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Graeme at the Q500 racing
Graeme at the Q500 racing
| Month | Date & Time | Day | Event | Where |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| November | 15th | Sunday | Spare Day - Glider events | Leichardt |
| November | 28th & 29th @ 10am | Saturday & Sunday | Scale Glider Aerotow | Marong |
| November | 30th @ 7:30pm | Monday | Meeting | K. Flat |
| December | 6th @ 11am | Sunday | XMAS Break Up | Marong |
All Members and Families are welcome to attend, on Sunday the 6th December, a special day for our club. It will consist of the opening of the New Club House and facilities, by our special guest Mr Rowlan McKinnon. (Our flying field landlord)
This day is also our end of year, the Christmas break up, and Clubman trophy presentations, the free BBQ and drinks, etc will be on from about 11.30 until 12.30. Then preparations will be made for the official opening of the clubhouse to take place at around 1.00pm, followed by our clubman trophy presentation.
Club members are invited to bring along at least one (1) aircraft, for the purpose of flying or static display. An aeroplane club without any aircraft may seem a little strange, especially, to our special guest.
Flying is permitted before lunch, and after the presentations are completed, so come along and be a part of your club, on this memorable occasion, and enjoy the day with the rest of us.
The 2 Texans of Steve and Les won the Cootamundra Large Scale Racing (AT6) easily over the Weekend.
Again some of the regulars were missing, but there was a few new faces to race with this year.
The weather conditions were ideal for flying, but they got caught out with the long grass on the field, we had to wait for the grass to be cut before the racing could start.
This year only 3 Vics were present, and they took the first 3 places in the Texan Class. Gregg Lepp came in 3rd.
We had a very easy weekend, every thing worked with no hassles. We just flew and chatted then flew again. This was the easiest comp that we've had to race in. I can't wait until next year!
Les Davis.
The day started with a change of venue to the Marong field due to the long grass at the Glider field – weather conditions were marginal with gusting wind and little lift around.
After selecting a CD for the day it was decided to fly to the rules currently on the web site with a 1 minute engine run and a timed 4 minute glide.
As there were only 4 competing we opted for 4 rounds with a fifth round allowed to replace the worst score, one of which was 1 min up and 1 min down.
The models varied from two 'Soaring Stars' (high powered), one medium powered 'Easy Oriale' and one low powered 'Anderson'.
Round one scores varied from 1-08 to 3-48, Rd 2 from 1-00 to 4-08, Rd 3 from 1-26 to 4-04, Rd 4 from 3-36 to 4-11.
Rd 5 saw all flyers improve on their worst scores as the weather had settled a little and scores recalculated with no change to the placings achieved after Round 4.
All fliers enjoyed the day and the President returned again after his working bee to see the last of the rounds flown and scores totalled - he was then tasked for the photo taking - thanks Andy.
Results:
| 1st | Ian Heather | (960 points -20) = 940 |
| 2nd | Alan Uren | (960 points -52) = 908 |
| 3rd | Roy Butterfield | (960 points -65) = 895 |
| 4th | Brian Deason | (960 points -368) = 592 |
CD and report - Alan Uren
Well the last Q500 and CPR for the year started wet. By 11 o'clock the field was set up but with only 2 entries in Q500 (Shaun and Graeme). We decided to push on and have 3 rounds anyway.
At the end it was Shaun 6 seconds clear of Graeme. Well done Shaun.
CPR
Lunch was had, the course was altered and 4 entries were taken. Les, Shaun, Graeme and Bill, yes that's right Billy had come along to play.
5 Rounds were flown with 1 to be dropped. Les and Shaun were clearly the stand outs but as it happens we couldn't put them together as Bill and Graeme had a frequency clash.
Billy flew very well for someone who hadn't flew for about 10 years in Pylon and his scores showed that he was getting very comfy as we progressed through the rounds. Well done Bill.
This goes to show it doesn't matter how long you've been out of it it doesn't take much to get back into it and I'm sure he will be back next year!
