Back on March 17th, the VMPRA went to the Western Port Model Aircraft Club for a one-day sports and Quickie 500 pylon race. The weather was absolutely fantastic that day. Unlike some events we’ve held at this field, there was only a light breeze.

The idea of this day was to fly Quickie 500 as part of our championship and then have a “come try” fly pylon racing day with sports models. We were very pleased to see two local competitors turn up, Justin Trist and Wayne Gorsuch. We flew seven rounds of Quickie and seven rounds of sports.

Tony Eichstadt’s daughters came down to see him fly. We ended up roping Amy into helping on the computer. She took to it like a duck to water and was a great help throughout the day.

Looking at the results, we were getting unusually fast times. We soon discovered that the course had been set up as a short course by accident, which explained this.

Thanks to all VMPRA members who attended this event and helped make it a success. Overall, it was a great day, and thanks to the Westernport Club for hosting, catering, and providing the pylons junges.

Next, we have a similar Quickie 500 and Sports Pylon race at Mount Wallace State Field on the 7th of April. Again, it’s a one-day event, and we’d love to get as many VMPRA members as possible there. Even if you’re not going to fly, it would be great to have help and to promote pylon racing to other members of the Aeromodelling fraternity.

Our next full three-class event will be on the 20th and 21st of April at Hamilton. We’ll see you there.

Results

Class – Q500

Places:
1st Mike Kellet
2nd Jim Orenshaw
3rd John Schmidli

Fastest Time (Red Box): 86.91 John Schmidli (Course was at least 40 metres shorter than it should have been
No. of competitors: 7

Class – Sports

Places:
1st Justin Trist
2nd Wayne Gorsuch

Season Championship

Q500

Jim Orenshaw and Eddie Rich have both moved up one place to First and Third, respectively. John Schmidli dropped from first to second place.

1st – Jim Orenshaw
2nd – John Schmidli
3rd – Eddie Rich

Next Class Race – Western Port – Q500 & Sports (Come Try) Race.

April 7 @ Mount Wallace. Racing starts at 10 am. Come with enough time to setup and test fly prior.
Website:  www.mwmaa.org/
Location: The club is Mount Wallace Model Aero Club
Brisbane Ranges Rd, Mount Wallace.
Google Maps Ref.

Next 3 Class Race (F3D, F3T & Q500) – Hamilton, April 20-21.

A heap of new races has been added to the calendar, so make sure you put them in your diary. These are not to be missed.

Report  – John Schmidli.
Photos – John Schmidli.

Please note: We are looking for someone to write event reports regularly. Also, it would be wonderful to have someone photograph these events. This site has a vast readership and is important and valuable to pylon racing in Victoria, Australia and Worldwide.

The written content in this post is accurate to the best of my/our knowledge at the time of publishing. It is written from my/our perspective and reflects how I/we have experienced this event. Photos published as feature images are selected purely for their quality, general interest or topicality. When time permits, they are chosen from a pool of photos taken by myself and others. If a perspective is not being represented, I am more than happy to publish any written content or photos supplied to me, provided it is fair and reasonable.

Quick Reference

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Results

Class – FA1

Places:
1st Glenn Matthews
2nd Brian Steele
3rd Andrew Davies

Fastest Time (Red Box): 64.47 Tom Wetherill.
No. of competitors: 5

Class – F3T

Places:
1st Brian Steele
2nd Jim Orenshaw
3rd Glenn Matthews

Fastest Time (Red Box): 64.21 Brian Steele.
No. of competitors: 10

Class – Q500

Places:
1st John Schmidli
2nd Jim Orenshaw
3rd Gary Davidson

Fastest Time (Red Box): 95.58 John Schmidli
No. of competitors: 8

Season Championship

FA1

Being the second event for the championship and with some competitors not able to attend, the top 3 places have completely changed from last month.

1st – Glenn Matthews
2nd – Brian Steele
3rd – Andrew Davies

F3T

Again, with competitors unable to attend, the top two places have completely changed, with Andrew Davies retaining his third place.

1st – Brian Steele
2nd – Jim Orenshaw
3rd – Andrew Davies

Q500

John Schmidli and Jim Orenshaw are on equal points, but John attains the top spot on average times per race. Gary Davidson has moved up from 6th to 3rd place.

