The 2014 National Championship Air Races (NCAR) will be
remembered for record breaking moments, many infractions and one terrible loss.
Let’s get started in Part 1 of our two part review
International Formula
1
IF1 already had a great year. They were able to add a race
in Spain earlier this summer with a handful of our racers heading over there to
race and monitor the event. It seems there will be even more races for them in
2015. That is great news for a truly competitive class with a reasonable financial
entry point. (Hint– to all those wanna be racers out there!)
This year at NCAR, the racing was amazing as always. So many
of these race planes are evenly matched which creates close, competitive
racing.
Steve Senegal in Endeavor set a course record with 267.289
mph, beating Jon Sharp’s old record of 263.188 set in 1999. Senegal also took
the Gold on Sunday for his 5th win. Congrats to Steve and Team
Endeavor!
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Steve Senegal in his
Record Setting Racer, Endeavor
Credit: Anthony Taylor – http://warbirdfotos.com/ |
Last year’s winner, Vito Wypraechtiger qualified third
behind Steve Temple in Madness. Madness was later DQd for low flight in a Gold
Heat and was moved back to Silver only to move back to Gold later in the week.
Elliot Seguin and Justin Phillipson qualified 4th
and 5th respectively – finishing with Justin in Third and Elliot in
Fourth. Again, great, competitive racing – fun to watch – if you wake up early
enough!
Congrats to the whole crew. IF1 seems to have their future
dialed in and I know it will be fun to watch!
Biplanes
Tom Aberle also broke a record this year – his own - going from
260.811 mph to 274.091. This was partially due to a change in the course length
for the biplane class, and partially due to magic. That’s the only thing that
makes sense – having a normally aspirated 360 cubic inch engine on a biplane go
that fast – it must be magic.
The reason the course length was changed was to continue the
consistent 3.0 Gs at the fastest potential lap. From the RARA Rules:
IN 2003, RARA chose to employ an
OPTIMUM RACE PATH based upon a speed and G-force provided by each Race Class to
determine the minimum radius turn and a more representative circuit around the
pylons. No pylons were moved at that time, yet the course lengths increased due
to the difference in distance between pylon to pylon (straight line distances)
and a curved track which is more representative of the path that can be flown.
Therefore, the Biplane Course is now 3.3417 miles based on a
speed of 275 MPH and 3.0 Gs.
Jake Stewart and Karl Grove kept the heat on Tom during the
week. Unfortunately, Tom was unable to compete on Sunday – so in the end, Jake
Stewart was crowned the victor in Bad Mojo.
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| Biplane Winner, Jake Stewart in Bad MojoCredit: Anthony Taylor – http://warbirdfotos.com/ |
Team Ruby (me!) moved into the Gold. Probably the best laps
I’ve ever flown just happened to be my 2 qualifying laps on a perfect Tuesday
morning. This put me on the back row of the Gold Races and gave me the privilege
of being passed by Tom – several times.
We ended up 5th in the Gold because of two low
flying calls for racers finishing right in front of me. So, a Fifth in the Gold
– and my best previous result was Third in the Silver. We were happy to say the
least!
Another word about Biplane Racing.. if you are interested in
racing with us, let me know and I’ll help you get the right information. We are
a great group of people who love competing and flying.
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| Team Ruby before the Sunday GoldCredit: Anthony Taylor – http://warbirdfotos.com/ |
T-6
This class abides by a very strict set of guidelines. Race
planes must be one of the three different types and variants of WWII trainers –
the AT-6, Harvard, or SNJ. They use 650 HP, nine cylinder Pratt & Whitney
R-1340 radial engine. Teams are not allowed to increase the cubic-inch
displacement of their P&W power plant. However, they may optimize the
engines by balancing the pistons, polishing the heads, cylinders and blower and
even polishing the carburetor. Teams are also allowed to remove the rear seat
to reduce weight. The T-6 Class course is 4.9352 miles based upon a speed of
250 MPH.
This year, Dennis Buehn was unbeatable qualifying first and
finishing each race in first place. John Lohmar in Radial Velocity was a strong
and consistent second place. Chris Rushing in Baron’s Revenge was a solid third
place.
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| Dennis Buehn in Midnight Miss III Thanks to Roger Cain |
The T-6 Silver had Joey “Gordo” Sanders taking the win. If
you were anywhere near their pits this year, you probably met some or all of
the stars of Airplane Repo from the Discovery Channel. Mike Kennedy was an
alternate pilot for Gordo. Kevin Lacey is a regular at NCAR and any other fun
aviation event. He was accompanied this year by Heather Sterzick, the newest
member of the Repo crew.
Part 2
That’s all for now – but stay tuned for the next edition –
where we’ll review the results from the Sport Class, Jets and Unlimited.
Until then, you know the drill… Fly low, fast and turn left.
Marilyn Dash
Ruby Red Racing
Ruby Red Racing