All in all 5 rounds were had in excellent conditions with Les the victor good stuff.
A big thanks to John, Andy, Garry and Allan for pushing buttons and starting us off.
Cheers,
Graeme Beagley
Results:
Q500
| Shaun | 317 |
| Graeme | 323 |
CPR
| Les | 458 |
| Shaun | 475 |
| Graeme | 553 |
| Bill | 757 |
...and here are the photos, thanks to Bill.
I spent Tuesday with the Northern Flying Group ( State field). This site is a great field with magnificent facilities. Club members were very hospitable and made me feel very welcome. This field is open to all MAAA members, the only requirement is that you need a member of the Northern Flying group to be there on the day and you must be signed in.
The best feature was the magnificent green mown field ( with water ), and great clubhouse facilities. The field is only Approx 1 Hr 45 min from Bendigo via Heathcote ,Romsey, Lancefield and Monegeeta
Check out Northern Groups web site for a map.
Report and photos by Bill Matthews
What are Fun Days? I though that most club members came out for a little of fun and laughter while competing in these rather simple events to improve their flying skills, but with only 5 pilots attending, it was a little disappointing to say the least.
Under cloudy skies, choppy winds and temp not too cold, we held our one and only Fun Day for the year. Four events were laid down, they were Spot Landings(5), Self Timed Flight (2mins), Loops (1minute) and Climb and Glide ( longest time).
Spot landing, it was Spot or touch and go, in a 15 metre circle, with 5 attempts but only one engine restart. Gary Smidge managed all 5 successfully, then Les Davis with 4, and Shaun Power with one, the others had trouble with the wind and failed to score.
Self Timed Flight, Brian Deason had the time worked out, missing by only 4 seconds,then Bill Matthews at 20 seconds off, and the rest maybe still counting.
Loops in 1 minute, Shaun, set a good score of 16 loops, then Gary flew scoring 14, followed by Bill who managed 11 then Brian with only 4, leaving only Les to fly. Les was going great until the engine stopped, the crankshaft broke and flew out prop and all, he was on 14 loops with time left, when the failure occurred, completing the 15 loop in the glide.
Climb and Glide, Shaun's Quickie 500 aircraft almost disappeared into the clouds, putting in the best score, followed by Gary then Bill and last was Brian, ( Les didn't fly).
Results:
| 1st | Shaun Power |
| 2nd | Gary Smidge |
| 3rd | Brian Deason |
Thanks to Andrew Thomas who came out to help me run, possibly the last Fun Day the club may have.
Report by Les Davis 5620.
(Photos by John Newman)
Whats Next? There is a Glider comp on the Grand final week end, 5 minute Drop out, and the following Monday night 28th is the Club Meeting
Mal Fields has compiled some fascinating old photos. Have a look here.
The fourth Great Texan Race was run on the 23 August, with all seven rounds flown, under quite reasonable weather conditions especially for the winter period.
It was a little disappointing that the first nats champion for Texan racing, Justin Reynolds, couldn't make it this year, along with a few other well known regulars. Never mind, we still did well with three new flyers attempting their first Texan race day, which is very encouraging. They were the well known Greg Lepp, Mike Kellett and Gary Flanagan (from Shepparton).
All flyers were at the field at 9am. The ten (10) entries were checked in and ready to race, but the heavy fog had put a hold on things, like being on a queue. At 10am the fog lifted and at 10.30 we were ready to race, and race we did, getting 3 rounds in before lunch.
Right from the first round it was on, with Steve Davis and Mike Kellett trying to swap paint. It was exciting to watch, and this was only the first race. It didn't stop with them, the next race it was on again with Rob Lauder, Les Davis and the Fawn team of Browny and Whitey. The ducking and weaving, over taking and under taking was keeping everybody on their toes, with the pilots using all the skills they had to avoid each other.
