Category Archives: News

October Update

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Coming up this weekend (at time of publishing) is the Victorian State Championships being held at Hamilton. There probably hasn’t been enough made of the fact that this is our state championship but everybody would like the bragging rights to be a place getter at this event. I believe there is a good contingency coming from South Australia also which will be great.

Hamilton 2012 - FA1 starting line

It’s a busy time with a pylon event having been held up in Queensland last weekend and one being held the week after our state champs in NSW. Talking about the Queensland event. I believe Beau and Barry Murphy made a flying visit to Maryborough to compete in the F5D World Championship team select event. Congratulation to Beau and Barry for winning that event and for securing a place on the Australian Team. Beau’s fastest time was a 55.76 (mighty fast).

I need to point out an error in the Swan Hill Event Report. I had Glenn Matthews down as having the fastest time in F400. This should have read Gary Davidson with a time of 65.41.

Please don’t hesitate to let me know if you even spot an error in an web posts.

Hope to see you all down at Hamilton.

John Schmidli

 

September Update

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It’s not long now until VMPRA heads off to Swan Hill for a race weekend. This is a great opportunity to race at what is a new location on our race calendar.

We’ve been told that the airfield is looking nice and green after a good winter and warming spring. The runways are made up of mallee sand and gypsum (so nice and firm) and surrounded by green grass. Everything is flown here from EDF’s, nitros, fuel ….etc. Even turbines fly here once or twice a year.

There is free on-site camping, a hot shower and toilets. One of the members is supplying a sheep (butchered of course), so the food will be awesome.

For those not camping at the field, here is a suggested alternate accommodation http://www.swanhillholidaypark.com.au

So where is the field? Follow this link to see a Map of the field and greater Swan Hill.

We’re really looking forward to racing at Swan Hill and it will be great to see as many as possible there to make this week end a great success.

August Update

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After the excitement of the recent F3D World Championships, it’s time to going racing locally.

We are racing in the quick air at Cohuna on August 17-18.

Gary Davidson & James Hurley (hiding behind his win) - his first time in F3D

We with be running the VMPRA AGM and general meeting on the Saturday night at a venue TBC. It is important to come along to the meeting and support pylon racing in Victoria

World Championship Info – Holland 2013

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Team Australia

Team

Final Results

 

Here are some links to help you keep up with the World Champs.

F3D Diary (Dutch Edition): Day 1

F3D Diary (Dutch Edition): Day 2 

F3D Diary (Dutch Edition): Day 3

F3D Diary (Dutch Edition): Day 4

F3D Diary (Dutch Edition): Day 5

F3D Diary (Dutch Edition): Day 6

F3D Diary (Dutch Edition): Day 7

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2012-2013 VMPRA Season Championship – Winners

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We’ve just finished the 2012-2013 VMPRA Seasons Championship and the new 2013-2014 Championship starts at the next event which is Bendigo on July 13-14. The slate is scrubbed clean now, so it’s your chance to have a go at seeing how high up the ladder you can get over the next 12 month.

It has been a lot of fun and a challenge having the championship running over the year which makes doing well at a single event, not just an isolated result. The secret is consistency or constant improvement of performance and regular attendance of events.

So the winners for the now complete 2012-2013 VMPRA Season Championship are:

