Thunder Mustangs... A whole herd of them

[Victor Archer]

http://www.pbase.com/marauder61/reno_national_championship_air_racing_gallery

[rc38pilot]

Re: Thunder Mustangs... A whole herd of them

Very cool Victor,that was definatley a big attraction that night!!!!!!

[WARPT]

Re: Thunder Mustangs... A whole herd of them

Cool little 'Stangs!

Ok, I'm ignorant.........but I noticed that the black and silver Thunder Stang had a turbo prop in it. In the second photo it is the last plane on the right. Can someone enlighten me as to what is used under the hood of that one?

[WASP-kid]

Re: Thunder Mustangs... A whole herd of them

That's a couple bitchin' pics there Victor. They coulda' had there own class

[split-s]

Re: Thunder Mustangs... A whole herd of them

Gas-turbine engines are the future of the Unlimited class, but it'd be ironic if the Sport/Super-Sport beat them to it.

$

[W J Pearce]

Re: Thunder Mustangs... A whole herd of them

I guess it was worth the effort. And now we know how to do it better next year. Maybe 10 or 12 TM? Yeah, we can make it work.

Great stuff Victor!

[Paynts]

Re: Thunder Mustangs... A whole herd of them

didnt someone say that turbo prop engines big enough to power the current weight of unlimited at the speeds they are achieving would cost way more than building a race radial or inline as they currently run? Im sure i read a figure of nearly a million a pop or am i way off here?

[T. Adams]

Re: Thunder Mustangs... A whole herd of them

Nice. It worked out fairly well after you got all the people out of the way.

[Randy Haskin]

Re: Thunder Mustangs... A whole herd of them

Fantastic photos.

I wish the Thunder Mustangs had 'caught on' more than they have. Very cool airplane that I wish I had the $$ to have.

[flyingjibus]

Re: Thunder Mustangs... A whole herd of them

This:

I wish the Thunder Mustangs had 'caught on' more than they have.

Is directly related to this

Very cool airplane that I wish I had the $$ to have.

I was dreaming about owning one and then I priced one out.

$700,000 is a LOT of money for something so impractical.

I still want one though.

[bikenutty]

Re: Thunder Mustangs... A whole herd of them

I remember watching some guy on a ladder in back of a truck taking these pics.....

Curt

[marada mx3]

Re: Thunder Mustangs... A whole herd of them

Fantastic photos.

I wish the Thunder Mustangs had 'caught on' more than they have. Very cool airplane that I wish I had the $$ to have.

Randy, I think you have a pretty cool airplane (even if it isn't really yours per se. You know what they say about possession?).

Tommy

[Inverted]

Re: Thunder Mustangs... A whole herd of them

didnt someone say that turbo prop engines big enough to power the current weight of unlimited at the speeds they are achieving would cost way more than building a race radial or inline as they currently run? Im sure i read a figure of nearly a million a pop or am i way off here?

Considering 1100shp Pratts are around the 350k mark I wouldnt think that figure to be far off. BUT... Think of the reliability factory here, you can run that engine safely in its perameters for a long long time if its producing its power there. I have no idea what they would do in a race situation, but I would think it would produce much more safe racing.

[shorebird]

Re: Thunder Mustangs... A whole herd of them

A possible use of one of the two one-off racers, Cornell/Jackson and the other might be the installation of an Allison 501.... L-100, L-188 or P-3 engine and prop. 4500 to 5000 shaft hp. Not a Reno racer but, fastest propeller driven aircraft.

[split-s]

Re: Thunder Mustangs... A whole herd of them

Fantastic photos.

I wish the Thunder Mustangs had 'caught on' more than they have. Very cool airplane that I wish I had the $$ to have.

Actually, come to think of it, there's a reason stock Mustangs can't compete with the mods. TMs are just scaled-down stock '51s so it's no wonder the NXTs leave them behind.

Scaled-down B-types would probably be faster (if a grown man could fit inside one).

$