Munro May 2017 – Report

Hot Stuff Model Fuels

Results

Class – FA1

Places:
1st Daniel Arapakis
2nd Barry Murphy
3rd Brian Steele

Fastest Time: 61.24 – Barry Murphy
No. of competitors: 6

Class – F400

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

Fastest Time: 64.19 – Andrew Davies
No. of competitors: 8

Class – Q500

Places:
1st Jim Orenshaw
2nd Ian Rickard
3rd Tom Prosser

Fastest Time: 97.68 – Andrew Davies
No. of competitors: 9

Check out the full results>>>

Season Championship

FA1

There was not change for the top 3 positions but there is only 1 point between Leigh and Daniel.

1st – Leigh Hocken
2nd – Daniel Arapakis
3rd – Brian Steele

F400

Like FA1, there has been no change for the top 3 places but the gap at the top 2 positions has extended by a point to 3 points.

1st – Andrew Davies
2nd – Barry Murphy
3rd – Jim Orenshaw

Q500

No change for the top 2 positions by Ian Rickard has now moved up into 3rd place.

1st – Jim Orenshaw
2nd – John Schmidli
3rd – Ian Rickard

Check Out Season Championship >>>

Next Race

The next event is AMPRA on June 10 & 11 to be held at  Monarto Model Flying Field in South Australia. More information >>>

The next VMPRA event is scheduled for July 8 & 9. Details of what and where this event is to be staged are still to be confirmed.

The F3D World Championships are on in Sweden from July 25 to 29.

Note: The Bendigo event that was to be held on July 29 – 30 has been cancelled due to low numbers partly because of the World Champs. An alternate time and venue for the AGM is TBA.

Check Out Complete Calendar >>>

Event Results – John Schmidli

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. They are chosen from a pool of photos taken by myself and others when time permits.

If a perspective is not being represented, I am more than happy to publish any written content or photos that are supplied to me provided it is fair and reasonable.

Quick Reference

Event Result
Season Championship
Event Calendar

Hot Stuff Model Fuels

Warrnambool 2017 – Event Report

The VMPRA was back racing in Warrnambool, a regional city on the West Coast of Victoria. The Field was in really good condition and the club was sporting some new structures in the form of a new club house and shed. The new club house was yet to be fitted out, so the guys from SA & NSW were allowed to set-up camp in there.

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Travelling to Warrnambool on the Friday was a wet affair although conditions at the field where dry enough for setting up camp and to carry out some practice flights.

Saturday was off to an early start and once setup and was completed, we started with F400. Five rounds were completed and by lunch.

Next up was five rounds of FA1. The full Australian F3D 2017 World Championship team were present for this event so we got to see them in some of their final practice and preparations before heading off to Sweden in late July.

By the time  the FA1 racing had finished it was getting late. We started Q500 with a healthy field of 9 pilot and managed to complete 2 rounds before low light started to become a problem. After stopping for the day, the drizzle set in.
Unfortunately, that was pretty much the weather for the whole night and most of the next day resulting in no racing on the Sunday and pulling up stumps after lunch.

FA1 & F400 classes had a result but Q500 with only 2 rounds completed, was a non-event. It was a pity as we had a good turn-out with Pilots from SA, NSW & VIC.

While waiting for the weather to improve on the Sunday morning, a reporter and photographer from the Warrnambool Standard interviewed the World Champ Team plots and took some photos for the news paper.

Check out the event photo gallery>>> 

Results

Class – FA1

Places:
1st Daniel Arapakis
2nd Ranjit Phelan
3rd Shaun Jacobsen

Fastest Time: 57.85 – Daniel Arapakis (New fastest time for the season)
No. of competitors: 10

Class – F400

Places:
1st Shaun Jacobsen
2nd Beau Murphy
3rd Jim Orenshaw

Fastest Time: 65.77 – Beau Murphy
No. of competitors: 9 

Class – Q500

Non-Event – Only 2 rounds flown before being washed out.

Check out the full results>>>

Season Championship

We now only have 2 more events left for this season’s championship.

FA1

There was not change for the top 3 positions but Daniel has now closed the gap to Leigh down to 5 points from a previous 12 points.

1st – Leigh Hocken
2nd – Daniel Arapakis
3rd – Brian Steele

F400

Like FA1, there has been no change for the top 3 places but the gap at the top 2 positions is 2 points. Only 5 points covers the top 3 positions.

1st – Andrew Davies
2nd – Barry Murphy
3rd – Jim Orenshaw

Q500

No change for the top positions as all 3 receive 1 attendance point after this class was washed out.

