these racers are completed (I do believe all 3 will fly.)

Will

In regards to;
"As for the Merlin powered aircraft going 500+, Dago had the only answer. The custom made reduction gears, in other words, a very slow nose case (currently on Miss A's race engine). Now, what would happen if someone ran the custom nose case gears with a scimitar blade?"

The Dago Red Mouse Motors that went over 500 MPH on the course did not have either custom nose case or supercharger gears.

Mike Barrow has a set of special supercharger gears made that split the difference between the -9 ratio and the -7 ratio. Those were used in the Danny engine that showed great power. However Mike Barrow was no longer involved in the Dago engine program after Dwight had his stroke. That was myself Bill Spotts, and Steve Bartholf, with some limited participation in the second year by Mike Wilton. Those gears were not made by Mike Barrow until after Slash had bought the Dago airframe.

[BellCobraIV]

"Tsunami's trick prop came apart in the test cell if I remember correctly."

Originally the composite propeller builder asked us to test the prop on the Zeuschel Racing Engines test truck, however one of the people who was involved in engineering around Van Nuys airport took one look at the propeller and decided that it would fail, so we passed. It went to Sandberg and he had it fail structurally almost instantly.

[Sparrow]

We did indeed have those gears when we raced Dago in 2008, however we only had the blower drive gears. We had the complete gear sets for the engine in preparation for use in Dago at the 2009 races, however that did not happen. We did instead use that engine in Ridge Runner with a lot of airframe work and mods involved which allowed us to have 3 laps in excess of 491 MPH with a race average of 478 & change. The setup worked quite well. That claw prop as I recall was a 24"E" 50 for a P-47. Blades reworked, reprofiled, I know Kerch made the backplate and I don't remember about the spinner itself where it came from. It would go like hell in a straight line but it didn't like to turn very well.

[wingman]

In regards to;
"As for the Merlin powered aircraft going 500+, Dago had the only answer. The custom made reduction gears, in other words, a very slow nose case (currently on Miss A's race engine). Now, what would happen if someone ran the custom nose case gears with a scimitar blade?"

The Dago Red Mouse Motors that went over 500 MPH on the course did not have either custom nose case or supercharger gears.

So this 2003 Dago Red was running .420 "transport" nose gears? I have always wondered about that, considering how fast Skip was going. Was the prop stock or modified? I've heard mixed things about the prop...

[Sparrow]

.420 gears, -9 blower gears. Prop was stock, cuffs were not.

[wingman]

.420 gears, -9 blower gears. Prop was stock, cuffs were not.

Why were the cuffs changed, Mike? They look longer here, and maybe wider chord close to the spinner? I should find a stock cuff pic to compare, but it's getting late...

[Sparrow]

I will hafta ask that question as I don't remember. All that work had been done I believe during the David Price days. They were a different shape and composition. They dammed sure got our attention when Dan was up cruising around here putting time on the engine and one of them came loose and started sliding down the blade-----

[BellCobraIV]

I will hafta ask that question as I don't remember. All that work had been done I believe during the David Price days. They were a different shape and composition. They dammed sure got our attention when Dan was up cruising around here putting time on the engine and one of them came loose and started sliding down the blade-----

I believe that was part of the Dave Cornell influence on Dago during David Price's ownership.

I had retired and moved on by the 2008/2009 era, however I think it is a pity that we all never got to see the results of the "-8" blower gears and a slower set of reduction gears in the Dago Red Airframe piloted by Dan Martin.

[MRE]

You could tell that the adhesion of the cuffs on the Dago prop were questionable. They didn't pass the ''coin" test, so we used the prop/spinner off RR. My friend that worked at US prop. at the time remembers them starting with DC-6 blades for the claw.

[wingman]

however I think it is a pity that we all never got to see the results of the "-8" blower gears and a slower set of reduction gears in the Dago Red Airframe piloted by Dan Martin.

We have seen a couple of great "what if"s lately. What could Skip have done if Tsunami had survived, and what Dan Martin's Dago team could have done if the world had not intervened..

[BellCobraIV]

We have seen a couple of great "what if"s lately. What could Skip have done if Tsunami had survived, and what Dan Martin's Dago team could have done if the world had not intervened..

My biggest what if surrounds what would have happened IF we would have allowed Skip to race the Bear. He actually enjoyed flying the airplane unlike John who approached flying the airplane as a task. Lyle and Skip were the only two pilots who volunteered to do an aerobatic routine at an airshow where it was slated to be a static display.

The Bear was at an airshow on the California Coast and two of my friends called me and asked if I knew Skip was doing low level aerobatics during the show. I asked Lyle and he told me that he and Skip talked about that before Skip left.

Skip didn't have any thoughts that caused him concern. I had discussed with Skip the 3 blade and if he would have been racing the airplane the 3 blade would have been back on. John was not comfortable with the 3 blade, Lyle, Huckle, and I discussed this and felt that if the pilot was not comfortable with it, they would be hesitant to push the beast.



John

[N22252]

I'll give you a little hint... Its carbon fiber, and powered by a very unique griffon (Its not supercharged) The airframe has flown in the past with a turbine (and was kinda ugly looking.)

Thats all I can say.

Will

Hint appreciated! I think I remember reading of hydroplane and/or tractor pulling Griffons that had their superchargers removed and replaced with a turbo or two.