Man Is It Quite In Here Or What?

[Warbird5]

Why is it so quiet here?

We are a week away form the "Big Show" as Bob Love called it and the dearth of news and rumor is, well disappointing. Very disappointing. Come where is the news? Where are the rumors?

Willie

[39SF]

Re: Man Is It Quite In Here Or What?

Why? Not a single R-3350 powered Sea Fury to fly (that's right, no Riff Raff either). Yawn. No Texas race pilots in the gold. What!! Not much drama. Rare Bear and Strega ready to go. They will go one and two, someone will have a radiator coolant leak and out. Voodoo and Dreadnought will go three and four, someone will have a radiator coolant leak and out. Everyone else will do nice fly-by passes.
Am I getting jaded?

[Race 29]

Re: Man Is It Quite In Here Or What?

I don't care. I'm going to be there to watch these amazing airplanes fly! I think the Galloping Ghost will surprize a few people, and we'll have Ridge Runner to watch as well! Anytime I can see warbirds or any fast airplanes fly and hang out with good friends, I'm there!! With the preperations that Strega and the Rare Bear have put in over the last year, there's always the possibility that records will fall. I'm a Strega/Mustang fan, but this is the earliest that I've seen the Rare Bear having been ready to go for a long time.

LLlllet's get ready to rumb-ullllllle!!!!

Race 29

[Guest]

Re: Man Is It Quite In Here Or What?

Ditto Race 29;
While I'm disappointed that the "Rounds" will be in short supply this year that doesn't take away from the overall experience for me. At least not greatly.

Seems every year there's someone who isn't going to make it for one reason or another and yet....every year it's the best week of the year, hands down!

Do I wish Spirit of Texas, Riff Raff, and the rest of the 3350 folks were there, sure. Am I going to let that distract me from having a great week...HELL NO!

Take it for what it is...enjoy the moment. You could be cleaning out gutters, mowing the lawn, and "Honey Doin'" instead!!

ITS RACE WEEK FOLKS! GIRD YOUR LOINS!

[Leo]

Re: Man Is It Quite In Here Or What?

I'm a Strega fan, I'm a Bear fan, I'm a huge Sparky fan (one of these days he's going to end up first when EVERYONE else breaks. It worked for Burnstein and Lefty.). I'm a Voodoo fan just because of the way he does the races, with the worlds largest EZ-UP and all the pit hoopla, it's kind of like the old days. It's always a treat to go over to the Voodoo, Strega, CM row.
I just want to see Voodoo do it at least once, Bob has surely paid his dues and then some!
But so has Leeward, and Lewis has sure put a lot into prepping Bear, and Stevo cinchig a threepeat for the witch would be cool...
Ah heck. I can't make up my mind.
Surprise me fella's!

[Hawkeye]

Re: Man Is It Quite In Here Or What?

Why is it so quiet here?

We are a week away form the "Big Show" as Bob Love called it and the dearth of news and rumor is, well disappointing. Very disappointing. Come where is the news? Where are the rumors?

Willie

Hush!!!! Secret mods ongoing here at Hayward airport. Several racers from most classes have been seen running up and flying the last few weeks. Some have been generating noise complaint's from the neighbors!!!


Hawkeye

[T.F.]

Re: Man Is It Quite In Here Or What?

Why? Not a single R-3350 powered Sea Fury to fly (that's right, no Riff Raff either). Yawn. No Texas race pilots in the gold. What!! Not much drama. Rare Bear and Strega ready to go. They will go one and two, someone will have a radiator coolant leak and out. Voodoo and Dreadnought will go three and four, someone will have a radiator coolant leak and out. Everyone else will do nice fly-by passes.
Am I getting jaded?

This started here or "over there" as a rumor fragment that was never clearly addressed. Therefore, I have no reason to believe that 99 won't be on the ramp come 9-12.

[mrcraigarcher]

Re: Man Is It Quite In Here Or What?

Ditto Race 29;
While I'm disappointed that the "Rounds" will be in short supply this year that doesn't take away from the overall experience for me. At least not greatly.

Just wait until next year. I think a lot of the roundies will be back, not to mention Furias - September Fury type airframe and systems mods with a 4360! I really really can't wait to see that airplane!

[T. Adams]

Re: Man Is It Quite In Here Or What?

This started here or "over there" as a rumor fragment that was never clearly addressed. Therefore, I have no reason to believe that 99 won't be on the ramp come 9-12.

99 is out, engine is toast, they WILL NOT make it this year, period.

[Warbird5]

Re: Man Is It Quite In Here Or What?

Hush!!!! Secret mods ongoing here at Hayward airport. Several racers from most classes have been seen running up and flying the last few weeks. Some have been generating noise complaint's from the neighbors!!!


Hawkeye

Afternoon Hawkeye,

I kind of thought this thread would get you to comment (smile).

