Radio Control Pylon Racing -- 2004/03
SPECIAL EDITION: My report on the 2003
Nationals (Nats), which was inadvertently
omitted from the December 2003 issue
because of a production error, was published
in the January 2004 issue. So we interrupt our
regular programming to bring you this special
feature. This month I’ll provide a more
complete answer to the spectator’s question
that I mentioned in the Nats coverage; it was
basically, why do we do this?
RADIO CONTROL PYLON RACING - 2003/03
ASSEMBLING THE PREDATOR: I would write “building the
Predator,” but building is not really necessary with this Almost Readyto-
Fly (ARF) Quickie 500 (Q-500) racer from LanierRC. It comes
already built and covered, so all that remains are a few steps of final
assembly.
Radio Control Pylon Racing -- 2004/01
AND THEN THERE WERE TWO: Just in time for holiday
shopping, I’m happy to announce that there is a reasonably priced
Almost Ready-to-Fly (ARF) sport model on the market that meets
the AMA Quickie 500 racing-rule formula. The new Great Planes
Viper 500 ARF joins Lanier’s Predator in offering up-and-coming
pilots a chance to get the feel of racing—or even just racing
airplanes—at minimal cost.
Radio Control Pylon Racing - 2004/01
THE NATIONALS! Aspiring competitors speak of this annual
contest in hushed, reverent tones, the way journeymen baseball
players in the movie Bull Durham spoke of “The Show”—the
major leagues. Seasoned pilots try to affect an offhand attitude,
as though the Nationals, or Nats, was just another well-publicized
local meet. They drop the name casually, the way one might say
“As I was telling Steve Spielberg at lunch just the other day ... ”
RADIO CONTROL PYLON RACING - 2003/01
F3d World chAmPion—that has a nice sound to it. The
best three pilots and mechanics the US had to offer went to
Bundaberg, Australia—a town of 20,000 people, three hours north
of Brisbane—which is locally known as the town where the Great
Barrier Reef begins.
We all departed from Los Angeles International Airport for the
trip overseas. The group consisted of pilots Stu McAfee (Los
Angeles CA), Bob Smith (Atascadera CA), and I (Battle Ground
WA), and mechanics/callers Bruce de Chastel, Lyle Larson, and
Bruce Thompson, with team manager Barry Leavengood.
Upon arriving in Bundaberg, we settled in for a week of
practice and competition. The flying field was magnificent, with a
clearing one-third of a mile in diameter which was ringed with
trees. The pits were in the tree lining.
