2011 SARL Wrap-up Video

A Great Little Machine - Another Day at the Races

I just came back from Taylor, TX where I ran the Rocket 100, the last race of the 2011 Sport Air Racing League season.

The plane ran great and this race was a blast. Click here for the official race results.

It was very windy, 17 kts, gusting to 25+, but fortunately, it was right down the runway and I didn't have any trouble there.

There is so much to describe what an air race is like, so many parts - it's impossible for to describe. But, I would encourage any pilots to give it a shot. Anyone with a plane - any plane, can and do run a race. It's challenging, it makes you a better pilot, and it's a terrific bunch of people who speak the same language.

One big highlight was getting a ride in a Twin Beech, with Mark Frederick. (That's Canadian Rocket pilot Wayne Hadley in the right seat).


Mark is THE Rocket F1 guru and owns the Macho Grande homestead, F1 factory and airstrip, about 2.5 miles from the Taylor airport. He was relocating the Beech from Taylor to Macho Grande and I was fortunate enough to bum the ride.

Macho Grande served as both the race starting and finish lines. Here is the SX300 setting the pace for the starting line.


For me, the first big challenge was just finding Macho Grande. As a result, I was a little higher at the start, so I didn't get one of those great head-on photos that Glen took.




In between the start and finish lines was 140 miles of hard bumps, headwinds and a too short leg of excellent tail winds. The really fun part for me was passing two other aircraft, an RV-7 and an O-290 powered VariEze.

When I downloaded my GPS today, it said the highest ground speed for the race was 251 mph! Wow, I sure like those numbers!

That evening, Mark and Cheryl hosted a survivors party at Macho Grande where all sorts beverages were consumed and lies told. A special thanks goes to Mike "Iceman" Thompson the guy crazy enough to organize this whole air race thing.

The ride home was interesting (that's a code word, of course). Had great tail winds and the ride at 7,500 was smooth. The EC3 engine controller is settling down and the resulting performance is great. As you can see in the photo, at 7,600 ft. I had a true airspeed of 170 mph, with a fuel burn of only 4.5 gph. I think with a little more tuning, I should be able to get the fuel burn down a little more. Click to see it better.

I had to land at Walnut Ridge, AR for a while to sort out the weather ahead. An odd thing I haven't seen before, there were a bunch of prisoners running around the FBO. Yes, I mean wearing striped pajamas type prisoners - both male & female. Apparently, there is a correctional facility nearby and the airport uses them to help maintain the airport. Good use of resources, actually.

Be sure and click on the next photo. This needs a caption of some sort.

So, I believe I did five races this year. Maybe next year I'll see some of you out there. I sure hope so.

A good day at the races.

After too much time, I finally got in another SARL race. This one was the Aircraft Spruce sponsored Tennessee Valley Air Race IV. We had a field of 18 aircraft, with three in the Sprint class.

I had only completed my annual inspection test-flight the day before, so it was another episode of wondering how my work was all coming together.

During my annual, I had sent my EFI engine controller back to the factory for a starting modifications. This wiped out the EC3's memory of the fuel air mixture map, requiring another long process of flying and observing an O2 sensor and programming the unit. Blah, blah, complain, complain.

So, whenever I do all this stuff, it's back to being a test pilot again. Well, I was really itching for another race, so I headed down to Courtland, AL. Very much fun.

On the way down, I continued to program the EC3 in both the primary and backup modes.

The race course was shaped like a bow tie, with the start/finish line at the knot. One very cool thing, one of the turns is a Saturn 3 rocket that is standing near a highway. Click on the map to see it better.

My start was terrible, I messed up my GPS and started heading off in the wrong direction! I was a mile or two off course before I got that squared away, all the while I was focusing on the engine, but it was strong, and turned around 3,150 RPM for most of it.

Flying the plane presents all sorts of different challenges during a race. First, the engine naturally sounds different, and the aircraft handles and trims out differently. You have to pay stricter attention to the engine gauges, and keep it exactly on-course, and pay strict attention to altitude.

When I got down, I was sure Dave Adams in his Long EZE had beaten me, due to my extremely poor start. I was really surprised to learn I beat him out by one mile an hour. The icing on the cake, I also won the Aircraft Spruce Diamond Prize - Fastest aircraft with an O-320 or smaller engine. $200 gift certificate - sweet!

