Thursday, August 4, 2016

National Championship Air Races 2016 Reno

Hey fans, it's getting close and all the racing teams are working long hours to get their planes ready for Reno.  Voodoo did some telemetry tests with a prop borrowed from Strega.  Strega seems to be a mystery as we don't really know if it will race this year or not.  I haven't seen any entries yet but am looking forward to a large field.  The teams are quiet as they strategize their action plans starting with qualifying.  The question is always how hard do you run.  Do you use a qual engine and run hard and change out to a race engine for the actual races?   How important is it to qual first second or third?  Old school is you want to be on the inside pole position.  You also don't want to race till Friday to save wear and tear on the plane. Some teams bring planes in on trailers, some fly in.  41 days till the races, wow has time flown.  Here are some shots of past races of all the different divisions.  Formula one, Byplanes, T-6's, Sport, Jet, and Unlimited.  So get reservations and tickets and come see the action.


Formula One



Biplane



T-6s



Sport



Jet



Unlimited

Sunday, June 26, 2016

National Championship Air Races Reno 2016


Well Air racing fans, the Reno National Championship Air Races are ramping up.  They have just completed the Pylon Racing School (PRS) for 2016 June 15-18 at Stead Airport.  They had a record attendance of 79 airplanes and 130 participants in all 6 racing categories.  We will be seeing the return of John and Sue Paul’s P-51B Boise Bee and one of their P-40’s (probably “Sneak Attack”).  A lot of vying for seats of planes and back ups.



Some notable planes coming are P-51s, Seafury’s, P-40’s, F7F-Tigercats, Yaks, Bearcats, F-4U Corsairs and the field is growing.  



P-51d super modified Voodoo was doing some telemetry tests during PRS using a prop borrowed from Strega.  



With this many PRS attendees, the slots are going to be filled again which means harder and faster racing from day 1.  So be sure to get your tickets and come out and watch the best air racing in the world September 14-18.  Also remember the Air Races are also a world class air show featuring the Navy's Blue Angel Demonstration team.



Sunday, March 6, 2016

National Championship Air Races 2016

Well race fans 2016 Reno Air Races is coming fast.  Time to think about plane tickets, hotels and tickets.  This year is beginning to be races you really want to see.  Also on tap is the world renowned Navy Blue Angles who always give a great demonstration.  Also the races showed a profit which I am sure will be spent to make your experience even better.  I have been told we may have more unlimited racers this year.  If we can fill the slots, wow what a year for the races. 

We won’t have Mike Mangold in the Jet class, he was killed in a plane crash in December 2015 while flying an L-39 in Apple Valley California.

 

Also we won’t be seeing a crowd favorite Precious Metal, an XR-51 which basically has the griffin motor with contra rotating props.  It experienced a fuel leak and caught fire prior to take off, the pilot Thom Richard got out safely.  It was extremely lucky it happened on the ramp rather than in the air but sadly it will take time and money to rebuild, Thom Richard will be flying in the Formula 1 class.





NBC Sports will air some footage taken during the 2015 races on March 27th at noon, Pacific Time

All in all this year is going to be a great one so come and play in Reno.