In the third heat they didn't miss out either, with two of the new flyers and the other two more experienced flyers. It was great to see all 4 aircraft cross the start line 4 abreast, look good and sounded great, then it separated into two races of two. If that doesn't sound exciting, wait till later.....
Three rounds were completed and we broke for lunch, at lunch a discussion took place on the new Formula 1 racing, Seems to be quite a bit of confusion over the aircraft specifications.
Back to the racing, again very close and exciting racing until, heat 3, after lunch,when it happened. A midair collision, between Rob Tunks and Murray Ellis, their aircraft slammed together coming down wind. Rob's crippled aircraft managed to fly down and land safely, while Murrays was floating down to the ground in bits and pieces.
The last three rounds were completed without any more mishaps, even though the cross winds strengthened, making the racing quite difficult, but the skill level of these flyers was such that they could handle these conditions, and all races were completed safely, even making good landings in the strong wind conditions.
With all the racing over I checked with our computer scoring operator, John Newman, to see how long, before he would have the scores done, and it was 30 seconds after the last plyon light was flashed, a printed sheet with all details and placings worked out, ready for the presentation, hows that for service, thanks John.
Placings in the GTR 2009:
| First | Steve Davis |
| Second | Les Davis |
| Third | Rob Lauder |
| Fourth | Team Fawn,(Brown-White) |
Thanks must go to those who work the cage, the button pushers. They were Gary, Macca, David and Ken, without them we can't race. And what about our race starter, Phil Organ, who was helped by Neil Friswell, together they keep the races rotating at a fair rate, so we got all 7 rounds in, and still finished at a reasonable time. Well done!
We also had visitors from Ballarat and Camperdown clubs, who came to have a look at Texan racing, maybe some new flyers for next year. If those flyers need more information or help we can be contacted through the club's web site, www.brcac.asn.au.
Thanks to Mike Farnan at Model Engines, for supplying all the fuel for our Texan racing. It helps to keep the entry fees at a minium, making Texan racing the most affordable class to race in. Now's the time for you to have a go at Texan racing.
Report by Les Davis 5620.
(Photos by Bill Matthews)
Sunday morning came with very thick fog and no wind. Was the fog going to clear in time for our race day? Yes it did, and the strong winds that were forecast, didn't. Today we had planed for 3 racing classes, Q500, CPR and Sports.
The 5 entries in the Q500 were off and racing by 11am, some wild flying was seen until the pilots settled down and got in the groove.
Graeme B. was in the groove and flying very tightly, recording the fastest times for the day, but the next 3 flyers were very closely bunched together with only 7 seconds separating them at the end.
Next was CPR, after the lunch break. The flight course was reset for off the course flying positions, with 8 entries 3 heats were run in each round.
Neil was unlucky to hit the pylon on landing, putting paid to his day. Most of the others flyers had some good races between them, with some close encounters, but all managed to avoid each other. The most exciting was the 3rd Heat, where Steve and Shaun swapped the lead many times during their races.
Now the Sports class, with only 3 entries, Darren with his OS55 that wouldn't run, Brian with his hot OS 15 (only hot while the engine was running) and Les with OS 40 PB, Brian was first away, followed by Les with his engine at half throttle to stay behind Brian, it was slow and painful, but a lot of FUN!.
Results: Q500
| 1st | Graeme Beagley. | 248 points |
| 2nd | Darren Touhey | 291 '' |
| 3rd | Phil Organ | 293 '' |
CPR
| 1st | Steve Davis | 366 points |
| 2nd | Shaun Power | 369 '' |
| 3rd | Les Davis | 371 '' |
Sports
| Brian Deason | Booby prize |
Thanks to the light marshals John, Andy, Charlie & Gary, and Alan as starter and not forgetting Bill for the pics, and note our lights work perfectly, can't say the same for our walkie talkies.
Next comp is Glider on the 16th (Ramjet) 4 in 20, 1pm start glider field, following that is The Great Texan Race, on the 23 rd (All day event).
Report Les Davis 5620
...and on to the archives