FA1 – Tom Wetherill – 63 points

Tom Wetherill - VMPRA 2012-2013 Season Champion - FA1

Tom Wetherill - VMPRA 2012-2013 Season Champion - FA1

F400 – Tom Wetherill – 64 points

Tom Wetherill - VMPRA 2012-2013 Season Champion - F400

Tom Wetherill - VMPRA 2012-2013 Season Champion - F400

Q500 – John Schmidli – 88 points

John Schmidli - VMPRA 2012-2013 Season Champion - Q500

John Schmidli - VMPRA 2012-2013 Season Champion - Q500

Final Results

Full Details PDF

 Position FA1 (Aust F3D) Points Events
1 Tom Wetherill 63 9
2 Beau Murphy 56 7
3 Glenn Matthews 52 8
4 Barry Murphy 43 6
5 Andrew Davies 38 9
6 Brian Steele 38 8
7 Gary Davidson 36 6
8 Jim Orenshaw 30 8
9 Rick Townsend 21 3
10 Ranjit Phelan 19 3
11 Leigh Hocken 16 3
12 Tyler Mees 15 2
13 Frank Cassella 13 2
14 Matt Young 10 3
15 Chris Callow 10 1
16 Mark French 9 3
17 Terry O’Connor 9 2
18 Vernon Gibson 8 1
19 James Hurley 4 2
20 Tony Howse 1  1
21 Stuart Humpherson 1  1
Position F400 Points Events
1 Tom Wetherill 64 8
2 Jim Orenshaw 60 9
3 Andrew Davies 59 8
4 Glenn Matthews 56 7
5 Gary Davidson 50 7
6 James Hurley 40 7
7 John Schmidli 34 6
8 Terry O’Connor 33 4
9 Marcus Guss 9 2
10 Rick Townsend 9 1
11 Stuart Humpherson 7 1
12 Trevor Pearce 6 1
13 Frank Weeks 8 1
14 Mike Kellet 4 1
15 Vernon Gibson 2 1
16 Tyler Mees 2 1
17 Paul Schmidt 2 1
18 Barry Townsend 1 1
19 Daniel Arapakis 1 1
20 Tony Howse 1 1
Position Q500 (Vic) Points Events
1 John Schmidli 88 10
2 James Hurley 79 10
3 Daniel Arapakis 63 7
4 Matt Carter 37 7
5 Ian Haigh 34 4
6 Mark French 30 5
7 Jim Orenshaw 23 3
8 Gary Davidson 22 3
9 Ian Rickard 14 3
10 Marcus Guss 11 3
11 David Axon 10 2
12 Glenn Matthews 9 2
13 Graeme Beagley 7 1
14 Paul Pollock 6 1
15 Shaun Power 6 1
16 Matt Young 5 1
17 Vernon Gibson 4 1
18 Gary Whitbourne 3 1

Full Details PDF

May Update

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Next Event

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Matt Carter launching Daniel Arapakis's trainer

This Sunday (May 19) we are having a pylon race at Werribee. It’s a 1 day event flying Q500, Sports and EF-1.

The Q500 race is the penultimate round of the 2012-2013 VMPRA championship which ends at the following event to be held at Munro.

Sports pylon covers a large range of models from trainers to low wing sports planes, typically of a 46 sports engine size. It’s the best way to start pylon racing. Only 12 months ago, Daniel Arapakis was flying a trainer around the pylon course and now he’s up there with the fastest competitors in the Q500 class.

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EF-1 models

EF-1 (electric formula 1) is a fairly new class for electric flight. There are a range of ARF models that can be purchased for this class and is an inexpensive way to go racing.

Wanted – Magazine Columnist

For many years, John Hughan wrote a pylon racing column in Airborne magazine (http://www.airbornemagazine.com.au/). Ever since John stopped producing this column, Airborne Magazine has been looking for a contributor to write pylon racing related articles on a regular basis. Having pylon racing represented in Airborne Magazine is a great chance to publicize our most exciting facet of aeromodelling. With AMPRA & the World Champs coming up soon, it’s a great time to start.
If anybody feels they would like to give this a go, please let me know.

 John Schmidli

April Update

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Next Event

Less than a week now until we are racing down at Warrnambool. They’ll be a bit of preparation going on this week. Hope to see lots down there on the weekend.

Swan Hill Event is On

Andrew Davies has confirmed that the event at Swan Hill on September 14-15 is going ahead and the calender has been updated to reflect this.

It’s been quite a few years since we have raced there at Swan Hill so it would be good to promote this event and get as many competitor along as possible. In the last couple of years the club has experienced a real resurgence. The club has had a bit of a resurgence in the last couple of years and they are very keen to have us. There is a group of Swan Hill members that will probably camp at the site and they can also provide up to 8 helpers. They have free on-site camping, a hot shower and toilets and there is likely to be big brekky and lunch at very reasonable prices.

The strip is 50 metres from the pits and the runway is gypsum (no dust) and the club can mow a take-off square and roll it if necessary.

So lets try and make this a successful weekend. It would be great to see the guys from SA and the other eastern states there.

John Schmidli

March Update

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We have a couple of events lined up for March. First off is on March 10 at Bacchus Marsh club for a Q500 & EF1 racing day. So it’ll be a good chance to brush off the Q500 models and come along for a day of close racing. Even bring along a friend and introduce them to the excitement of pylon racing.

On March 23-24, we are off to Bazza’s paddock for a weekend of Q500, F400 & FA1 racing. We’ll be following the usual format of Q500 & F400 in the morning or there abouts and FA1 in the afternoons. It seem ages since Camperdown, so it’ll be good to catch up and enjoy some racing again.

The LDMFA ran the 50 lap endurance race during February and there is a report on the LDMFA site if you are interested finding out more.

