strega spilled its guts...

[JET1]

...about 6:30 today at the east end of the ramp massive oil leak prognosis unknown...more to come//////

[AirDOGGe]

Re: strega spilled its guts...

Please inform us as soon as possible what happened to Strega during the heat race today.

It sounded like Stevo may have had to back off the throttle after lap #1, to the point that he was barely passed at the finish line. The audio commentary stopped almost as soon as all planes crossed, leaving us at home high and dry and wondering.

Was Tiger's baby experiencing a problem, or was Steven just saving it for the next 2 days? Only official info, please, no speculation.

[BJH]

Re: strega spilled its guts...

Also how did The Bear finish?

[doubleup]

Re: strega spilled its guts...

Please inform us as soon as possible what happened to Strega during the heat race today.

It sounded like Stevo may have had to back off the throttle after lap #1, to the point that he was barely passed at the finish line. The audio commentary stopped almost as soon as all planes crossed, leaving us at home high and dry and wondering.

Was Tiger's baby experiencing a problem, or was Steven just saving it for the next 2 days? Only official info, please, no speculation.

Steve Jr. looked good today. Ran out front the whole race and never looked like he was pushing at all. No noticable water or vapor coming out of the plane. He had a good lead until the last lap where you could tell he pulled it back and Smoot almost got him at the end. Man can that kid fly a line around the course!!

Sunday should be epic! Heard the Bear is not even pushing it right now and has a LOT left!

Also Ridge Runner looked good in third and pushed for second most of the race until the last lap.

Voodoo sounded and looked good as well.

[AirDOGGe]

Re: strega spilled its guts...

Also how did The Bear finish?

Official air race website says Da' Bear took 6th.

[FlyKidChris]

Re: strega spilled its guts...

According to AirRace.org, Rare Bear finished 6th at 434.

I thought the Rare Bear sounded good (strong) and I'm optimistic about Saturday's and Sunday's heat.

Steven Hinton flew a great line in Strega, IMHO.

Czech Mate / Smoot was very impressive, too.

All in all, one of the best Friday heats in many years.

[Gary Osif]

Re: strega spilled its guts...

The traffic jam at 6 was real exciting!!!

[Wilnit]

Re: strega spilled its guts...

Spilled it's guts my a%$!!!! That was an awesome race, the oil from last night was from a loose line...... GO STREGA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[doubleup]

Re: strega spilled its guts...

Spilled it's guts my a%$!!!! That was an awesome race, the oil from last night was from a loose line...... GO STREGA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No kidding!

And did I hear the announcers correctly that the first lap Strega did 500mph?

[AirDOGGe]

Re: strega spilled its guts...

I heard 491-point-whatever over the P.A. audio broadcast, followed by ..."just 8 mph from 500 mph" or something close to that text. Maybe that's what you heard.

[Rampman]

Re: strega spilled its guts...

Left the ramp at 7:00. Here's what I saw. Ridge runner was working on a few minor problems, apparently a small oil leak at the front of the engine and some loose cowling fasteners. Engine looked clean other than that, and sounded really strong in the race.

No panic in the Voodoo pits either, but they were doing the usual Merlin maintenance thing, oil and spark plugs. Kerch was discussing something with Bob Button but I couldn't tell if anything major was wrong. They didn't appear to be pushing it in the race.

Wayne will have to update the Bear as it is now at the other end of the airport, and after 12 hours on the ramp I couldn't manage another walk to check it out. Nice to see John Penney make the trip down to congratulate young Mr. Hinton though. The Bear is running like it has a stock engine, but who really knows?

Czeck Mate was put to bed early and the bar was immediatly opened. I didn't see anything major being done to plane, and the cowl cover was on by 6:30. That pit was in party mode early!

Strega - if it spilled it's guts I didn't see evidence of it. Looked like normal maintenance, draining oil and checking plugs. The kid flew a great race, although I think Sherman might have suckered him a little bit at the end. And you know what? Steven was right there with rest of the crew working on the plane when I left. The guy obviously ain't afraid to get his hands dirty!

Just casual observations from a ramp rat for those of you that couldn't make it this year, since the chatter has been a little light so far. In my opinion, one of the best Fridays ever.

P.S. No Ghost yet.

[Wilnit]

Re: strega spilled its guts...

AD is right, 491 and change... No 500 today...

[AAFO_WSagar]

Re: strega spilled its guts...

What I have...

Talked with Stevo.. asked him what happened (Sherm DID pass him just at the end of the race) he said "I just pulled it back". HE was working on the engine, did not indicate or look like there were any problems, just normal after race chit..

Talked with Sherm, congratulated him on his win.. "The airplane cut a pylon, I tried to tell it not to, but it just went ahead and did it"... so he did not get the win.. unsure of where that put him.. oh yea, he told me fifth..

Talked with Kerch and Button, zero indication of any problems..

In the "Pig" pit, they were having a birthday party! Didn't seem there were any serious issues there..

The bear.. looked like another looooong night for that very tired crew. Nothing major, but "we're having some issues" was the only response I got from anyone..

Went to bed about 11:00 myself, I'm up at 4:00AM, catching up on downloading cards, working on client websites.. charging batteries.. reading posts.. whew.. long week!



While I'm at it.. how bout a few from "outer 2" and just after this afternoon....

[taglialavore]

Re: strega spilled its guts...

Thank you to all of you guys who spend the time to post the Reno Race events, bringing the news close to the people that cannot stay there (like me).