DonStegall

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The Summer Pylon Series races at Lowe’s Motor Speedway are on. The dates are July 11, July 25, August 8, and August 22. See the flier at http://www.lowesrc.com/uploads/sps_2009_bw.pdf

We have quite a few pilots planning to race Club 40 at the Lowe’s races. I don’t think Quickie 25 will have as many entries, but Club 40 should have 12-20 entries at most races.

The Club 40 rules are at the www.Club40Racing.com page. Last year we only ran Club 40 Advanced with the planes going 90-95 miles per hour. This year we will run Club 40 Advanced, but we will also run Club 40 Novice/Sport which uses bushing engines. Novice class planes only go about 65 mph and are much easier for newcomers. The bushing engines allowed are the OS 40LA, OS 46LA, and Thunder Tiger GP 42. But if you have an older bushing engine like an OS 40FP, we will certainly let you use it. Novice class is about getting started. If you need a plane, I have planes in stock. See www.HouseOfPylon.com/Club40 and I will have them at the races.

We will also have Quickie 25 racing. The rules are at www.Quickie25.com and any Quickie 25 plane with an OS 25FX engine with an APC 8x6 prop is legal. O.S. just came out with the O.S. 25AX engine and I am testing it to see if we are going to allow it. My initial testing shows it to not be any more powerful than the OS 25FX, but it does cost $40 more. I have backplate mounts for the OS 25 engines if you need them for $22.

We are going to have demos of RCPRO Electric Warbird Racing. See the rules at the www.ElectricWarbirdRacing.com page. These are cool little electric Warbird planes. Evan Doughty has flown his Voodoo Mustang at the FAPA fields and Sam McKinzie has also. I got a P-47D Thunderbolt EP ( http://www.airborne-models.com/html/...?ProductID=139 ) today and it is stunningly beautiful.

I have gotten a Wingman II to test for electric powered racing. See it at http://www.thewingsmaker.com/airplan...php?code=GA029 and my comments on RCUniverse at http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_8894937/tm.htm for more information. I hope to have one ready for the July 11 race. This should be a really fun electric plane for you clean freaks.

The Summer Pylon Series races will not be SPRA sanctioned or conforming races. The Club 40 rules that we will be using are the nationally established rules. SPRA limits engines for Club 40 to the Thunder Tiger Pro 40 and APC 9x6 prop. That is NOT the case for these races. See the rules at http://www.rcpro.org/html/rules/club_40/rules.htm for the engines that are legal. Any commercially available unmodified prop is allowed.

I have all of the equipment needed for the races. We could use help with the judging of pylons and lap counting if you are not ready to race. You would have fun participating. Some of our new pilots this year got started by helping last year.

Let’s Race!!!

twitte1

Don, Please clarify who can fly in Club 40 classes. Can I race in both Adv and Sport?

Trey

DonStegall

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Trey,

You most definitely can fly in both Sport/Novice and Advanced.

In fact, one reason I'm running Novice is so that newcomers can race Novice first thing in the morning and get some practice/experience before they race in Advanced later in the day.

I plan to run Club 40 Novice, Club 40 Advanced, then Quickie 25. Increasing pilot demands as the day progresses.

A Thunder Tiger GP 42 has the same lug spacing as a TT Pro 40. But the width across is just a little narrower. So you can switch engines by just changing the width of the mount a little bit. But the weight is different, so you would either need a spinner weight or something for balance.

Club 40 Sport is actually quite fun because the planes still handle well at the slower speed.

DonStegall

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I have two things.

1) AirBorne Models shipped me an older style Sky Raider Mach II with a white fuselage and miss-matched tail and wing components. If I don't sell it, I'm just going to put it together as a Club 40 Sport demo/loaner. But I'm going to offer it to a Charlotte local for $50. I also have a just broken-in OS 40LA that I will sell with it for $50. So for $100, you can have a Club 40 Sport/Novice airframe and engine and have plenty of time to get it ready for the 7/11 race. I don't want to ship it and I don't want to meet you somewhere. You have to come to my house to pick it up. First caller to 704-225-3718 / person with a payment gets it.

2) John Gibson asked me if I'm going to have a "Season Championship" for the Lowe's races. I had not thought about this. But with 4 races every 2 weeks over 6 weeks, why not? I'm not doing trophies for the individual races, but I think this is an excellent idea and I am going to have "Series Championship" trophies and prizes at the last race. We may have an after-race party on the patio at Quaker Steak and Lube or some place like that for the final race.

