2011 Farmington NEPRO RC Pylon Race (424)
By Gerry Yarrish; Photos by Damon Rosenthal
(above) View down the flightline. The main lap count, timer tent, (left) me at Pylon 3 calling station and Plyon 1 calling/light station (far left).
June 5, 2011 was the Central CT RC Club’s annual NEPRO 424 Q-500 pylon race. This is one of our club’s most exciting events for the year, and is one in a series of races hosted by various events held in the New England area. For those who don’t know what Q-500 is, it is a class of racing open to any kit or scratch built aircraft that qualifes for and conforms to the rules specific for Scat Cat 500 or Spickler Q-500. The aircraft must be of conventional design with a forward wing and aft empennage. The full rules and engine requirements are available at: www.neproclub.org
(above) Starting line.
Rule Notes
NO COMPOSITE WINGS ARE ALLOWED! Constant chord, constant thickness platform with a minimum of 500 square inches. The overall span shall be a minimum of 50 inches and a maximum of 52 inches measured along the center of the chord, wingtip to wingtip. The minimum thickness shall be 1 3/16 (1.187) inches for at least 47 3/4 inches of the span. The weight for NEPRO Q500 is now a minimum 3lbs 12oz per national rules as of Jan 1, 2007. The only engine allowed is the Thunder Tiger Pro .40 R/C. Remote needle valves are permitted for safety reasons. The only pressure allowed is muffler pressure. All replacement parts except screws, bearings, glow plugs, prop washer and nut must come from the manufacturer. A rounded spinner or safety nut is required. The engine must be fully exposed between the engine lugs. No cowling or streamlining of the engine is permitted. It must be demonstrated that the throttle is operational and able to be shut off by a dedicated servo on demand by the transmitter. No modifications are allowed. This includes head shims and the removal of the muffler baffle!!
From the Flightline
(above) Me.
I spent the day as the pylon #3 caller and my job, besides being a supportive club member, was to radio in any cuts at that pylon. The airplanes race in 4 lanes, and each plane is identified with either red or green stripes placed on their wings. Since all planes race in a counter clockwise direction, the planes are easily identified by the color and which wing the sticker is attached (whether it is the high or low wing,) as viewed by the pylon callers. So the 4 planes in each heat are: Green High, Green Low, Red High, and Red Low. Should a plane not round (cut) a pylon, it is given a one lap penalty and if it cuts two pylons in a 10 lap heat, it is disqualified from the heat. Time for each heat is recorded to determine the winner and each winner is advanced to the next round of heats. The final standings for our NEPRO race is shown below!
(above) From the Pit area.
If you ever want some faces and furious RC fun, check out a local pylon race! You might even want to pickup a racer and try racing in the Sportsman Class!
Congratulations to Team DeRosa-Konno! They both arrived as Standard Pilots and finished off the day as Experts with Mike DeRosa taking fast time for the day with a 1:14.14 and Miki Konno finding himself second to Lloyd Burnham and ultimately taking home third place for the day after a great battle and fly-off. Congratulations Bob Triggs in placing Second in his first race ever as a Nepro Expert Pilot with First Place finisher Lloyd Burnham calling. Congratulations Ola Nordell for winning our Sportsman Race and a Brand New Thunder Tiger Pro40BB.
(above) Your tpical NEPRO Racers.
Thank you again to former President Bill Jensen for donating yet another Thunder Tiger Pro40 engine in his continued effort to support of those new to pylon racing.
The Matrix Tzars L. and M. have raised the scoring standards. Thank you both.
(above) Pylon 3 Callers.
Standings by points after 5 rounds
APRA Name # Class Low Time Points Channel NMPRA
1 Lloyd Burnham 13 APRA 1:16.00 19 123 22J
2 Bob Triggs III 6 APRA 1:18.47 F4 17 123
3 Miki Konno (9) 12 APRA 1:19.24 F3 17 106
4 Ray Dolat 27 APRA 1:15.31 F4 16 38
5 Joe Tropea 1 APRA 1:17.86 F3 16 101 28J
(above) Ouch!
6 Craig Korsen 7 APRA 1:18.20 F2 16 104
7 Mike Masi 11 APRA 1:17.91 15 101 37J
8 Irl Brown, Jr. 19 APRA 1:19.81 15 38 14J
9 Mike Derosa (9) 16 APRA 1:14.14 14 106
10 Mike Maznicki (9) 3 APRA 1:16.79 14 38
11 Bill Jensen 28 APRA 1:26.99 14 12
12 Dennis Duplice (9) 4 APRA 1:20.48 13 105
13 Mike Luzzi 9 APRA 1:21.64 13 22
14 Peter Tani 2 APRA 1:24.29 13 38 23J
15 Ralph Rinaldi 14 APRA 1:15.93 12 123 27J
16 Don Ouimette 21 APRA 1:24.66 11 104
17 Bill Glode 20 APRA 1:27.02 10 52
18 Peter Baltrush (9) 29 APRA 1:35.41 10 12
19 Michael Stewart (9) 25 APRA 1:23.61 9 101
20 Ralph Mietz (9) 24 APRA 1:37.72 8 55 12M
21 Nick Roselli (9) 26 APRA 1:41.10 7 110
22 Vinnie Langella (9) 10 APRA 1:35.95 6 22
23 John Banks 18 APRA 1:29.81 4 107
24 Roger Gilman (9) 23 APRA 1:38.99 4 52
25 Calvin Stewart 17 APRA 0:00.00 0 52
Yarrish Support Team Eager to help! :^)
Some YouTube Videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crP1K6Lgeeg
Thanks Damon!
Mighty useful. Make no mistake, I appeiracte it.