Tag Archives: F3d

October Update

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Victorian State Championships – Hamilton

Not long now until the Victorian State Championships, being held in Hamilton on October 20-21, 2012. This will also be the final selection trial event for the 2013 Australian F3D World Championship Team. We should see another good turn out with some interstate competitors from Queensland and New South Wales. Often at Hamilton there will also be a South Australian contingency.

This event will consist of our usual 3 classes, FA1 (AUST F3D) F400 (VIC) & Q500 so all you Q500 racers can come racing after the Cohuna recess.

Notes:

  • The field will be available for practice on Friday.
  • There will be breakfast available at the field on both days.
  • The field closes at 9:00am on each day.

Hamilton 2011

General Meeting

Also to be held on the Hamilton weekend is the next VMPRA general meeting.

  • Venue: Lake Hamilton Motor Village and Holiday Park, 8 Ballarat Road, Hamilton.
  • Start time: 8:00 pm

Note: Visitors to park out front

So come along and have your say and support pylon racing in Victoria.

Event Report – Cohuna 2012

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Tyler & Warren Mees on the way to the line

It was great turning up to the Cohuna field on Saturday morning to a mass of activity, camper-vans, caravans and gazebo’s and the field in the process of being setup. A hive of activity that started the day before with many pilots arriving early to practice; the Cohuna field looked in great condition. To top it off, the weather was spectacular and promised to be good for the whole weekend.

Walking through the pits, it was great to see a good number of competitors, including interstate compeditors, Chris Callow, Tyler Mees, Ranjit Phelan & Tony Howse in attendance for the 3rd F3D team selection trail for the 2013 F3D world championships.

Plane ID - Chris Callow's Voodoo being held high

F3D

After some initial timing equipment setup issues (which were resolved thanks to Kevin Callow), the scene was set for 9 rounds of F3D. As the day went on, the usual suspects rose to the top of the timing sheet with some really fast times being flown. There was a great deal of interest world wide with regular postings of the results on Facebook and many comments posted. As we started a little late and the sun was getting too low, the day’s racing was finished after completing 7 rounds.

We had our usual evening dinner out to talk all things pylon (and the occasional non-related subjects) and after a good night’s sleep (for some), it was back to the field for the remaining 2 rounds. On completion of these rounds the results were:

1st Chris Callow
2nd Ranjit Phelan
3rd Leigh Hocken
See Full Results>>>

AUST WC Team Selection Standings

With the 3rd team trial completed and only the VIC State Champs left, where the 4th trial will be run, this is how the scores look as of 18/9/2012:

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
Barry Murphy 63.47 140.51
Tyler Mees 65.28 60.42
Beau Murphy 80.9 60.32
Rick Townsend 63.5 63.2 63.35

F400 VIC

After all the excitement of the F3D, we had 7 rounds of F400 to fly. There was the first significant carnage for the weekend with a mid-air between Mike Kellet & Tony Howse. Tony came off 2nd best, but Mike was able to land with just half a horizontal stabilizer. Andrew Davies also lost a plane after impacting the ground during a race.

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

Gary Davidson came 1st making great use of his new Loki, Rick Townsend came 2nd and Tom Wetherill 3rd.
See Full Results>>>

“All in all, this was a great event. Thanks goes out to the Cohuna club for the great food and help all weekend. Another thank you goes to David Axon and Mike Kellet for cut judging for F3D Trials (David’s voice doesn’t carry as far as you would think when he is 100 meters away!). Lastly to starter extraordinaire and all-round good sort, Toni Axon who slugged it out and kept the guys in line for both days.” – (Quote – Terry O’Connor)
Also thanks to Terry and Kim (walking wounded) for the smooth running of the event.

The championship table has been updated and there is also a photo gallery from this event.

The next event is the VIC State Champs at Hamilton on October 20-21, 2012.

John Schmidli

 

September Update

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Well, according to the VMPRA.org.au event  count-down, it’s just over 2 weeks before the event at Cohuna. This event (Sept 15-16) is the 3rd selection trial event for the next F3D World Championship in the Netherlands 2013. It promises to be a hotly contested event in F3D with several of our northern friends making the trip down to compete and we should see most if not all of the winning 2011 F3D WC team flying at Cohuna.

As this is a selection event for the F3D WCs, this will take priority, but there is also going to be F400 flown after 9 rounds of F3D has been completed.
Note: There isn’t going to be any Q500 flown at this event but you can still come along and get involve with helping out, fly in the other classes and enjoy some really quick racing.

So it’s time to make your preparations and have accomodation organized ready for this great week end.

While we are at Cohuna, over in Romania, the F5D World Championships as getting under way. Having seen Rick and Beau fly these models earlier in the year, we have had a chance to see just how quickly they fly. Australia is sending a team, so we’ll being keeping an ear out for news on their progress. Good Luck guys.

See you are Cohuna
John Schmidli 

August Update

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Next Event

It’s time to start preparing for our next event which is down at Munro at Bazza’a Padock on the week end of  August 11-12, 2012. If you haven’t raced down there before, it’s a fantastic field and purpose built for pylon racing. I encourage you to come down to compete, especially if you are flying Q500. So sort out where you’re staying, Stratford is the closest accommodation with a Motel and Caravan Park. If you don’t know where the field it, as it is a private field, contact a member of the committee for details.

