Stupid question.

[race9]

What year did they change the unlimited course?

[Big_Jim]

Re: Stupid question.

What year did they change the unlimited course?

Which time?

[ak9er57]

Re: Stupid question.

I believe it was 2003 the year dago broke 500mph on fri

[Fence Sence]

Re: Stupid question.

Are you guys looking to break a particular record and just wanted to make sure all things were equal?

[race9]

Re: Stupid question.

Sorry, not the course change, but the timing change. Was that 2003? I was just curious.

[flyingjibus]

Re: Stupid question.

2003 was the first one, I believe it has been revised since then as well.

Ive always thought it was a crap move

[Mluvara]

Re: Stupid question.

Prior to 2003, im pretty sure all course changes were physical pylon to pylon distance differences. In 2003, the difference was in how the distance around the course was measured (taking into account an ideal flight path). Adding this distance equates to about a 2% increase in speed. One can use the database on Rara's site to see the course distances for each year.

Michael

[Race 29]

Re: Stupid question.

Are they still using that fudged distance to make it look like the racers are going faster? What is the true distance of the course? I have a digital watch that I bought a few years ago that you can enter in the track distance, then use the stopwatch feature and it will give you the average speed of a lap. I used that years ago when I would post quals and results on the old AOL aviation chat room. The track change kinda messed that up for me. I'd like to use it again!

Race 29

[race9]

Re: Stupid question.

Thanks.

[RichH]

Re: Stupid question.

Are they still using that fudged distance to make it look like the racers are going faster? What is the true distance of the course?
Race 29

Prior to 2003, course distance was measured in straight lines from pylon to pylon. Since the planes don't stick to the straight lines and fly the course on a curve, everyone knew the true airspeeds were faster than what was posted. The distance was added to better approximate actual speeds, but more than that... it was a PR move to get the races to that elusive 500mph mark. Fine and dandy to do that if all we are watching is a parade, but I think it nullifies the sport if we are taking race "records" into account.

Even with 2% added, I still don't think it's close enough to actual on average (particularly as speeds increase)... so you really can't say it's a fudge to make them look faster. It's a fudge on the historic aspect of timing.

[CarolinaChuck]

Re: Stupid question.

I did a Google search the other day because I too was curious. I found this written by WSagar: http://aafo.com/racing/news/99/07-04-99.htm

CC

[RichH]

Re: Stupid question.

I did a Google search the other day because I too was curious. I found this written by WSagar: http://aafo.com/racing/news/99/07-04-99.htm

CC

That was one of the may times they changed the physical layout of the course by moving a pylon... which is quite different from the "virtual" change made in 2003.

[Rampman]

Re: Stupid question.

I didn't like the '03 change either. I thought it was pretty interesting to see if anbody would take a crack at 500 each year, kind of like the Pike's Peak 10 mionute barrier which only recently was broken.

Although Dago Red was amazing that year, the breaking of the record lost some of it's luster for me. RARA could have promoted that storyline for several more years, instead of only one year they got when 500 finally fell.

Anybody ever do the calculations to see wether any of Dago's laps would have broken the record using the old measurement? I think they had enough speed left to break it either way!

[Idaho_cowpony]

Re: Stupid question.

As far as I've studied, the "official" (by us serious race junkies) 500mph timed lap barrier has still not been broken. Tsunami must have came VERY close, if not unofficially broke the record on one of those last laps in the Gold in '91. I know there we're reports from more than one bystander, of a stopwatch that showed 500+.

JT

[Big_Jim]

Re: Stupid question.

As far as I've studied, the "official" (by us serious race junkies) 500mph timed lap barrier has still not been broken. Tsunami must have came VERY close, if not unofficially broke the record on one of those last laps in the Gold in '91. I know there we're reports from more than one bystander, of a stopwatch that showed 500+.

JT

Skip downplayed that and said that he didn't think he went that fast. I've seen the NAG timing sheets, however....