I had waited almost a month. And, as it turns out, waiting for pylon racing is a tough chore for me. To fill the time gap, I flew my racer T-28 a couple of times, fine tuning the radio, practicing pylon turns and landings, etc ... But, there's only so much one can do flying a "racer" all by itself. This plane needs a course and other planes to race against! A month doesn't sound too bad, but in hobby shop years that's a long time!
When the day finally arrived, I loaded up the truck and headed north to the Trentadue Winery and the Wine Country Flyers club field. I did not get there as early as last time (I learned that pylon racers do not show up as early as car racers do on race day!), instead I showed up a little before 9am. As I stepped out of my truck and began to unload, it became apparent there was something wrong on this beautiful morning ... It was W-I-N-D-Y!
By 9:30, there was talk of canceling the races. If I was flying on a regular day I would have thought twice about taking off, so I understood the concerns from some of the guys. I was nervous enough about the pylon racing, the wind was bringing my nerves up another level. Being new, I kept quiet and just watched and listened. After a brief discussion, and a vote from those present, it was decided the race was on. Part of me was happy with that, and another part was dreading that fact! I saw wings, parts and even whole planes blown off the work benches. Pilots looked at each other with knowing smiles and made nervous jokes .... But, we all got ready to race.
If you've ever flown a foamie in the wind, you know they are a handful. Being so light, they are easily tossed around by the wind. This makes it tough to hold a good line, not to mention tricky to take off and land. The wind was a good 5 to 15mph , with gusts higher than that. It was also switching direction from down the runway to direct crosswind. (Awesome flying conditions!)
Flying into the wind made that leg of the course take forever. And, flying with the wind felt like the planes were going Mach 6. Turning with the wind, or against the wind, made it REALLY hard to judge the turns constantly. Turning into the wind, or getting hit by a gust, the plane would balloon up. Flying low on the course was really tricky, heck just flying level was tough enough! And then there were the crosswind gusts .... Just staying on course was a challenge. I was shocked when very few pylon cuts were called, but giving it some after thought I realized it was because pilots were flying VERY conservative lines around the course.
Once racing got under way, the nerves got worked out and everyone had a great time. The wind threw an extra big challenge into the mix. Most pilots flew high and wide. Some flew, or tried to fly, their normal race line. In the end, everyone worked hard for any positions they got and worked extra hard to just get their planes back down in one piece.
There were surprisingly few wrecks. One catastrophic midair in the Reno 450 class, which left Jon Stychno's P-51 scattered down the runway and Steve Cole's P-51 limping around the course minus a canopy and a 2" chunk of the right wing. Jon Blume's Corsair came in short on landing, the grapevines and wind combined forces and grabbed the plane ...
For myself, I learned even more about pylon racing. My 2nd event was more challenging than the first, but equally as fun. This group of guys is really awesome to hang out with and race against, the camaraderie is fantastic. I highly suggest checking out the pylon racing and the club in general.
I'm not sure how I finished overall, but I do know I won all three of my heat races! I'm shocked and very excited about my results. I'll continue to learn about racing with the T-28, but I see a Reno 450 entry in my near future. Maybe building something will keep my mind off the 3 week wait until the next race!
Thanks again WC Flyers!
|