1st – John Schmidli
2nd – Jim Orenshaw
3rd – Gary Davidson

Next Class Race – Western Port – Q500 & Sports (Come Try) Race.

March 17 @ Westernport Model Aircraft Club. Racing starts at 10 am. Come with enough time to setup and test fly prior.
Website: www.wpmac.com.au
Location: Woolleys Road, Crib Point VIC. Melway Map Ref 165C8.

Next 3 Class Race (F3D, F3T & Q500) – Hamilton, April 20-21.

A heap of new races has been added to the calendar, so make sure you put them in your diary. These are not to be missed.

Report  – John Schmidli.
Photos – John Schmidli & Tom Wetherill.

Please note: We are looking for someone to write event reports regularly. Also, it would be wonderful to have someone photograph these events. This site has a vast readership and is important and valuable to pylon racing in Victoria, Australia and Worldwide.

The written content in this post is accurate to the best of my/our knowledge at the time of publishing. It is written from my/our perspective and reflects how I/we have experienced this event. Photos published as feature images are selected purely for their quality, general interest or topicality. When time permits, they are chosen from a pool of photos taken by myself and others. If a perspective is not being represented, I am more than happy to publish any written content or photos supplied to me, provided it is fair and reasonable.

Quick Reference

On February 10th and 11th, the VMPRA kicked off its season with our inaugural competition of the year at Munro. The weather was superb throughout the weekend, allowing us to complete eight rounds of each class. It was a pleasure to welcome Andrew Wall, who made the impressive journey from Queensland to join us in the competition.

The return of Daniel Arapakis and Beau Murphy to racing after their work-related hiatus added to the excitement, especially in the F3D category. We were also thrilled to witness John Junge’s continued participation in Q500 racing and Ian Rickard’s comeback to the same class. Additionally, Tom Allen stepped up to the challenge by participating in F3D.

The weekend boasted a fantastic turnout with 9 competitors in F3D, 12 in F3T, and 9 in Q500. Andrew Wall showcased a 3D-printed E2K pylon racing model produced by Tony Singleton, with Daniel Arapakis providing a captivating demonstration of its flight capabilities.

Overall, it was an excellent weekend, thanks in large part to Barry Murphy’s fantastic field and Nerida Matthews for managing the timing system.

The next event is scheduled for March 2nd and 3rd in Warrnambool. We look forward to seeing you there!

Results

Class – FA1

Places:
1st Beau Murphy
2nd Daniel Arapakis
3rd Andrew Wall

Fastest Time (Red Box): 58.90 Beau Murphy.
No. of competitors: 9

Class – F3T

Places:
1st Beau Murphy
2nd Andrew Wall
3rd Andrew Davies

Fastest Time (Red Box): 62.35 Andrew Wall.
No. of competitors: 12

Class – Q500

Places:
1st Jim Orenshaw
2nd John Schmidli
3rd Tony Eichstadt

Fastest Time (Red Box): 97.85 Jim Orenshaw
No. of competitors: 9

Season Championship

Being the season’s first race, the Championship standings are as per the race results. Stay tuned for the Season Championship standings once we have raced in Warrnambool.

Next Class Race – Warrnambool.

We’ll be back at Warrnambool on March 2-3.

A heap of new races has been added to the calendar, so make sure you put them in your diary. These are not to be missed.

Report  – John Schmidli.
Photos – John Schmidli.

Please note: We are looking for someone to write event reports regularly. Also, it would be wonderful to have someone photograph these events. This site has a vast readership and is important and valuable to pylon racing in Victoria, Australia and Worldwide.

The written content in this post is accurate to the best of my/our knowledge at the time of publishing. It is written from my/our perspective and reflects how I/we have experienced this event. Photos published as feature images are selected purely for their quality, general interest or topicality. When time permits, they are chosen from a pool of photos taken by myself and others. If a perspective is not being represented, I am more than happy to publish any written content or photos supplied to me, provided it is fair and reasonable.

Quick Reference

RAIN, RAIN, RAIN!! …but most of our regulars turned up. It was too wet on Friday and Saturday morning to do much.

Q500

We decided to try for a few Quicky Rounds on Saturday morning. A good entry of 10. Some good racing, as always, over six rounds in this class, with a dead heat for 3rd place with Andrew Davies and David Chippendall. The performance of these out-of-the-box, off-the-shelf 7.5cc engines is amazing. I would say they eclipse the VRP’s and OPS’s of my early days in F3D. John Schmidli ended up taking it out from Gary Davidson.