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

Check Out Season Championship >>>

Next Race

The next race on the calendar is back at Munro on May 20th -21st.

Check Out Complete Calendar >>>

Event Report and Photos – John Schmidli
Additional photos – Tom Wetherill

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. They are chosen from a pool of photos taken by myself and others when time permits.

If a perspective is not being represented, I am more than happy to publish any written content or photos that are supplied to me provided it is fair and reasonable.

Quick Reference

Event Result
Photo Gallery
Season Championship
Event Calendar

Hot Stuff Model Fuels

Munro March 2017 – Event Report

Back in March, the VMPRA had a race event back at Barry Murphy’s beautifully prepared pylon racing field down at Munro. It was a great event and the weather was kind to us.

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It was great seeing father and son Q500 team, Matt and Xavier Noonan making their first race appearance at Munro as well as seeing Frank Cassella & Tom Prosser putting in really strong performances over the weekend.

Check out the event photo gallery>>>

Results

Class – FA1

Places:
1st Brian Steele
2nd Frank Cassella
3rd Andrew Davies

Fastest Time: 59.97 – Leigh Hocken
No. of competitors: 7

Class – F400

Places:
1st Frank Cassella
2nd Andrew Davies
3rd Barry Murphy

Fastest Time: 69.30 – Frank Cassella
No. of competitors: 7

Class – Q500

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

Fastest Time: 95.22 – John Schmidli
No. of competitors: 8

Season Championship

FA1

For FA1, no change for the top 2 positions but Brian Steele has moved from 6th to 3rd position.

1st – Leigh Hocken
2nd – Daniel Arapakis
3rd – Brian Steele

F400

Like FA1, there has been no move for the top 2 positions but Jim Orenshaw has moved up into 3rd position from 5th.

1st – Andrew Davies
2nd – Barry Murphy
3rd – Jim Orenshaw

Q500

Jim Orenshaw remained at the top position 20 points ahead of John Schmidli in 2nd who move up from 3rd with Gary Whitbourn moving down 1 place to 3rd position.

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

Check Out Season Championship >>>

Next Race

The next race on the calendar is at Warrnambool  on April 22 – 23.

Check Out Complete Calendar >>>

Event Report and Photos – John Schmidli

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. They are chosen from a pool of photos taken by myself and others when time permits.

If a perspective is not being represented, I am more than happy to publish any written content or photos that are supplied to me provided it is fair and reasonable.

Quick Reference

Event Result
Photo Gallery
Season Championship
Event Calendar

Hot Stuff Model Fuels

Camperdown VMPRA Trophy – 2017

The first full 3 class race for the year which happens to be the VMPRA Trophy, was held at Camperdown over the weekend of February 4 & 5. Camperdown is always great place to go racing and the local club, the Corangamite Model Aircraft Club is situated in the middle of a horse racing track.

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Weather for the Saturday was good although the sun was a bit warm and with concerns of possible rain on the Sunday, our CD for the weekend, (Mick Kellett) pushed to do 5 rounds of all classes on the Saturday. It was a long day with Q500 finishing after 5pm. After F3d finish and prior to Q500, we had to do a course change due to the wind direction shifting. At the end of the day, we had complete 40 races.

Sunday was cloudy and a little cooler. Another course change was required which took a little longer as the measuring line had fallen out of the trailer during the previous change and had to be found to set the pylons correctly.

We needed to complete 3 rounds of each class with rain and thunder forecast for that afternoon. F400 and F3D where competed by about 12:30. After a short lunch break, It all began to be a little challenging for Q500. With smallish numbers, and only 2 heats, we stay out at the flight line for refueling and service the planes to save time. A mid-air collation in the first heat, required a run back to the pits and assembling 2nd planes for Myself (John Schmidli) and John Yianni. The next race, James Hurley’s Viper had the tail fail around 2 & 3. He then had to fetch a 2nd plane. Just as the 2 round was starting a short but very heavy rain storm came through stopping proceeding again. Shortly after, racing resumed and we worked through to the end.

The course was packed up, trophies awarded and after saying a our goodbye, we got away before the rain arrived.

It was an enjoyable weekend and was particularly good to see our regular interstaters, Tom, Shaun & Jarrod Jacobsen and John Yianni from SA and Ranjit Phelan from NSW. It’s big commitment to travel these distances.

Check out the event photo gallery>>> 

Results

Class – FA1

Places:
1st Ranjit Phelan
2nd Leigh Hocken
3rd Shaun Jacobsen

Fastest Time: 58.69 – Ranjit Phelan
No. of competitors: 9
NOTE: There was not cut judge on Pylon #3 for this class all weekend. 