Lastly, there has been a video posted on the web of the “Basin Q40 Classic” race in the USA that is really well produced and worth a watch.

 

January 2013 Update

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Happy New year and all the best for the 2013 pylon racing year. By now, most of us will have returned back to our usual work activities and thoughts are returning to pylon racing (if ever out of our minds!).

This year is another exciting time for the VMPRA with the AMPRA Champs being held in Victoria (Munro) on June 8, 9 & 10 plus the World F3D Championships being held in the Netherlands at the air force base Deelen from 23rd – 28th July 2013. The Australian team includes VMPRA members, Beau & Barry Murphy plus Matt Young who has a chance of attending as a junior if funds can be raised (Matt’s fund raising Facebook page). There are also a number of members travelling to Europe for this event to help and spectate.

Camperdown

Again for this year, Camperdown is the location for our 1st competition for 2013. This is a great location for racing and it’s always a pleasure to visit this town.

As usual, there are some access restrictions at times, which is important to note so as to ensure a good relationship with the turf club and continued use of this great venue into the future.

NOTE – On Saturday the “Trackwatch” turf club rep. will allow access to the flying site in-between horse movements until 10.00am when we are then actually ok to fly. We can set up inside prior to 10:00am but there is not to be any flying before then.
From 10.00 onwards it is obviously open entry. If anybody turns up on Friday, they MUST NOT ENTER the field before 11.00am. Anytime after that is fine.

On Sunday there is no horse activity.

Camping on site is ok if we keep a low profile – especially early Saturday morning.

LDMFA 50 Lap Endurance Race.

The LDMFA club is hosting a 50-lap race on Feb 17, 2013. This event is being supported by the VMPRA with members and equipment provided for running the day. The event is open to LDMFA & VMPRA members as well as members of other VMAA affiliated clubs.
There will be Quickie 500 and Sports classes. Sports will cover pretty much anything, but usually consists of 46 size trainers and other sports aircraft. Two compulsory landings are required during the 50 laps of the race.

This is a great opportunity to try pylon racing for the first time, get more experience flying around a pylon course or just have a fun day of racing.

Calendar Update

There has been a number of additional events added to the calendar so please add them to your diaries so you don’t miss out on any of the 2013 events. All of the events are confirmed except for Swan Hill which is still being discussed.

Thanks to Andrew Davies for putting in the hard work of contacting the clubs and organizing the events for us to go racing this year. Without this work, there would be no events.

November Update

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F3D World Championship Team Selection

The team selection has now been finalized. After some confusion as to the team line-up, Chris Callow elected to participate as the returning world champion which made room for Tyler Mees to take up the final position on the team.

Mees & Murphys

The team is made up of Beau Murphy, Ranjit Phelan & Tyler Mees. There is now a chance that Matt Young will be going as a junior team member pending raising funds and all the boxes being ticked with AMPRA & MAAA. Not sure where this is at but there is a Facebook page setup dedicated to raising funds for Matt to attend the World Champs. HELP MATT GET TO THE 2013 F3D PYLON WORLD CHAMPS

The final results for selection events are below:

Name AMPRA QLD champs Cohuna trial VIC champs Final result
Chris Callow 56.85 56.72 56.78
Leigh Hocken 60.28 62.44 drop 59.92 60.1
Ranjit Phelan 61.54 drop 59.64 57.65 58.64
Frank Cassella 63.41 62.58  63.44 drop  62.99
Barry Murphy 63.47 140.51
Tyler Mees 65.28 drop 60.42  59.51 59.96
Beau Murphy 80.9 drop 60.32  57.81 59.06
Rick Townsend 63.5 63.2 63.35

Next event

Bazza's padock - After the F3D action, out comes so more fast toys

The next event is upon us. Down at Bazza’s padock at Munro on November 24-25. All 3 classes are being run. Q500 & F400 in the mornings and FA1 in the afternoons. So make sure all you gear is ready and you’ve got accommodation sorted. Lets have a great last weekend of racing before the Christmas/Summer break.

Events for Feb 213

So far there is only the Feb event confirmed for next year which is Camperdown on Feb 2-3, 2013 which is quite early in the year. Keep checking the calender as events will be added as they become confirmed.

50 Lap Endurance

Not a VMPRA event but worth considering is a 50 lap endurance race to be held at the Lilydale Club (LDMFA) which is being run on Feb 17, 2012. This event is open to all solo qualified pilots.

There is going to be both a Q500 c& sports class which pretty much allows for everything else. We had a great time last year, so all you budding pylon pilots, Q500 flyers or even experts, come along and have a great day of flying.