GSJames

The 6th and final race in the N.Tx. Pylon Racing Org's Q-25/Club 40 & EF-1 Pylon Racing series is November 16th, 2013.

This will be a Two (2) Pylon Course, 400 feet between Pylons.
We will be alternation classes between Q-25/Club 40 & EF-1.
We will fly the Q-25's and the Club 40's in the same heats since previous head-to-head testing has shown that the airplanes are essentially the same speed when flown smoothly.

The fuel will be 15% and you must provide your own fuel (we will trust you, if you win by using greater than 15% fuel, you aren't a winner, just a cheater)

It is probable that there will be insufficient judging manpower available. Thus, you should be prepared to perform the duties of pylon cut judge when the other class is racing. i.e. Q-25/C-40 racers will judge for EF-1 guys and vice versa.

Registration will be at 10 AM, 1st race will be at 11 AM.
Event Fee will be $20 and will include lunch for all registered pilots
Second event entry fee is $10
Lunch is FREE for all course workers
Lunch will be available to non-entrants for $5.

Fort Worth Thunderbird R/C Club is hosting event.
Location will be at the T'Birds New Field, Mustang Park, Lake Benbrook, 3602 Winscott Plover Road, Fort Worth, Tx. 76126.
GPS: 32 deg 36 min 35.12 sec N, & 97 deg 29 min 06.31 sec W.

CD: Gary James 817-689-3778 CD: Verne Bell 817-629-1909
We hope to see you there.

GSJames

For those of you who are not familiar with the field:

http://www.fwthunderbirds.org/Flying_Field.html


Thunderbird Field is located in Mustang Park on the south shore of Benbrook Lake. It is on property leased by the club from the US Army Corps of Engineers.

GPS coordinates for the Corps of Engineers gate are 32.592909, -97.479741. Or the address, 4300 Winscott Plover Road, Fort Worth, TX can be entered. This is the entrance to Mustang Park. Drive to the end of the entrance road and turn left at the stop sign.

The Corps provides RV hookups at its facilities in Bear Creek Campground (west of the field) and South Holiday (northwest across the lake). There is NOT direct access to the field from Bear Creek. Bear Creek is not open year round. Contact the Corps at 817-292-244 for information.

The Corps allows free admission to the park to AMA card holders. Show your AMA card at the gate and ask for a "Thunderbird pass" Others are required to pay the normal lake admission fees.

AMA membership is required and pilots are required to post their AMA cards in the frequency board prior to transmitter turn on. The AMA Safety code is posted at the board. Club rules are also posted and both are shown below.

Lunch will be catered BBQ from Riscky's BBQ in Benbrook.

Try to get there early so that I can get the matrix made up. Entry fee is $20 and includes lunch

Expect to have to help out at the pylons when the other event is flying.

See you there.

Gary

GSJames

It has been found that it is possible to over-ride the circuitry in LiPo battery chargers and overcharge the batteries. This practice is not only dangerous, but is not in keeping with the intent or spirit of the rules. To that end, the attached memo from NMPRA president Dan Kane, outlines the steps being take to prevent such issues in the future. It is possible that batteries will be checked for overcharging at the flightline at this race if there is believed to be a problem.



EF1 RACE OFFICIALS



The overcharging of lithium polymer batteries is dangerous and should not be allowed in any upcoming EF one events.

Next cycle I will be adding verbiage to not allow this.

Going forward, I am recommending that all batteries the presented in the ready box, (similar to fueling station) and someone checks each pack to make sure the each cell does not exceed 4.2 V or something close to this. Or this can be done on the flight line just prior to flight. I would like to use this method during it to upcoming events to see how this is received by the pilots and how it is handled by course officials. Jerry and Jim will be at these races. I'm turning to them for feedback on the pros and cons prior to re-revising the rules.

Not only is this outside the spirit of the event, it is also a major safety issue. A fire resulted in the pits at a recent race due to this overcharging method. We cannot allow this to happen at any EF one races.

Dan Kane
president
NMPRA

Duane-RCU

My Feedback: (5)

The fuel will be 15% and you must provide your own fuel (we will trust you, if you win by using greater than 15% fuel, you aren't a winner, just a cheater)
Really? I thought you used 51% ??? LOL, inside joke between a few of us!


I may come out since it's been a while, and try to get rid of a Viper while I'm at it. Or trade for a Club 40 plane. Are the races still going to be on Saturdays next year? I miss not being able to come out.
Duane

pylonboy26

20-30 mph wind... Will you guys actually fly? History says no!!!! Wind is your friend .......Please let us know NOW!!!! so we can make different plans.

GSJames

We're going to give it a try

GSJames

We had a pretty good turnout for the last Q-25 race of the season, especially considering the weather forecast. Nine brave Q-25'ers showed up, but unfortunately we only had two racers show up for EF-1. As it turns out, the wind was straight down the runway at about 20 mph with occasional gusts. We've flown in worse. There were a few YEE HAA's out there due to the wind, and I'm guilty of some of them, but on the whole, I don't think that there were any planes lost due to the wind. There were a couple of "touch and go's" in the grass coming out of the downwind pylon, with Squidman's (Steve Fabianke) being the most dramatic. I think that he was just trying to help out the club with the mowing of the field. Jerry Hellums put one in coming out of the downwind pylon, but I'm not sure if it was the wind or not Only one mid-air, I apparently put a wingtip through Steve Blackwell's aft fuselage, but both airplanes kept flying. One airplane damaged on landing. Gary Alphin's "Revolution" was really smokin' and it was very smooth in the wind. We flew 5 rounds of 3 man heats. At the end of 5 rounds we had a 2-way tie for first between Squidman and Alphin. It was a hard fought heat, and Gary Alphin turned in a time MUCH lower than the previous low time of the day. Unfortunately, he did so by flying a LOT shorter course than the pylons called for and double cut. That left Squidman as the undisputed winner of the day.

We are putting together the schedule for next year and want to coordinate with the Waco, Georgetown and Hico C-40 races so that we can all get in as much racing as possible next year.

Also, we want to encourage more participation in EF-1 around here. We have been putting on EF-1 races for 2 years now but it hasn't seemed to catch on as of yet. With all the great ARF's out there, it's time to dust off the workbench over the winter and drag out the battery chargers and get racing. Just think, with EF-1 there is no nasty oil to wipe down and your wife won't get mad at you for spilling fuel all over the carpet of the car.