Here are the official results: http://www.sportairrace.org/id450.html

When I get on the ground after these things, I am really spent - especially if it's been a while since the last one. But then I was wandering around the ramp thinking to myself, "That was REALLY fun". And it is.

So, go ahead and plan on making a race near you next year. It'll make you a better pilot and you'll have a total blast.

Happy Anniversary Honey.

At the Tandem Wing builders banquet, in Sullivan, MO, October 4, 2003. We got married 14 days later on the 18th.

Performance during the AVC race

If you are interested, I thought I would explain a few things about what is going on here. To see the photo better, click on it and hit Ctrl + a few times and the screen will enlarge.

First off, note the oil temp is 15 deg. That is due to the faulty sensor.

Altitude: 2,860' and a very slight climb. The density altitude is 4,940' with an OAT of 82F.

3,130 RPM WOT, with a fuel flow of 8.0 GPH.

IAS is 194 and TAS is 208 mph.

Look at the cylinder head temps:

#1 409

#2 395

#3 330

#4 366

Cylinder#3 is 79 degrees cooler than#1. Admittedly, #3 is right in the breeze and #1 is furthest back but I think there is something going on here.

One of the racers heard somewhere, from a Lycoming rep, that if your cylinder head temps were lower than 230 degrees, you were loosing speed due to excessive cooling. Kind of makes sense. Maybe I should look into some kind of a cowl flap arrangement to possibly pick up a few extra mph.

What do you think?

2011 Air Venture Cup Race

This year's race wasn't exactly smooth as silk, but at least the plane performed well.

This year there were only three planes registered in the Sprint class, but one had to cancel his entry because his wife was ill. That left me and Dave Adams in his Long-Eze. No Klaus this year.

Sunday, the day of the race, a nasty storm system was pushing down through Wisconsin and Illinois and would probably be in Dayton later in the afternoon. The decision was to made to split the race into two legs, Dayton to Mattoon, IL, then after the storm passed, make it Mattoon to West Bend, WI (near Oshkosh).

We finally got in the air later than we should have and headed west-southwest for Mattoon. One of the fastest planes, Kevin Eldridge in his beautiful NXT racer aborted his takeoff when his canopy flew off. That was the first scratch of the day.

Usually, the fastest planes are off first, but this years starting order was basically a free-for all and I wound up near the end of the pack.

In the air things seemed okay and guys chatted on the race frequency about the upcoming weather. I heard one of the racers announce a return to Dayton for ignition problems.

We started hearing the advance guys talking about the approaching storm. There were black clouds and building turbulence. One of the racers, Mark Quinn said he was encountering moderate turbulence near Mattoon. A minute later his voice raised about two octaves and he announced "Severe turbulence!!".

Well, it was obvious we weren't going to make it to Mattoon and Terra Haute, IN was a convenient place to land. Imagine how it was for the tower and FBO personnel. A quiet Sunday is suddenly interrupted by the arrival of 16 or so race aircraft.

Some racers actually made it into Mattoon. Other aircraft diverted to Effingham, IL, French Lick, IN and some went back to Dayton. After the storm passed, some of the racers elected to just fly on up to Oshkosh, including Dave Adams. What a mess.

The next day, and after the fog and low ceiling lifted, the remaining 16 aircraft flew the race from Terra Haute and we eventually made it into AirVenture at Oshkosh.

There are several side stories to all this, but I am electing to protect the innocent.

So, how did I do? Since I was the only on in the class, I took first place in Sprint at a rather slow speed of 201 mph. We had headwinds and everyone posted slower speeds.

Here are the official results: http://www.airventure.org/news/2011/110727_avcup.html

This was my 21st trip to Oshkosh in my little Quickie.

Dagnabit

The new sensor failed 20 minutes into the flight, when it hit about 200 degrees.

#!@$%&*(!*!*#(!

Plodding Through It All

This morning I passed the time waiting for FedEx by mowing the lawn. I don't get how it grows so much in this flippin heat.