Class – F400

Places:
1st Shaun Jacobsen
2nd Andrew Davies
3rd Barry Murphy

Fastest Time: 68.75 – Shaun Jacobsen
No. of competitors: 11
NOTE: There was not cut judge on Pylon #3 for this class all weekend. 

Class – Q500

Places:
1st Jim Orenshaw
2nd John Schmidli
3rd Jarrod Jacobsen

Fastest Time: 97.55 – Jim Orenshaw
No. of competitors: 7
NOTE: There was not cut judge on Pylon #3 for this class all weekend. 

Season Championship

FA1

No change for the top 3 for FA1.

1st – Leigh Hocken
2nd – Daniel Arapakis
3rd – Andrew Davies

F400

Andrew Davies has moved up to top spot. Barry Murphy has moved up to 2nd position from 4th and Glenn Matthews is in 3rd position having been in 5th position previously.

1st – Andrew Davies
2nd – Barry Murphy
3rd – Glenn Matthews

Q500

Jim Orenshaw & Gary Whitbourn have remained in first and second places respectively with myself (John Schmidli) moving from 5th position up to 3rd position.

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

Check Out Season Championship >>>

Next Race

The next race on the calendar is back at Munro on March 18th -19th.

There has been a number of additions to the calendar so make sure you have these new dates penciled in to your diary so you don’t miss any races.

Check Out Complete Calendar >>>

Event Report and Photos – John Schmidli

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. They are chosen from a pool of photos taken by myself and others when time permits.

If a perspective is not being represented, I am more than happy to publish any written content or photos that are supplied to me provided it is fair and reasonable.

Quick Reference

Event Result
Photo Gallery
Season Championship
Event Calendar

Hot Stuff Model Fuels

February Update – VMPRA Trophy

The VMPRA Trophy is on at Camperdown this weekend (Feb 4-5)

The Field is in reasonable condition and not as dry as this time last year.

Camperdown Racecourse access conditions:

Friday (03/02/2017)
Racecourse is available from 11:00 am onwards. PLEASE DO NOT ENTER EARLIER THAN 11:00 am.

Saturday (04/02/2017)
Gate open at 8:30 am and NO FLYING.
Entries close at 9:30 am and the course is to be set up.
Test Flying from 10:00 am to 10:30 am.
F400 to commence at 10:30 am.
FA1 practice allowed during lunch break.
FA1 to commence after lunch, followed by Q500.

Sunday (05/02/2017)
Field closed for test flying and racing to commence after 9:00 am.

The schedule for both days is F400, FA1 & Q500 and please let me know if you would be interested in being CD.

Please also note our VMPRA annual membership fees are due.

Munro Dec 2016 – Event Report

VMPRA’s last event for 2016 was in December back down at Munro.
Unfortunately there was no report written up for the event so, this post contains the basic results & championship standings.

Check out the event photo gallery>>> 

Hot Stuff Model Fuels

Results

Class – FA1

Places:
1st Leigh Hocken
2nd Barry Murphy
3rd Daniel Arapakis

Fastest Time: 58.78 – Leigh Hocken
No. of competitors: 7

Class – F400

Places:
1st Ranjit Phelan
2nd Barry Murphy
3rd Glenn Matthews

Fastest Time: 68.13 – Ranjit Phelan
No. of competitors: 7

Class – Q500

Places:
1st Jim Orenshaw
2nd David Chippendale
3rd Andrew Arapakis

Fastest Time: 97.52 – Jim Orenshaw
No. of competitors: 5

Check out the full results>>>

Season Championship

FA1

Leigh Hocken has remained in top spot, Daniel Arapakis and Andrew Davies both moved up 1 position.

1st – Leigh Hocken
2nd – Daniel Arapakis
3rd – Andrew Davies

F400

Ranjit Phelan popped up from 5th to top spot. Andrew Davies and Jim Orenshaw remained in the 2nd & 3rd positions

1st – Ranjit Phelan
2nd – Andrew Davies
3rd – Jim Orenshaw

Q500

Jim Orenshaw & Gary Whitbourn have remained in first and second places respectively but Ian has now moved up into 3rd position.

1st – Jim Orenshaw
2nd – Gary Whitbourn
3rd – Ian Rickard

Check Out Season Championship >>>

Next Race

The first race for 2017 is a Sports & Q500 event to be held on Jan 22 at the Westernport Model Aircraft Club. Looks like we’ll have a really good turn-out. There is always a good amount on Sport flyers there and the Q500 pilots look to be coming out in force.