Tell all the hard working race aircraft mechanics and crew dogs at Hayward that I'll be waiting for the Top Secret debrief on the ramp at Reno when the highly preped racers touch down soon (L.O.L.)

Willie
______________________
BTAR 4 Ever

[Warbird5]

Re: Man Is It Quite In Here Or What?

Afternoon,

I had to comment on the R-3350 powered aircraft that will not show this year.

Although there have been wins put up in the Unlimited Gold by R-3350 powered racers it appears to me that there have been more engine failures of R-3350 racers than wins.

Rear Bear always seems to find a way to have an engine failure. I understand that Sanders are so feed up with removing and rebuilding R-3350s that they are putting a R-2800 on Argonaut! Add Spirit of Texas and the recently reported engine failure Riff Raf had to the list and one can clearly see that the R-3350 is too fragile to be raced. If people continue to race them the only people that will be happy in my estimation are the engine re-builders cause they will be kept busy during the current economic downturn charging 80K a pop rebuilding them!

The R-3350s and R-4360s were designed and built for transport work and from my military days the manuals on the R-4360 were quite clear about operating limitations, especially the duration for the application of take-off power and RPM ranges that continuous operation was prohibited. As we have seen in racing that even with the "slow" nose cases installed the R-3350 is just fragile. That's my two cents....What's your?

Willie

[Rampman]

Re: Man Is It Quite In Here Or What?

The Bear was up again Saturday. I'm only 5 minutes from the ramp but by the time I got there they were just landing, so I didn't see how much they flew. Nothing unsual on shutdown though and it sounded real good. Leo is right, anytime the Bear is up there is no mistaking that sound.

A Thunder Mustang (or Mustangs) has also been up a lot over the past month. I don't know which plane (or planes) because they usually fly a very high pattern at pretty high speed, but I assume it's blue II. You can't mistake that sound either. I wouldn't be suprised at all if they are very well prepared by race time. The best action this year might just be in the super sports.

As for the unlimiteds, we have 2 top contenders going for the gold, a few others that could suprise or at least keep the top two honest, and one total wild card in the galloping ghost. I was at Reno the last time it won and it wasn't exactlly slow then! Seems like a pretty strong field to me.

[Wingnut]

Re: Man Is It Quite In Here Or What?

Afternoon,

I had to comment on the R-3350 powered aircraft that will not show this year.

The R-3350s and R-4360s were designed and built for transport work and from my military days the manuals on the R-4360 were quite clear about operating limitations, especially the duration for the application of take-off power and RPM ranges that continuous operation was prohibited. As we have seen in racing that even with the "slow" nose cases installed the R-3350 is just fragile. That's my two cents....What's your?

Willie

I, too, am surprised and a bit frustrated at the -3350 pandemic, but I believe the same can been said of every engine used in the elite levels of UNL air racing. Merlins, R-3350's and to some degree even R-2800's and R-4360's are stretched far beyond operational limitations. Only a few years ago many were lamenting the end of the racing Merlin after so few Mustangs could hang together to reach Sunday and none were finishing. Ingenuity and determination have resurrected the 'stangs and let's hope the same will happen soon with the SF's. They'll certainly be missed this year.

Can anyone speak to the nature of the failures? Most of the limited info. posted concerns bearings. Is this a common theme among the failures or are the causes more varied? Just curious.

[Mluvara]

Re: Man Is It Quite In Here Or What?

Statstics have clearly shown that the racers running their 3350's beyond their rated power last 1-2 seasons at best if not totally overhauled. Cylinders always seem to get changed on the race 3350's. Typically one does not do a full tear down on the radials between each year. Note that the race merlins always get a teardown each season. The merlins are easier to work on than the radials.

The 'stock' 3350's and their failures or issues fall into a different category.

Michael

[Warbird5]

Re: Man Is It Quite In Here Or What?

Statstics have clearly shown that the racers running their 3350's beyond their rated power last 1-2 seasons at best if not totally overhauled. Cylinders always seem to get changed on the race 3350's. Typically one does not do a full tear down on the radials between each year. Note that the race merlins always get a teardown each season. The merlins are easier to work on than the radials.

The 'stock' 3350's and their failures or issues fall into a different category.

Michael

Evening,

R-3350s were always frail compared to the other round engines. They have a well documented failure history dating back to their first installations on the B-29, where they tended to swallow valves. There were numerous failures that led to major fires. So to say "stock" R-3350 failure fall into a different category is an over simplification. Yes the engine family gave satisfactory service later in their service life, but the time on the wing for a R-3350 was low as they either failed or had a low hourly removal time to try to prevent them failing in service.

I never cared for them when I was in the service as they were always being worked on between flights. They were a maintenance hog the kept me on the flight line many a cold, wet night waiting for the engine boys to fix one or finish a change of one or more.

Willie