At 11:30 the FedEx van pulled up. Whoo hoo! I sent a text to Steve and told him I was on the way to the hangar. Thanks to Sandy at GRT for getting the replacement out to me ASAP.

We got right at it. If it wasn't for having to pull the engine, replacing this sensor should take all of 15 or 20 minutes. As the engine hung on the hoist, it took us four tries and 30 minutes to just get the damn thing safety wired.

Steve Clarke, the A&P student was a big help. I just had to show him what I needed done and he ran with it. Steve it taking his summer Powerplant Inspections class, so he was on loan for the afternoon.

After chatting a bit it turns out that Steve is the son of Rich Clarke, a fellow jumper in my skydiving club back in East Troy, WI in the late '70s and early '80s. Us aviators are in a small world, aren't we?

After I wired it into the Dynon connector, I turned the D180 on. The oil temp read 102 degrees, which just happened to be the ambient temperature in the hangar.

By 3:45 we were able to shove it out the hangar and run it. Everything seemed to check out okay. Wasn't that all fun?

I put the plane back and will do another inspection tomorrow, then a test flight, then it's time to start counting pairs of underwear for the big trip.

I hope to rendezvous with Dave Adams somewhere over southern Illinois for the trip to Dayton.

And that my friends, is how I keep plodding along.

What I Go Through to Get in the Big Race.

Right now it's Wednesday evening and I am scheduled to fly to Dayton on Saturday morning to enter the 2011 AirVenture Cup Race. The only problem is, the plane's not quite ready. It never is.

This happens ever year, it seems. Right down to the wire I am screwing around with stuff to make it right. This year's issue is the oil temperature (again). Ever since the major rehab of the Quickie, the oil temp reading have been unreliable. They are "jittery" and bounce around a lot. The Dynon company reps said I had a bad ground for the single wire temp sensor and that was causing the problem. Well, I chased bad grounds until the cows came home and no joy.

They also said I could go to a two wire sensor, made by GRT, and that would eliminate the problem. The problem with the GRT sensor is that I would have to remove the engine to install it.

Well, I finally got tired of screwing around and ordered the GRT sensor. Last week I took a couple of days, pulled the engine off its mounts and installed the part. At the end of day one, the engine was still hanging from the hoist and I figured I would start the re-installation in the morning. Oh, did I mention that we were also having the house painted?

I got lazy and figured I could let the engine hang overnight. I braced the lift's hydraulic cylinder with a block of wood and fastened with cable ties. Good enough.

The next day at the hangar, after promising my wife I would come right back home as soon as the engine was back on, I was dismayed to find the cable ties failed, allowing the block of wood to fall out, and the lift sagged. Take a look at the following sad photos. Click on the photo to see how ugly it really was.

There was some damage, but only a few wires pulled out. Shit. Business as usual for Sammy Boy.

Anyway, I got it back together, engine reinstalled and the new sensor wired into the Dynon D180.

The next day I made the test flight (Honey, I promise I won't be gone long) and flew over to Marion for the pancake breakfast. Pulling the engine involves lots of fuel, electric, and electronic systems , so there is a lot to disturb. Everything seemed to work fine, but to tell the truth I didn't pay much attention to the actual oil temp, but I did know that it seemed very steady.

Yesterday I worked on some elevator trim issues and decided to make another test flight today. Everything seemed great. I knew I was a bit rusty and figured I would make landings at several local airports. I flew over to Perryville, MO, landed, then took off for Sparta.

Looked at the oil temp and it said 210. Not unusual for a 90 degree day. Nice and steady, no jitter.

Two minutes later I looked at it and it now read 15 degrees! Hells bells. Now what? I re-booted the Dynon but that didn't help a bit. So, now what? Guess I'll head back to the barn and see what's up. Sure can't fly a race without knowing what the oil temperature is doing.

Basic troubleshooting determined the problem is in the sensor itself. I put a meter on it and it read dead open.

Three days till the race. What do I do now?

I called GRT and they promised to overnight a new sensor. She also said it was the second call she had that same day about the same failure. I was able to grab a A&P student from AvTech and we pulled the engine and the sensor. This time we temporarily installed it back on the mounts.

FedEx should get here around 11:00 tomorrow morning. When the part gets here, I will call Steve and we'll reinstall the damned thing.