DonStegall

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Hello Pylon Racers,

Today, Wednesday, July 8, I mowed the Lowe’s takeoff and landing strip. I mowed it very close so we will have no problem taking off either Club 40 or Quickie 25 airplanes. I mowed it today because there was a potential for some rain on Thursday and Friday. Now the rain is not showing for Friday and that is a good thing as the pylons will be put up on Thursday. Friday will be available as a practice day.

The first race of the Lowe’s Summer Pylon Series is this Saturday, July 11. Please come out and race or watch.

I have made new pylons. These are the big boys. They are painted bright yellow and will have buckets on top for visibility. The right pylon will have an orange bucket and the left pylon will have a white bucket. Unless we have to take off to the left. Then they will be reversed. The orange bucket will be the #1 pylon. If we do take off to the left, we will finish going to the left. We will fly a full 10 laps.

I had to get out my measuring tape to locate the marker for the left pylon. You can be assured that the course is exactly 400 feet long. We will be starting from the middle of the course. This is very convenient for the lap counters as there is a power tower that is exactly in line with the start finish line. I have placed a table on the start/finish line in the pits. But you can look to the wind sock at the helicopter pads at the speedway and the tower to locate the line.

We will not be using the “launch pads” we used at one of the races last year. Your caller will have to launch / let go of the plane and get to you. If you choose to fly to the right of the start line, your caller will have further to run.

The turn lights will be on the left pylon regardless.

We need course helpers. Please bring your friends, or come out to help. There will be a raffle for non-flying course workers for a new and in the box World Models Groovy 3D EP ARF airplane. It comes with a brushless motor. I have one and I love it. It is a great 3D performer, but makes a great sport plane with the throws toned down. And it is very easy to put together and get into the air. See the attached photo.

We WILL NOT have food at the July 11 race. I will have sodas and water for sale. So bring your lunch and snacks. We will not take a lunch break long enough to go out for food. I may have crackers and chips for sale.

I will have Club 40 airplanes for sale for those of you who need replacements and those who want to get started racing. Or if you just want a fun sport plane.

We will have demonstrations of RCPRO Electric Warbird Racing planes … www.ElectricWarbirdRacing.com … and RCPRO Club Wingman … www.ClubWingman.com … These electrics are fun planes. If there is enough interest, we will race them at the August 8 and August 22 races. That gives you a month to get planes, set them up, and practice some. So you electric fans, come out and see what the racing is all about. I’ve attached photos of a P-51 EP and a Wingman II EP.

If you are even thinking about racing, please email me your name, address, email address, AMA #, classes you will be racing, and frequencies for those classes. The flier for the event is at http://www.lowesrc.com/uploads/sps_2009_bw.pdf and anyone can fly in any or all classes. Experts can fly in the Novice class as novices can learn from you. What better way to learn that by seeing the right way to do it? Club 40 Sport/Novice planes only go 60/65 mph and still handle very well. They are fun even at the slower speeds. Only bushing engines are allowed in the Novice class.

Registration will close at 9am for Club 40 Sport and Club 40 Advanced. And at 12pm for Quickie 25. We will race in that order. We will have technical inspections and weigh-ins. So if you practice early, be prepared to take the wing off of your plane for servo and radio inspections. Exceptions may be made for Quickies with hard to remove servo access covers. If that is the case and you can, have a photo of your servo installation.

The weather is supposed to be nice on Saturday. Come join the fun. I’ve worked very hard to make these races a success and I look forward to seeing you.

Don Stegall
Cell: 704-968-2881
Shop: 704-225-3718

DonStegall

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Lowe’s Summer Pylon Series 2009

Just to be clear on a couple of things.

The racing will start at 10am. Practice begins are soon as you can see to fly. We may interrupt for setup purposes.

Technical inspections are being done just to make sure that planes conform to the AMA requirements. Servos must have 4 screws. Control surfaces must be safely attached. Everything is for the purposes of safety. Not to dog anyone about their building techniques. Inspections are required by the AMA pylon waiver.

We will have tents and chairs for the course workers.

I will be sending out a pilot’s briefing so that the pilots’ meetings will be brief.