F3T

Eight entries managing five rounds. Andrew Davies taking it out. There were a few engine problems, DNFs, and cuts. I see some nice new models in this class and very fine flying. Special mention goes to Tony Eichstadt and Anthony Thurgood – two very enthusiastic newcomers. Very rare for some time now.

F3D

Nothing much to report here. We could only manage four rounds. Times were less than average, with only four entries. Anthony Thurgood is certainly on his way in this class with a second place. Nothing new to report, but until we have F3D numbers fully attended again, we won’t see the world-class times we have seen in the past.

We did see some world-class control line combat demos from Murray Wilson and Greg Nelson. It is very special to see this very skilful form of Aeromodelling. We must thank Murray and Greg for putting on this display.

See you at Munro Field again on February 10th / 11th, 2024

BARRY MURPHY

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Results

Class – FA1

Places:
1st Glenn Matthews
2nd Anthony Thurgood
3rd Brian Steele

Fastest Time (Red Box): 66.63 Glenn Matthews.
No. of competitors: 4

Class – F3T

Places:
1st Andrew Davies
2nd John Schmidli
3rd Jim Orenshaw

Fastest Time (Red Box): 69.93 Andrew Davies.
No. of competitors: 8

Class – Q500

Places:
1st John Schmidli
2nd Gary Davidson
3rd Andrew Davies

Fastest Time (Red Box): 96.73 John Schmidli
No. of competitors: 10

Season Championship

The 2022 – 2023 championship year has drawn to a close. The season spanned about 16 months as we will go by the calendar year for future seasons. It consisted of 12 races and taking part in the season; competitor numbers were 13 for FA1, 18 for F3T and 22 for Q500.

So congratulations go to the winners: Brian Steele taking out both FA1 & F3T and John Schmidli taking out Q500.

FA1

With the last race included, the Championship winner Brian Steele remained at the top, with Glenn Matthews jumping from 6th position into 2nd, bumping Rick Townsend down to 3rd place.

1st – Brian Steele
2nd – Glenn Matthews
3rd – Rick Townsend

F3T

This race didn’t change the top 3 places.

1st – Brian Steele
2nd – Jim Orenshaw
3rd – Andrew Davies

Q500

Again, there were no changes in the top 3 places for this class.

1st – John Schmidli
2nd – Jim Orenshaw
3rd – Anthony Thurgood

Next Class Race – Warrnambool.

We’ll be back at Munro on Feb 10-11.

Also, check the calendar regularly, as new dates for 2024 are being added regularly.

Report  – Barry Murphy & John Schmidli
Photos – John Schmidli.

Please note: We are looking for someone to write event reports regularly. Also, it would be wonderful to have someone photograph these events. This site has a vast readership and is important and valuable to pylon racing in Victoria, Australia and Worldwide.

The written content in this post is accurate to the best of my/our knowledge at the time of publishing. It is written from my/our perspective and reflects how I/we have experienced this event. Photos published as feature images are selected purely for their quality, general interest or topicality. When time permits, they are chosen from a pool of photos taken by myself and others. If a perspective is not being represented, I am more than happy to publish any written content or photos supplied to me, provided it is fair and reasonable.

Quick Reference

What an incredible weekend we experienced while participating in the Victorian State Championships at the Warrnambool clubs. The weather couldn’t have been better; the club facilities and field were of top-notch, and we had a great turnout.

A few of noteworthy highlights caught our attention. It was particularly gratifying to witness the debut of a new Q500 competitor, 14-year-old Bowen Brown, who adapted remarkably well to the pylon course and showed continuous improvement throughout the weekend. We sincerely hope to see Bowen at upcoming VMPRA events.

Additionally, it was a pleasure to see Shaun Power join us once more, marking his participation in the last four competitions. I think he’s enjoying it!

Finally, a special mention goes to Anthony Thurgood, one of our relatively recent competitors, who clinched the 1st place in F3D. Anthony has now competed in all three classes in a remarkably short time, especially excelling in the challenging F3D class, which he has only competed in five competitions to date. Congratulations to Anthony Thurgood on this well-deserved achievement.

