by Martt Clupper at AirPigz.com
Rare Bear humor: "Due to the economy we've had to downsize..."
(14 pix)
You gotta love when the people who race hardcore in the Unlimited Class at Reno have a sense of humor. I figured this pic of the Rare Bear pedal car was a perfect way to get things started. My Reno 2010 experience is beginning a little late - I arrived late last night and then got started checking things out today: Friday. I didn't see the real Bear early today, but I'm sure she'll be growling soon.
Kevin Eldredge; his Relentless NXT; and a pile of broken engine parts
The big story so far has certainly been the massive engine failure and mayday experienced by Kevin Eldredge in his Relentless NXT racer. It was great to see him spending some time with the people showing the airplane and the broken pieces. It would've been easy to pack and run, but I think it says a lot that he's not only still here, but putting as much of an upbeat face on this situation as could ever be expected. Be sure to check out his Relentless Reno 2010 blog for more details.
Answering questions from interested people about what happened with the NXT
Kevin explained that an oil line fitting appears to have failed first, leading to oil loss. When all pressure was lost, the prop went flat which allowed the engine to wildly overspeed. Imagine a high output race engine running at or near full power and then remove almost all the load from it. The extremely high rpm caused the counterbalance on the back of the engine to fail, and in the process of all these things happening, the engine locked up suddenly breaking off the shaft extension and throwing the prop off the airplane. Fortunately, even tho 3 of the engine mount lugs broke off the engine, it stayed attached to the airframe. For this very kind of reason, race engines are set up with safety cables that hopefully will at least keep the engine on the airplane in an emergency so the airplane will remain balanced.
Kevin is still trying to figure out what his next step is... but with a team called 'Relentless', I gotta think he'll be back at it as soon as he can. We also talked about maybe doing a podcast about the incident before long. Hopefully we'll find a way to work that out as it would be a fascinating event to better understand. Most important, it's great to see Kevin was completely unhurt by this dramatic event.
Jimmy Leeward and Galloping Ghost on takeoff roll
I love the really short wings and 'no-scoop' look of Galloping Ghost
Interesting to note on this pass that one gear doors is not fully stowed
Another fascinating story at Reno 2010 is the effort of Jimmy Leeward and crew to race their highly modified P-51 Galloping Ghost. As I was en route to Reno, I had thought that the airplane hadn't qualified and thus wasn't going to be able to race. As it turns out, there's a way to work your way up into the big race. From what I heard, Galloping Ghost needed to win today's Bronze race, and tomorrow's Silver race for a shot at the big Gold race on Sunday. Things are looking good as it easily won the race today. However, I noticed the engine wasn't running at the end of the landing rollout, but I don't know if there's a problem associated with that or if it's no big deal. More info later.
Strega means 'witch' in Italian - note the witch hanging from the hangar roof
Strega getting some maintenance in preparation for defending her championship title
Nice look at the 'laminar flow' P-51 airfoil shape
It's also going to be very exciting to watch Steve Hinton Jr. try to make it two years in a row as the Gold race winner in the Unlimited Class. Strega is looking great and there's no reason to expect anything less a stellar performance. And, while they do have a witch hanging over the airplane, I'm believing it's hard work and dedication that will win races... and this team definitely seems to have that on their side. It's gonna be a lot of fun to watch!
The awesome Focke-Wulf FW-190 replica that's racing this year at Reno
This definitely looks like a tire that needs replacing!
I don't have a lot of details yet on this fabulous looking Focke-Wulf 190 replica, but you can be sure I'll get them. The FW-190 has been a fave of mine since I was a kid. I'm really looking forward to seeing it in the air.
You might notice that the airplane is jacked up on the right side in the top pic. The bottom pic sure shows why! I don't know if they had a brake lock up or what happened, but that tire sure got a wild flat spot on it. I thought it was very, very cool that they had the tire sitting out for people to see. Being in the pit area at Reno is AWESOME!
I just love oil-burning, smoke-belching radial engines! (Dreadnought)
Amazing Allison V-3420, 24 cylinder engine driving counter-rotating prop shafts
Watch for a lot more detail later on this very interesting WWII era engine
And, lots more Reno updates coming soon... as the fastest motorsport in the world is well under way! (you really should be here!)
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