Thanks,

Don Stegall
Cell: 704-968-2881
Shop: 704-225-3718

DonStegall

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One of the new pylons.

DonStegall

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The pylons are up at Lowe's. [8D] They are MUCH more visible than the small pylons were and the yellow stands out against the background much better. I think everyone will have an easier time finding the course. Plus that little tree on the left side is gone. So no obstructions for quite a ways.

To clarify on the tech inspections:

All I mean is that the AMA regulations must be met. If 4 screw servos are required for a particular control surface, then a 4 screw servo is required. You can't use a 2 screw servo on ailerons unless you have dual servos. You can use 2 screw servos on each half of a V-tail, but not on an elevator. If a servo is supposed to have 4 screws and only 2 are used, it isn't going to fly.

In terms of Club 40, all servos are supposed to be 4 screw servos. I will make exceptions for throttle if the plane makes the 4 pound 8 ounce minimum. In the future, use 4 screw servos on all servos in Club 40. Any questions, see http://www.rcpro.org/html/rules/club_40/rules.htm

I'm not trying to be a pain. It's all about safety and fairness.

If you think you have an issue, contact me in advance.

BarryReade

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I went by Don's house this morning to get some props and see his shop. His shop is just what he said it is, very nice and functional. His work on fuselages, wings, and tail feathers is very professional. After the grand tour we took three planes down to his flying field and flew his Sky Raider with an OS46AX. Nice it is a SR. I then flew the Wingman electric and it was great. Very responsive and lots of power. Don said it was pulling about 450 watts in the air wide open and it turned on a dime and was very stable. I flew several laps WO and it had no tendencies to snap in the turns. It will be a great combo to race electrics.

Don also had a little P-51 electric that I flew and it looked like it had a lot of potential but the CG was a bit aft for me and I would want to work the controls to my satisfaction. Still, a nice flight and a great landing.

I would say all of the planes that Don has selected are great flyers.

I look forward to the race tomorrow having a great time seeing folks I know and meeting new.

DonStegall

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It was great having Barry over this morning. I flew the 46AX Sky Raider to demonstrate the field. I let Barry fly it and he is a lot better than I am. So I let him fly the Wingman II and the P-51. He did a great job. I'm the only person who has flown the P-51 and I do have it quite sensitive. I haven't really had time to race tune it. But I will get it tuned up some. Will probably tone done the ailerons for the demo tomorrow.

I've been getting phone calls from spectators and people interested in seeing the racing. The weather is shaping up nicely.

Bryan Baker came to my house this morning and had some issues with the pushrods on his planes. We fixed them and went out to Lowe's. I marked the Start/Finish line and put down 4 pieces of plywood to use as takeoff pads primarily for the Quickie 25 planes. But the spacing will be consistent too.

Bryan struggled with one of his planes he got from someone else. The wing is warped on it. But his LA Racer was doing fine and Barry was coaching him when I left.

The trailer is hooked up to the truck and I am packing up. I've tested the generator and I will be going offline to a broadband wireless card shortly.

I have new cartridges for the color laser printer and hopefully we will have a good race.

DonStegall

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I will have comments about the race later. I have 30+ pictures and will upload them while I am unlaoding the trailer and truck.

I will post results and heat sheets on Sunday.

DonStegall

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Next 12

DonStegall

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And a few more.

culver

Looks like y'all had fun.

DonStegall

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Everyone I talked to had a fun day of racing. We did have some slight delays with me on the computer as my son and wife who usually do it weren't here, and we had some staffing issues because so many of the people present were racing or calling in Club 40.

We ran Club 40 Sport first with 2 entries. Mike Schneider was completely new to racing and I let him borrow one of my Club 40 Sport/Novice planes. He did well as he did not crash in 5 rounds.

We had 14 entries in Club Advanced. John Gibson won with a plane that he test flew that morning. We had a tie for 2nd and had a fly-off. A data entry problem actually made it a 3 way tie for 2nd and planes had been put away, so the tie had to be broken on time. Sorry Tom.

Then we had Quickie 25 with 7 entries. Bob Harris and John Gibson were sahring a plane and Bob was involved in a mid-air in the first round. So that cut the number down quickly. Then there were more crashes and mid-airs.

Speaking of which, there was a lot of carnage in Club 40 Advanced also. The good thing about this series is that there is a lot of racing. The bad thing is that guys don't have long to recover.

