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Post by DragonflyDH90 on Sept 24, 2017 13:50:06 GMT 12
Hi everyone. Some of us are back in NZ, it was a very busy time but thoroughly enjoyable. I have a fair bit of in cockpit video footage that I need to sift through (video editing is not my strong point). I have footage from the Bronze heat, Silver heat and the Gold final. I'm hoping the footage will be OK as there will be quite a bit of passing in the heats and you should see the shadows etc of Voodoo and Strega flashing past in the Gold.
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Post by DragonflyDH90 on Sept 24, 2017 13:59:23 GMT 12
In partial answer to the question by planecrazy. The way we were able to be competitive comes down to power to weight ratio and drag, as well as Graeme flying a very nice race line.
The Yak weighs considerably less than everything else on the track which means that it accelerates very quickly and any minor speed loss when rounding a pylon can be rebuilt quickly, turn around pylons is smaller also given that you aren't shifting such a big mass. The Yak also has a very small airframe and frontal area therefore very low drag compared with the blunt frontage and size of a P-51.
It was a fantastic week (except for the all night engine change) and a pretty enjoyable flight taking the old girl back to Chino on the Monday. Everyone we meet in the US was out to help and the encouragement and general support (competitors and general public) was absolutely huge. This whole experience will be one that is burnt into the memory banks for ever.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 24, 2017 14:35:28 GMT 12
Awesome stuff Ryan. Welcome back.
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Post by planecrazy on Sept 24, 2017 19:08:44 GMT 12
Hi everyone. Some of us are back in NZ, it was a very busy time but thoroughly enjoyable. I have a fair bit of in cockpit video footage that I need to sift through (video editing is not my strong point). I have footage from the Bronze heat, Silver heat and the Gold final. I'm hoping the footage will be OK as there will be quite a bit of passing in the heats and you should see the shadows etc of Voodoo and Strega flashing past in the Gold. Wow look forward to that, can't imagine what it would be like humming around that course and those two Mustangs come up from your six and leave you for dead. Would imagine it would be a safety issue, do they give radio warning to the aeroplane they are about to pass? |
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Post by Naki on Sept 24, 2017 21:56:46 GMT 12
Any chance you will be back next year? I am tentatively planning to go myself
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Post by scrooge on Sept 25, 2017 8:13:07 GMT 12
Well done Graeme and good to hear the update Ryan.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 25, 2017 13:54:42 GMT 12
Welcome home Ryan and Tracy, and I'm excited to hear about the video. (If the 360cam was going...what an experience!) What was it like for you guys to fly into Chino? I've seen a lot of comment from American race fans eager to see "the little Yak" come back next year - you guys made one heck of an impression! In fact AAFO HangarTalk forum member Big_Jim from Seattle, WA posted this wicked photo with the message "Hope that Graeme decides to come back again" today.  DSC_0513 Big_Jim AAFO by Zac Yates, on Flickr |
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Post by planecrazy on Sept 25, 2017 19:08:42 GMT 12
Are so the secret to success was not a winged keel, it was tail-less for less drag!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 26, 2017 11:16:17 GMT 12
 A couple of photos from seasoned photographer Will Campbell of Napa, CA, who's been on the AAFO HangarTalk forum since 2004: I asked if these were late afternoon shots but I have to share his response in full because of his praise for Graeme and the Full Noise crew:
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Post by Deleted on Sept 27, 2017 10:39:10 GMT 12
The next batch is also from Will Campbell and I really thought it was worth sharing here in its entirety. I think it's the Saturday heat:
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Post by Deleted on Sept 29, 2017 14:14:12 GMT 12
More photos from Will, this time of Sunday's big race.
Also, the official website for the event now has the date for next year's races: September 12-16, 2018.
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Post by planecrazy on Sept 29, 2017 15:01:29 GMT 12
Wow great shots, interesting the two shots towards the end of the images with the Mustang
overtaking the Yak, would that be fuel, exhaust or coolant venting out the back?
Hope they are going to do a Full Noise tshirt for us punters?
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Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 29, 2017 15:16:19 GMT 12
I read it was spray bars spraying water to keep things cool. Aussie warbirds have them too for when they sit on their ridiculously hot tarmac aprons to aid in not cooking the engine when they're running.
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Post by isc on Sept 29, 2017 19:36:30 GMT 12
There is a scene in a Utube vid of a Mustang emptying its water from the spray bar cooling sysyem on the apron where it parked up after a flight, when I first saw it I wondered where the great puddle appeared from. The water is sprayed into the radiator intake, I presume this was not a standard North American fitting. isc
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Post by hardyakka on Sept 29, 2017 21:03:09 GMT 12
A number of the Reno Unlimited aircraft have a boil-off engine cooling system. You start with a full tank of water/alcohol coolant and when it is run through the cooling system, absorbing the heat it is then ejected overboard. Why? So you save on drag by not having a big radiator hanging out in the breeze. It does mean your endurance is limited by the amount of coolant you can carry. Have a look at the underside of some of the Super 'stang Unlimited racers. What is different to a stock P-51? A much smaller (or even no) radiator scoop with adjustable rear flap. Boil off water cooling system.
Jimmy Leeward's I'll-fated "Galloping Ghost" had no underslung radiator at all.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 3, 2017 15:29:31 GMT 12
I think it was Stiletto that had a similar set-up to the Ghost. It makes for a very sleek machine.
Some more photos by Will Campbell, this time of Stevo passing Graeme.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 7, 2017 18:38:09 GMT 12
Jason Schillereff, who does some wonderful Reno videos on YouTube (and I think is part of the Voodoo team), has put up his Gold race video. The quality goes up to 4K! It includes some footage from onboard Voodoo too and cool picture-in-picture bits. Also, good news: the RARA shop is open again! DVDs are available of races from 2003-2011, as well as posters and programs going back to the late 1960s!!! shop.airrace.org/ |
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Post by skyhawkdon on Oct 8, 2017 8:14:42 GMT 12
What a great video.
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Post by johnnyfalcon on Oct 8, 2017 10:16:52 GMT 12
What a race! Damn, Steve-o was low!
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Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2017 15:51:49 GMT 12
He knows what he's doing for sure ;-) One can (one has already) waste several hours on his YouTube channel. He said at AAFO that normally he uploads them in date order but knew how excited people were to see the Gold race, so he did that first. |
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