April 17th, 2011, WCF Pylon Races

As I left the house early Sunday morning, two things were on my mind ... I had to swing by the shop to get my camera and I hope I'm not late! The hobby Shop and my camera, are in the opposite direction of my destination, the Wine Country Flyers club airstrip. Located at the Trentadue Winery, just North of Healdsburg, it's a great flying spot and the place for today's adventure: Pylon Racing R/C Airplanes.

As it turns out, being late was not an issue. I guess airplane guys do not show up on race morning super early. I thought I was late, but I was the third person there. Seeing how sign-ups would start in 30 minutes or so, I thought that was odd. But, I guess the plane guys (aside from Steve) don't work on their airplanes much at the field (not like r/c car racers, who always have something to wrench on).

10:00 am was the start time and as it drew closer more and more pilots showed up. This was not a huge entry kind of day (perfect for my first attempt), but still there were 10 pilots entered in my class. This would ensure a good mix of planes and pilot abilities, I was hoping to fit in somewhere towards the upper bottom half.

I've done a lot of car racing, but racing r/c planes, 20 feet or so off the ground, around pylons, with other planes in the air, and some of my local heroes watching, made me a little nervous. It was great to have some insights and tips from the local aces, Red, Steve, Tony, Jon, Adam, etc ... I've got a lot to learn and these guy sped up the process, not to mention making me feel welcome.

Each Class races three heats during a typical Pylon Event. The pilots are switched for each heat, so you get to race against everyone in your class at one point or another. With 10 in my class, there would be either 3 or 4 in the heats. The Reno 450 class had five planes in a heat, the airspace got busy in a hurry!

The basic idea is simple: Launch prior to the start, wait for the 10 second count down, head towards the start line but do not cross the start finish line until you hear "GO", then race 10 laps, stay close to the pylons but with out short cutting the course, run one extra lap, and land with the plane in one piece ... Sounds simple, but there's a lot to learn and remember!

I got to race close with Tony and Brian in the 2nd Heat and had some great racing in the 3rd Heat (coming from 3rd into the lead). This feels way different in the air, compared to racing closely with r/c cars on the ground. In the air races, bumping happens but often the results are terminal. I saw one mid air, and one plane just blew into a bunch of pieces (see the photos).

All in all, I thought I did well for my first time out. I came away with two 2nd places and one 1st place in my three heats. I'm not sure where I ended up overall, but the plane came back in one piece so I count this a great first day. I will defiantly be back and do this again! I can certainly see why the guys are so passionate about pylon racing planes ... I highly recommend giving it a try!

Check out more info on the Wine Country Flyers at www.WCFlyers.com