I can tell you that the competitive spirit is alive and well though. People want to know their heat times and they examine the results. I will post the heat results later today. Here are the race results for now.

[link=http://www.rcpro.org/net/uploads/attachments/t829_m1_n1.html]SPS Club 40 Advanced - July 11, 2009[/link]

[link=http://www.rcpro.org/net/uploads/attachments/t829_m1_n2.html]SPS Quickie 25 - July 11, 2009[/link]

tarheelblue

Great Job Don, I really enjoyed my first race . You did an excellent job of setting up and running this race. Thanks for all your hard work. I'll plan on making the early Aug race. Keep up the good work. BB

rcpilot32

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CONGRATS GO TO DAVE KEATS FROM MICHIGAN.

HE WON Q-25 WITH A 20 YEAR OLD SCAT CAT.

NOT THE FASTEST, BUT HE WAS THERE AT THE END.

BY THE WAY, DAVE IS 70 YEARS OLD.

DonStegall

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The delays were not computer induced. I had a color laser printer and it worked great. It made printing the matrix for the pilots much faster. A color laser is the only way to go for speed of printing.

I did not have the entry forms printed out. I printed them on demand. I should have had 20+ printed up.

I did not have help lined up to run the race. Luckily Matthew Rudolph, an electric pilot, stepped up and REALLY helped out by keeping the heat cards and running them to me. He was extremely helpful. Without him things would not have gone as well as they did. He took home a P47-D Thunderbolt and I don't know if he will race it, but he's said he will help at the future races if at all possible.

I did not have food lined up. We're having an FAPA club meeting today and hopefully the success of the race will bring out enthusiastic club support.

The thing that slowed me down with the computer was that I was afraid to open multiple races at once for fear of corrupting the race in progress. So I just need to make sure I understand the NMPRA program a little better. But there is NO WAY I would try to run 3 classes with this many pilots without the program. Especially with timing and people so concerned about points and the season points championship. Many people commented on the "Professionalism" of the race operations. I HIGHLY appreciate that.

DonStegall

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The Flying Aces Pilots Association club meeting was today. It was a good meeting. The club officers were happy with the first race of the Summer Pylon Series. We will have food cooked on-site at the rest of the races. This will be separate from the race administration and will be a club fundraiser. Considering we had 40-60 people at times during the day, food is essential.

The start time for the rest of the races will be 9:00 am.

The Wingman II was very well received. I will have at least one more ready for the next race and if nothing else, I will race John Gibson, or I will let Jimmy Katz race him in Club Wingman.

We will run the same schedule. RCPRO Club 40 Sport, RCPRO Club 40 Advanced, and Quickie 25. We will also run RCPRO Club Wingman and RCPRO Electric Warbird Racing after the glow events for all of the remaining races. See www.ClubWingman.com and www.ElectricWarbirdRacing.com ... Between my planes and others, we will have 4+ entries in the electric classes. And I will get to race a little at the end of the day.

I will be updating the flier and sending out emails.

DonStegall

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One more thing. The raffle for the course workers was very well received. The prize for the course workers at the next race will be the [link=http://ecsvr.com/abm/shopexd.asp?id=1930]Ultimate 40S[/link].

glasscock

I'll post our photos soon. Thank you for a great start of the summer pylon series.

Dave G.

scausey

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About the SAFETY of our sport. This kind of talk is not good for pylon, it give AMA just one more reason to shut pylon down because it's up to the CD to control the safety of all pilots and others. Please if you have trouble controling hard hat issues, dont bring it to the forum. In every AMA, NMPRA race that I have EVER been to, this has NEVER been a problem... we all know what is expected of us pilots and callers...

Never leave the pits to go to the line without your helmet, its a rule....


Scott Causey

PylonDave

Don, I have been doing the matrix for the SoCal races this year and we run 424 and Q40 in the mornings and 428 in the afternoon. I have been running the 424 and Q40 Matrix together with no issues . I think you could run three matrix at once with no problems.
Then you can enter results for all classes without opening and closing the different classes.

glasscock

Here are a few photos from the race.

BarryReade

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I have a bunch of pics that I took Saturday and they are posted at the following [link=http://greyghost.smugmug.com/gallery/8882629_xkYmy#588947782_GijyY]Site[/link].