Only 2 weeks later and we have our first full 3 class event at Camperdown on Feb 4th – 5th. So it all starting up for another year with the F3D world champs thrown in as well.

Check Out Complete Calendar >>>

Event Report and Photos – John Schmidli

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. They are chosen from a pool of photos taken by myself and others when time permits.

If a perspective is not being represented, I am more than happy to publish any written content or photos that are supplied to me provided it is fair and reasonable.

Quick Reference

Event Result
Photo Gallery
Season Championship
Event Calendar

Hot Stuff Model Fuels

Bendigo 2016 – Event Report

Each year in July, the VMPRA head off to Bendigo, a regional city situated in the gold fields of central Victoria. It is also the start of the new season championship and we hold our annual general meeting at this event each year. Traditionally, this generally being in the middle of Winter, we can have some pretty cold and wet weather. Luckily, this year we were blessed with quite good conditions and Sunday felt positively Spring-like.
Hot Stuff Model Fuels
As we gathered out at the Marong Model Airfield, conditions were a little foggy but this soon cleared and test flights were carried out. The challenge for the weekend came when setting up the pylon course and in particular the #1 pylon cage. Both the trailer and car towing it dropped into a particularly soft patch of earth as there had been quite an amount of recent rain. Next Tom Allen’s 4-wheel drive ended up stuck while trying to extract the car and trailer. It took another 4-wheel drive of James Hurley’s and some harder ground to start extracting all the vehicles and the cage. As a result, it was just before midday before racing got underway.

First up was Formula 400 with the aim to run only 3 rounds due to the very late start.
Next up was Quickie 500 to also fly 3 rounds. As this class has a relatively easy and quick turn-around time (with only 6 competitors), we refueled out on the line. 3 rounds were quickly completed and we had lunch.

After the late lunch it was time for FA1 (F3D) to race. There were unusually low numbers with only 4 competing so the races where over quickly but model prep/turn-around was slow. Even still, 4 rounds where completed before the end of racing for the day.

During the day, I took the opportunity to test out Facebook Live to film and televise a Q500 and FA1 race. It worked quite well with some well known names from around the world of pylon racing, coming online and viewing the video live. You should be able to view these from the VMPRA facebook page.

In the evening a group of us went off to the Marong pub for dinner. For the size of the town of Marong, the pub is excellent. After dinner, we headed back to the Marong caravan park for our AGM and general meeting. The main change to come from the meeting was James Hurley being elected as our new President of VMPRA taking up the vacancy left by Glenn Matthews after many years as president. I know all the members will join me in thanking Glenn for all his hard work in the past, of which we are only now really starting to get a real appreciation of what he has been doing and congratulating and supporting James in taking up this position.

With Saturday being a rather grey, cold and threatening day, It was a real pleasure to come out to the field on the Sunday morning to sunny still conditions which continued all day. It became warm enough for a few of us to end up stripped down to t-shirts.

Test flying was supervised by Toni Axon in line with our new safety requirement as discussed at the general meeting the night before (these will be published and communicated before the next event).

Racing for the day was the same order as Saturday with F400 and then Q500 doing 5 rounds each with Q500 gaining another competitor in local, Shaun Powers. It was good to see him there having raced with us 2 years prior. FA1 started fairly late and only ended up flying 7 rounds for the weekend whereas F400 and Q500 flew 8.

With this event being one of the 1st with Glenn & Nerida being way, it was good that we had people chipping in to help run the event. In all it went fairly well with only one glitch with the new laptop which had the old version of the timing program loaded, so we had to manually drop the extra round. This will all be sorted for future events.

Check out the event photo gallery>>>

Results

Class – FA1

Places:
1st Brian Steele
2nd Andrew Davies
3rd Leigh Hocken

Fastest Time: 59.75 – Leigh Hocken
No. of competitors: 4

Class – F400

Places:
1st Andrew Davies
2nd Jim Orenshaw
3rd Gary Davidson

Fastest Time: 63.93 – Andrew Davies
No. of competitors: 6

Class – Q500

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

Fastest Time: 95.21 – Jim Orenshaw
No. of competitors: 7

Check out the full results>>>

Season Championship

Below is the 2015-2016 Season Championship for FA1 F400 and Q500. Congratulations Daniel, Brian and Jim. It is quite an effort to string together good performances, event after event to be in the position to win the season championship.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now we have already started the 2016-2017 season championship so let’s see who can get to the top this year. There is nothing like a challenge to made us lift our performance.

Season Championship after 1 event.

