500 MPH At Reno: Doubtful this year?

[Mayo]

Deadline

Let-me get this straight,

if one measures the deadline and calculates this as the course length, then the pylon is still in the same place and the speeds all change and NAG wont get lost looking for their chairs in the desert.

does this mean there will be more time between races, or less?

[Unregistered]

A simple way to describe the change would be to draw a hexagon on a sheet of paper. Then draw a circle that passes through the six points of the hex (circle around the outside of the hex). Reno in the past based the course length on the straight segments, taking the sum of each leg between pylons for the total course length (segment length of the hexagon). This year, a change is being made to use the sum of the actual arc lengths between pylons for the total course length (length of the circle around the hex). This explains the increase in course length for this year.

This change will reflect a better picture of the actual speeds vs. distance flown, at the cost of negating a comparison in speed with previous years. Physical pylon locations have not changed. The time to fly the course has not changed. Only the distance used to convert the time to MPH is different. An accurate comparison with previous years would be the time in seconds for each lap, rather than the MPH conversion.

[Unregistered]

Has anyone ever taken a laser speed gun out to the Valley of Speed and taken readings on the racers at that portion of the course? It would just be a trap speed but that'd be interesting, no?

Alternately, why not take a GPS and take a continuous speed reading around the course. Telemeter it back to the pits and see what you get.

Sh'boom..

[The Phantom Samurai]

Predictions...

Okay, I'll bite. Here are my picks for qualifying order and speeds:

4 Dago Red 512.662
77 Rare Bear 488.976
232 September Fury 479.429
10 Critical Mass 466.743
11 Miss America 461.720
5 Voodoo 444.087
8 Dreadnought 443.765
15 Furias 436.167
86 Czechmate 429.398
105 Spirit of Texas 422.547
66 Fury 419.076
99 Riff Raff 418.267
911 September Pops 415.109
22 Merlin's Magic 414.424
117 Bad Attitude 411.709
38 Precious Metal 390.717
9 Cloud Dancer 388.388
6 Flying Dutchman 387.278
42 Anya 383.996
50 Miracle Maker 376.225
14 Bearcat 374.668
104 Joe Tobul Special 367.779
1 Big Bossman 355.558
81 Lady Jo 354.243
7 Speedball Alice 346.997
44 Sparky 340.007
2 Wildcat 312.178

Hopefully, Race #104 and Race #81 will make it. Best of luck to everyone, and see you all on the ramp!

TPS

[Unregistered]

Oh groan... I can almost smell DialTapper's blood boiling already on this one... !!

I'd suspect higher, unless they have problems.. healthy, I'd put them much closer to 480-490 range, again, with the new distance figures..



when was the last time Critical mass has even qualified anywhere NEAR 480? in 2001 they qual around 440 and that didn't count due to the attacks and I believe that was their best qual speed. When the plane is tuned and running great Tom doesn't push her to much early in the week, why would he when they just got her back together?

Anyone remember how many times the bears engine was run last year with hardly any oil pressure? You think the engine will last all week pushing it early on? If they do qual around 500 they more than likely not see sunday. I hope they prove me wrong!

[Unregistered]

Weather Forecast Update

The 6-10 day and 8-14 day forecasts are predicting above average temperatures and below average precipitation for the race week. It might be warmer than the early predictions of this thread.

http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/610day/

http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/814day/

The speed gods should be smiling with their sunglasses on...

Ranger Curt