The problem is, I seem to go through this every year. Did I mention that it was 102 deg. in the hangar? I wonder how many other aviators are in the same boat? A lot, I'll bet.

Big Muddy Finish Line

Just had to post this video.

Cozy Girrrls Oil Miser

With all my engine compartment mods, I had to ditch my old bulky oil separator that I installed about a hundred years ago. Somewhat predictably, through all the new test flying without separator, I was shocked, yes shocked, at the amount of oil streaming down the belly of my new paint job. I resolved to find a new one that fit.

Somewhere along the line I purchased an Oil Miser, from the Cozy Girrrls. It was much more compact than my old Aircraft Spruce separator and the price wasn't all that bad. I had the thing for six months and I finally got around to installing it a couple of weeks ago, just before our Big Muddy Air Race.

Unfortunately, the drain nipple was opposite the intake tube, so I had to use some hardware parts to make the U-turn, but as usual, I somehow made it fit.

I have about four hours on it and it seems just dandy. For the Big Muddy race, I topped off the oil and normally the belly would now be full of oil, with some even dripping off the tail wheel. I haven't really scrutinized it, but things seem to be very clean, and there is no oil dripping from the crankcase vent tube.

I give the Oil Miser two thumbs up.

After the Sawsall - Snorkels and Oil Coolers

I thought I'd throw out a few photos so you can see what I'm up to.

I dug out the Sawsall again, this time to chop off my beloved intake snorkels. I put in a lot of hours on those things - oh well. I have been having trouble with oil cooling and I bought a couple of coolers to try and install. But, I thought, the oil cooler will have to divert some air from cooling the cylinders and my #1 cylinder gets hot enough as it is. So, I thought, if I install the oil cooler and the cylinder temps get higher - then what? I 'll tell you what - I would next remove the snorkels.

So going around the whole process, I decided I may as well perform the snorkel circumcision, as it were.

I'll let the photos do most of the talking.

Here is what it looked like - pre-Sawsall.

Used some two-part foam to glue a block in place to the intake.

Shaped the block so it looks like something.


Close to finishing carving.


Glass the form, let it cure, then dig out the foam.

Trim to approximate the cowl.

Cut a hole in the cowling.

There was some more trimming and fitting, which I don't have photos of. I also took the Sawsall to the two snorkels in the inlet.

Did it help? I believe it helped a lot.

Whoa! Hold on there Partner

Time to fire up the Sawsall -I have decided to go another route.

Before I made all my mods, the oil temperature was decent. Now, I have a hot #2 cylinder on climb out and high oil temps.

So, why the difference?

• New wing? No.
• New Dynon EFIS? No.
• New paint? No.
• Fuel injection? Probably not
• New oil tank? Maybe, but probably not.
• Longer intake snouts? Maybe, but probably not.
• Inlet snorkels? Most likely candidate.

Why? Well, they can obstruct the amount of air reaching the cylinders, especially on climb out. On the other hand, I did a differential pressure check across the upper and lower deck of the engine compartment, and it seemed to be in line with recommendations.

If I install the coil cooler I will have to divert cowling air for it which would probably make the hot cylinders even worse.

So, I am going to backtrack and remove the snorkels and install a standard type of induction inlet in the lower cowl. Yes, that will mess up the paint job, but so be it.

After I have done this work, I may have to install the cooler, but at least I should have more air available.

Just call me Mr. Glutton F. Punishment

Trying to Cram In An Oil Cooler

Winter is over, the crocuses are blooming, and it's time for me to get my oil temperature under control. In the past race it was somewhat north of 245 deg, which is way too hot.

I found a nifty auto performance part called an "oil cooler sandwich adapter". This is pretty nifty because it includes the 180 degree bypass valve. Here are a couple of photos.

It mounts right on the El Reno style spin-on filter adapter, easy as pie.

That was the easy part, now I have to find a spot for the cooler itself. I got a cooler which is sized for the O-300D engine, which may be overkill, but since it was only 1/2" taller than the O-200 version I figured I may as well go for the extra cooling.
I guess I'll just order some hoses and fittings and plumb it in. The next hard part will be making some kind of ducting to feed it.

I Committed Aviation Yesterday

And it was about time!