Maryborough 27/01/2001

This was the first ever S1D racing event to be held.... There were originally 8 S1D racers built for the event but only 6 planes turned out on the day. Still with the 6 planes that showed there was allot of willingness to get the event underway. It's a shame the other 2 planes didn't make it to the line as the day that we had was fantastic, and it would only have made it better with a couple of extra planes. There were photo's taken before the racing in fear that some of them might not make it through the day without the big biffo!. There was talk about mid airs etc. Everyone was saying "better keep out of my way or I'll fly right through ya!" :)

When it came down to the racing though, there were more people flying wide to avoid the few that didn't care if they were taking a plane home or not! Three guys names spring to mind when I mention this.... Karl, Frank and Mick!.... Although Mick lucked out in the placings, he was certainly in there with the go hard guys.... If only he hadn't cut inside the poles, he definitely would have placed...

The racing was done in 2 heats of which there were 5 rounds.... there were 3 planes in each heat... This allows for 5 races each..... out of these 5 races you have to combine 4 and drop 1 (usually your worst one) to tally up your final score. The person with the lowest score at the end of the day wins the event etc.... You can see why lower race times measure up to a lower overall score....

The first heat was contested by Karl, Mick and Brenton, while the second heat was made up by Frank, Warren and Myself. While Karl and Mick were duelling it out, flying inside and out of each other..... Brenton had taken the initiative to stay out of the way.... forcing himself to fly wide as not to get in their way.... But by doing this he flew not only among the slowest times of the day but picked up a third place overall!!!.... This is what happens if you fly safe and consistent....

The second heat wasn't quite so hotly contested, although Frank had fuel delivery problems and could only fly at half throttle.... not to mention nearly stopping about 5 times a race.... how it kept going was only something the almighty could tell ya? but while it was running it went like stink..... It really did look like some one was kicking it round the course.... To get 2nd place for his efforts is really unbelievable considering the problems he had...

Warren had the only S1D there with an O.S. 46 FX on board.... These engines really are reliable to the point that I reckon the bloody things will just about run under water!!! So when it came to reliability Warren was right up there with a chance... it never missed a beat all day... But unfortunately it wasn't Warrens day and he failed to place in the event. Better luck next time Wazza....

That leaves me.... Well all I can say is that I had a dismal day and flew the worst times out of everyone... My Super Tigre engine just wasn't playing ball and I'm sure it was doing it to me deliberate!!! .... I had the first plane built and was practicing even before the other planes had been built.... Everything was going great and I was quietly confident about how I would do in the race.... But I'm afraid Murphy struck me down in all his glory... if I had my O.S. on the front that day I know I would have done better, but that's racing I guess.... I'll have to get them next time....

This event has sparked allot of interest with other fliers that were there on the day... Karl has walked away from the weekend with no less than 10 orders for the S1D Racer..... That will keep him and I busy for a while.... These Kits are available from us here and can be ordered through the "Kit" page at this site..... If you want to know more about the Kit please take a look. There is plenty of info and pickies there for you to suss out....

These planes are just perfect for the beginner to Pylon Racing in the sense that they are slow enough so that anyone can fly them but fast enough to be worthy of a sport racer.... Lets face it, this is racing so we don't need to go too slow... these planes also fly great... everyone that raced on the day talked about how well the plane behaved itself!

As for the race times that these Planes were doing .... The 2 best times of the day were done by Frank and Karl Harrod... They both put in times in the 1:32 area with others following a few seconds behind..... The best time I could manage was a 1:52 but that will improve the next time I race..... We also had the Radar Gun on these planes and they all seem to hit around the 170kph to 180kph top speed, so you can see why the racing is pretty close.....

At the end of the day there was a vote taken amongst all the fliers and was decided that the S1D Racer would become the official model plane for the "Queensland Sports Pylon Racing Class" The sports class that was replaced left if open for very skilled builders, and pilots to leave behind those beginners wishing to have a go at Pylon Racing.... These newcomers would often get disheartened and go away saying "I can't compete with that" and wouldn't come back... This is why Karl and I have come up with this concept so that the beginners to the sport do not have to be worried about being beaten by someone who has more money than them or having a superior model... All models are the same which is already looking good for the racing.