Air Race Season about to begin!

[Becca]

Come beat our 201 SARL speed record.  I dare you to help Byron prove his assertion that our new engine made our plane slower.  Air race season is upon us!

http://sportairrace.org/id4.html

[Jeff_S]

Seems like if you don't live in Texas your options are limited.  The only one close to us Southeasterners looked to be at Tullahoma TN (home of the Beechcraft Heritage Museum, BTW, and a very worthwhile place to visit if you love the Staggerwing). But I've always wanted to do this so maybe I'll sign up.

 

I also noticed looking through some of the race records that y'all hold the FAC3RG records for speed, and in all but one case actually beat out all the 231s in the FAC3RG-T category. This is further proof that that spinning turbo only gives you benefit if you get to altitude. Pretty cool.

[fantom]

So Becca is planning to tear up another engine

[carusoam]

I understand that a good break-in period requires high manifold pressure combined with good cooling, replete with high fuel flow.

There are a few new IO550s ready for break-in on this board...And others turning 2700 rpm....

Best regards,

-a-

[FloridaMan]

I couldn't find much on the rules, except that turning at airports for waypoints would require that you go over pattern altitude, which makes me assume that you guys are running wide-open at 1000ft? My poor old 18 year SMOH engine might not like that. 

[jetdriven]

If your engine has problems running at rated power for an hour, consider a new engine.

 

Your cylinder pressure at 2700 RPM and 29" of manifold pressure, full rich is the same or less that the old "25-square" climb, which is advocated by many to save your engine. It also runs a lower CHT, 320 in our case.

 

One of the racers last year laughed at the reluctance of people to join the air race circuit.  He has a 1500 hour junkyard O-360 from a Mooney in his RV-8. He runs 2900 RPM and 221 MPH on a fixed-pitch prop. I asked him what the magneto timing was and what the oil analysis says. He didnt know and didnt care, after 5 seasons of racing and a quart every 20 hours, with a clean oil filter every change it didnt matter.

 

See you at the races

 

[carusoam]

I hate when good instrumentation and logic trump OWTs. Next thing you know, we will all be climbing efficiently at Vz, intentionally.

Best regards,

-a-

[Becca]

I couldn't find much on the rules, except that turning at airports for waypoints would require that you go over pattern altitude, which makes me assume that you guys are running wide-open at 1000ft? My poor old 18 year SMOH engine might not like that. 

 

No requirement that you run WOT nor at 1000', though we do.  We have raced against a Mooney flying 24 squared.  There is a warbird class for instance, an a couple of guys with the same type of plane make a gentleman's agreement on power setting (to save fuel) and they fly the race at that setting, and then it becomes a game of how precisely you can fly the course.   Since we rarely have competition, we consider ourselves flying against our prior time. to see if we can improve our time between races. 

 

Its all in good fun and the other participants are a great community.  

 

We watch the CHT's very carefully and control the mixture to keep them below 380 (which usually requires full rich, which isn't actually best power.. I don't know where Byron is getting that we run at 320... ), and everything is below red line.  I challenge you to tell me what about your or our engine wouldn't "like that" (heck, that's how we were told to break it in!).  I am not sure I would be willing to do that, though, if I didn't have a reliable multi-point engine monitor.  We usually stay at 1000', but we do range from 500-1500' depending on the course and the wind conditions.

 

If you are curious about the rules, yes, there are some altitude restrictions (usually altitude restriction is "by the FARs", though sometimes they require us to clear an obstacle or a local airport by some distance).  You are given a course at the start of the race and you fly the course, making turns around the outside of the waypoints.  They time you when you start and stop and whoever flies it fastest (with some dividing of categories) wins.  Start is in order of speed, so the fastest plane starts first, down the line, this nearly eliminates passing, though some closely paired planes will pass, its done in a very controlled fashion. 

 

Anyway, come give it a try!

[KSMooniac]

My 22 year old engine loves running WOT at low altitude!     

[Super Dave]

Wow, I'd never heard of the SARL 'till seeing Becca's post. Sounds like fun, so I'm going to try to enter the Northwoods 100 (Waupaca, WI) on Oct. 5th.

I'm curious about how and when time is started/stopped and if you've found any good resources for learning about race technique and stratagy? I haven't found much online.

[jetdriven]

Updated with new info from two seasons of race experience. 

http://mooneyspace.com/topic/2691-mooney-m20j-air-racing-technique/

[jetdriven]

Another air race with a 192 MPH average speed. We leaned it to 15.5 GPH which was 1400 EGT at full throttle and 2700 RPM.  370 hottest CHT. We beat a 231 by 7 MPH and he was beating on his, but he was a new racer. Still though...

[kmyfm20s]

Another air race with a 192 MPH average speed. We leaned it to 15.5 GPH which was 1400 F WGT at full throttle and 2700 RPM.  370 hottest CHT. We beat a 231 by 7 MPH and he was beating on his, but he was a new racer. Still though...

Awesome! You have definitely got me interested in entering one. When does the stop watch start? On the runway or passing a point once you are in the air? I'm thinking of doing the ID, CO, and AZ race.