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Rankings

The FAI are putting together a list of overall ranking across all world champs. Attached is the ranking of all Australians. For more information, you can go to:
https://fai.org/page/f3-radio-control-pylon-racing

Results

Class – FA1

Places:
1st Anthony Thurgood
2nd Brian Steele
3rd Glenn Matthews

Fastest Time (Red Box): 62.80 Glenn Matthews.
No. of competitors: 4

Class – F3T

Places:
1st Brian Steele
2nd Jim Orenshaw
3rd Anthony Thurgood

Fastest Time (Red Box): 68.58 Glenn Matthews.
No. of competitors: 13

Class – Q500

Places:
1st Jim Orenshaw
2nd John Schmidli
3rd Tom Allen

Fastest Time (Red Box): 96.10 John Schmidli
No. of competitors: 11

Season Championship

FA1

With one more race left for the season, Brian Steele has it all wrapped up. Rick Townsend has remained in 2nd position and Andrew Davies has moved up into 3rd position.

1st – Brian Steele
2nd – Rick Townsend
3rd – Tom Wetherill

F3T

Again, Brian Steele will wrap it up as season champion with one race to go. Jim Orenshaw has moved up into 2nd position having bumped Andrew Davies down a spot into 3rd position.

1st – Brian Steele
2nd – Jim Orenshaw
3rd – Andrew Davies

Q500

No change in the top three positions and John Schmidli has secured the championship with a race to go.

1st – John Schmidli
2nd – Jim Orenshaw
3rd – Anthony Thurgood

Next Class Race – Warrnambool.

We’ll be back at Munro on Dec 2 – 3.

Also, check the calendar regularly, as new dates for 2024 are being added regularly.

Report  – John Schmidli
Photos – John Schmidli & Tom Allen.

Please note: We are looking for someone to write event reports regularly. Also, it would be wonderful to have someone photograph these events. This site has a vast readership and is important and valuable to pylon racing in Victoria, Australia and Worldwide.

The written content in this post is accurate to the best of my/our knowledge at the time of publishing. It is written from my/our perspective and reflects how I/we have experienced this event. Photos published as feature images are selected purely for their quality, general interest or topicality. When time permits, they are chosen from a pool of photos taken by myself and others. If a perspective is not being represented, I am more than happy to publish any written content or photos supplied to me, provided it is fair and reasonable.

Quick Reference

Results

Class – FA1

Places:
1st Rick Townsend
2nd Brian Steele
3rd Glenn Matthews

Fastest Time (Red Box): 62.08 Rick Townsend.
No. of competitors: 5

Class – F3T

Places:
1st Glenn Matthews
2nd Anthony Thurgood
3rd John Schmidli

Fastest Time (Red Box): 67.08 Glenn Matthews.
No. of competitors: 8

Class – Q500

Places:
1st John Schmidli
2nd Jim Orenshaw
3rd Gary Davidson

Fastest Time (Red Box): 96.01 John Schmidli
No. of competitors: 9

Season Championship

FA1

Brian Steele remains in the top position. Rick Townsend and Tom Wetherill moved up two positions each to take up 2nd and 3rd positions, respectively.

1st – Brian Steele
2nd – Rick Townsend
3rd – Tom Wetherill

F3T

The top 3 positions remain the same after this race.

1st – Brian Steele
2nd – Andrew Davies
3rd – Jim Orenshaw

Q500

No change in the top two positions, but Anthony Thurgood has displaced Tom Allan by moving up into 3rd position.

1st – John Schmidli
2nd – Jim Orenshaw
3rd – Anthony Thurgood

Next Class Race – Warrnambool.

We’ll be back at Warrnambool on Oct 11 – 12.

Also, check the calendar regularly, as new dates for 2024 are being added regularly.

Report  – John Schmidli
Photos – John Schmidli & Anthony Thurgood.

Please note: We are looking for someone to write event reports regularly. Also, it would be wonderful to have someone photograph these events. This site has a vast readership and is important and valuable to pylon racing in Victoria, Australia and Worldwide.

The written content in this post is accurate to the best of my/our knowledge at the time of publishing. It is written from my/our perspective and reflects how I/we have experienced this event. Photos published as feature images are selected purely for their quality, general interest or topicality. When time permits, they are chosen from a pool of photos taken by myself and others. If a perspective is not being represented, I am more than happy to publish any written content or photos supplied to me, provided it is fair and reasonable.