Bendigo 2012 place getter's

Our last event at Bendigo went really well and the weather was kind to us this time. There are more photo from the event now on the gallery page courtesy of Bill Matthews from the BRCAC club.

Calender Update

If you check our calender you’ll notice that the classes and schedule hav been updated for the Cohuna event in September. The priority is F3D as this is one of the selection evens for the next World Championships in 2013. This important event could see some competitor coming from interstate. Once F3D has run 9 rounds, then F400 will run 9 rounds. There will not be any Q500 run this week end.

Look forward to see everybody down at Munro.

John Schmidli 

Bendigo 2012 – Event Report

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Bendigo once again played host to the VMPRA for a weekend of FA1 (F3D), F400 & Q500.

On the start line and on time

Despite a bleak forecast, the weather was not too bad. Saturday, there were a few showers that stopped racing, but Sunday was much better and wind conditions were good.

All 3 classes completed 9 rounds, with 3 each on the Saturday and 6 each on Sunday. This event was competely void of any flying incidents which is quite unusual but a testiment to the skill and clean racing that went on.

Tom Wetherill's F3Ds

Saturday saw a lot of FA1s struggling with a quite a few flame-outs which wasn’t evident on Sunday and pylon 3 was a bit of a challenge for some reason (or was that just me?!).

Saturday night was the VMPRA Annual General Meeting where office bearers were elected. Glenn Matthews is now the president, I’m the secretary & Andrew Davies is the contest organizer. Gary Davidson was good enough to stay on as treasurer for another 12 months. Thanks goes out to the previous office holders, Davis Axon, Tom Wetherill and Mike Kellet for all their time and effort. Without these people, we wouldn’t be pylon racing in Victoria.

Special thanks should also go to Rick Townsend & Matt Young for their big effort in

Matt Young (left) - A very successful weekend flying F3D

preparing the airfield for this event. It was a great weekend of racing and congratulations goes to Matt Young for his 3rd place in FA1 in only his 2nd go at flying this class. Great to see new talent joining the ranks. This should inspire other young pilots to give pylon racing a go.

Check out the results >>>

Check out photo gallery >>>

The next event is Munro on August 11-12. Check out the calender >>>

John Schmidli

 

Bendigo – Next Event

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Unless you were lucky enough to travel to AMPRA this year, it’s been a bit of a break since the last race. It’s now time to get ready for the next event which is being held at Marong, near Bendigo on July 14-15, 2012. Q500, F400 & FA1 (F3D) will be run on both days (see event calendar).

Also on this week end, is the VMPRA annual general meeting which is being held at the Marong Caravan Park on Saturday night. This is an important meeting as we are electing a new committee and taking care of important business that ensures the smooth running of VMPRA.

Come along and show your support for pylon racing in Victoria. You can even put your hand up for a position on the committee. Without having these committee positions filled, pylon racing in Victoria would not be as strong as it is or may not exist at all.

Look forward to seeing you all there.

Important:

Please note that the club has its regular flying day on Friday mornings, and they are generally finished by early afternoon. As such – it is not recommended to practice until after the club members have finished.

Also – the club wishes to remind us regarding leaving wire cuttings around the pits – please clean up after you have finished as there are sheep in the paddock and they do not want to have them ingest any wire.

Thanks

AMPRA 2012 – Maryborough, QLD

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This event will be run over the Queen’s birthday long weekend (June 9-11, 2012). Some VMPRA members will be traveling to Maryborough, Qld. This is also on eof the selection events for the next F3D championships in the Netherlands from 24-28th July 2013.

AMPRA Event document >>>

The new event “F3R” will also be flown at this event as a demonstration event.

F3R Rules document >>>

Good luck to all VMPRA members who are traveling up to Maryborough and competing. We look forward to seeing the results.

Warrnambool 2012 – Event Report

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Brian, James, Jim & Tom on the way out to the line - FA1 (Aust F3D)

Brian, James, Jim & Tom on the way out to the line - FA1 (Aust F3D)

After a break from racing of over a month, VMPRA members headed down to Warrnambool for a weekend of pylon racing. Members of the Warrnambool club turned out in force to help and to provide good food and refreshments for the weekend. The field was in great condition but the weather on Saturday was not so good with very strong wind and the rain starting to fall in the afternoon. Sunday really made up for it, with only a light breeze and scatter cloud cover.

On Saturday we flew 5 rounds of Q500 followed by another 5 rounds of F400. Once the rain started falling, FA1 was abandoned for the day.

FA1 about to lauch

FA1 (Aust F3D) about to launch

Sunday started with FA1 & Q500 alternating until 9 rounds of Q500 had been completed and then a further 4 rounds of FA1 was flown to complete the event.

All in all this was a very enjoyable weekend. As well as the on field action, we all went to the pub for dinner and a good chin wag on the Saturday night. It was a pity that entries for this event were down on the usual numbers but there was plenty of good racing to be had by all.

Results have been posted. See results >>>

Warrnambool Club House & Tony Axon

Warrnambool Club House & Tony Axon

Brian Steele Launching James Hurley's Q500. David Axon's model is just in the air

Brian Steel Launching James Hurley's Q500. David Axon's model is just in the air

Full gallery of photos from this event >>>

Check out this video taken at the event>>>