Quick Reference

Results

Class – FA1

Places:
1st Brian Steele
2nd Barry Murphy
3rd Rick Townsend

Fastest Time (Red Box): 64.57 Rick Townsend.
No. of competitors: 6

Class – F3T

Places:
1st Brian Steele
2nd Jim Orenshaw
3rd Andrew Davies

Fastest Time (Red Box): 64.63 Andrew Davies.
No. of competitors: 10

Class – Q500

Places:
1st John Schmidli
2nd Tom Allen
3rd Jim Orenshaw

Fastest Time (Red Box): 93.15 John Schmidli
No. of competitors: 12

Season Championship

FA1

Brian Steele remains in the top position, with Barry Murphy moving up a spot to 2nd position, displacing Andrew Davies down into 3rd.

1st – Brian Steele
2nd – Barry Murphy
3rd – Andrew Davies

F3T

Brian Steele and Andrew Davies continue swapping the top 2 positions, with Brian now being in the top spot. Jim Orenshaw has now moved up a position into the 3rd place.

1st – Brian Steele
2nd – Andrew Davies
3rd – Jim Orenshaw

Q500

There was, again, no change in the top 3 positions after this event.

1st – John Schmidli
2nd – Jim Orenshaw
3rd – Tom Wetherill

Next Class Race – New Bridge (Rick’s Field).

We’ll be back at Rick Townsend’s pylon field at New Bridge, on Oct 14 – 15

Report  – John Schmidli
Photos – John Schmidli,

Please note: We are looking for someone to write event reports regularly. Also, it would be wonderful to have someone photograph these events. This site has a vast readership and is important and valuable to pylon racing in Victoria, Australia and Worldwide.

The written content in this post is accurate to the best of my/our knowledge at the time of publishing. It is written from my/our perspective and reflects how I/we have experienced this event. Photos published as feature images are selected purely for their quality, general interest or topicality. When time permits, they are chosen from a pool of photos taken by myself and others. If a perspective is not being represented, I am more than happy to publish any written content or photos supplied to me, provided it is fair and reasonable.

Quick Reference

Results

Class – FA1

Places:
1st Rick Townsend
2nd Brian Steele
3rd Andrew Davies

Fastest Time (Red Box): 59.88 Rick Townsend.
No. of competitors: 4

Class – F3T

Places:
1st Andrew Davies
2nd Brian Steele
3rd Gary Davidson

Fastest Time (Red Box): 62.99 Andrew Davies.
No. of competitors: 10

Class – Q500

Places:
1st Jim Orenshaw
2nd Tom Allen
3rd John Schmidli

Fastest Time (Red Box): 93.46 Jim Orenshaw.
No. of competitors: 12

Season Championship

FA1

Brian Steele remains in the top position, with Barry Murphy moving down a spot into 3rd, being displaced by Andrew Davies.

1st – Brian Steele
2nd – Andrew Davies
3rd – Barry Murphy

F3T

Brian Steele and Andrew Davies continue swapping the top 2 positions, with Brian now being in the top spot. Jim Orenshaw has now moved up a position into the 3rd place.

1st – Andrew Davies
2nd – Brian Steele
3rd – Jim Orenshaw

Q500

There was no change in the top 3 positions after this event.

1st – John Schmidli
2nd – Jim Orenshaw
3rd – Tom Wetherill

Next Race – Mt Wallice (Q500 ONLY).

We head off to a new field for us to Mt Wallice (187 Brisbane Ranges Rd) on August 20.

Next Full 3 Class Race – Cohuna

We’ll be back at the home of pylon racing, Cohuna, on Sept 16 – 17

Report  – John Schmidli
Photos – John Schmidli,

Please note: We are looking for someone to write event reports regularly. Also, it would be wonderful to have someone photograph these events. This site has a vast readership and is important and valuable to pylon racing in Victoria, Australia and Worldwide.

The written content in this post is accurate to the best of my/our knowledge at the time of publishing. It is written from my/our perspective and reflects how I/we have experienced this event. Photos published as feature images are selected purely for their quality, general interest or topicality. When time permits, they are chosen from a pool of photos taken by myself and others. If a perspective is not being represented, I am more than happy to publish any written content or photos supplied to me, provided it is fair and reasonable.

Quick Reference