FA1

1st – Brian Steele
2nd – Andrew Davies
3rd – Leigh Hocken

F400

1st – Andrew Davies
2nd – Jim Orenshaw
3rd – Gary Davidson

Q500

1st – Tom Allen
2nd – John Schmidli
3rd – Jim Orenhaw

Check Out Season Championship >>>

Season Fastest Time

We have reset the fastest times with the start of a new championship year. A huge congratulation goes out to Leigh Hocken for taking out the fastest times for last season in both FA1 and F400 and Daniel Arapakis for taking it out for Q500.

 

Next Race

The next event for VMPRA is a Q500 and Sports/Scanner race down at Crib Point on August 28. The race we had there earlier in the year was great with a lot of new comers to pylon competing. This one is really worth getting involved with. It is also part of the season championship for Q500.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Check Out Complete Calendar >>>

Event Report and Photographs – John Schmidli

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. They are chosen from a pool of photos taken by myself and others when time permits.
If a perspective is not being represented, I am more than happy to publish any written content or photos that are supplied to me provided it is fair and reasonable.

Quick Reference

Event Result
Photo Gallery
Season Championship
Event Calendar

Hot Stuff Model Fuels

Munro May 2016 – Event Report

Despite gale force winds throughout the week in Victoria, our QLD friends from A1 Composites arrived safely at Munro. Yet again the field was immaculately prepared and ready for racing.

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A dozen campers and pilots arrived on Friday for testing and preparations for the event which would be the last one for the F3D and F400 Annual Season Championship fly-off. With another field upgrade of a roaring pot belly heater, this proved to be a ripper particularly during the very popular evening festivities of the famous Saturday night dinner.

James Hurley and his F400 model recording a PB on the weekend

Saturday’s forecast was perfect with 24 degrees and light Westerly winds. Formular 400 kicked off with a field of 11 pilots with a variety of models flown. There was carnage between Brian Steele and Jimmy Orenshaw with a spectacular mid-air collision which obliterated both models. James Hurley focusing on one class this weekend which saw his personal best of 71.64 seconds being recorded in round 5 with a big smile returning to the pits pipping his team mate John Schmidli for 4th place. Great to see Andrew Davies back into the groove with sub 70 times on the Sunday finishing in a solid 3rd position for the weekend. Murphy owned Miss Dara’s designed by the world famous Dane Kane, took out 1st and 2nd places powered by a Nelson flown by Beau and Barry respectively. Fastest time was recorded by Beau with a 64.88 seconds. Well done to all pilots for the weekend.

Recent additions to the pylon fraternity, Father and son team, Gavin and Cameron Sexton

The entry pylon class – Quickie 500, took to the sky’s with 12 pilots from ages 12  to 80 years old. Veteran Tom Prosser again flew his immaculately scratch built model and was very impressive all weekend and an absolute pleasure to chat with regarding a life time of great stories and competitions. Saturday saw 3 rounds completed and young Cameron Sexton debut in this class with an Angelov model. His best time for this weekend was 124.96 seconds. Well done Cam!

As the event rolled on, the 1st & 2nd podium positions battle went on between Tom Allen and plane builder, Steve Taylor who was visiting Munro for the very first time and flying his flagship Q500 model, the Banshee with a uniquely yellow colour scheme. Some would say the stripes resembled a pineapple. Well done guys. Steve nudging 1st place, Tom Allen in 2nd and the very reliable John Schmidli in 3rd place. Weather did turn fierce with 30+ knot winds for the last 3 rounds and well done to all quickie pilots!

Beau Murphy and Daniel Arapakis and their Minute Master F3D pylon racers.

F3D event was piloted by 7 entrants. Saturday saw Beau Murphy in the 50’s and Dannmann closely behind him. Baz Murphy was tackled by dead-air while tail-gating Glenn Matthews which caused the destruction of his Minute Master after plowing into  terra firma in round 1. Unfortunately only 3 rounds were completed on Saturday and flying on Sunday afternoon was cancelled due to strong winds. The best time was recorded by Beau with a 59.36 seconds. With AMPRA just around the corner, the Victorian pilots are in great shape for the first round of the 2017 world championship team trials.

Check out the event photo gallery>>>

Results

Class – FA1

Places:
1st Beau Murphy
2nd Daniel Arapakis
3rd Brian Steele

Fastest Time: 59.36 – Beau Murphy
No. of competitors: 7

Class – F400

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

Fastest Time: 64.88 – Beau Murphy
No. of competitors: 11

Class – Q500

Places:
1st Steve Taylor
2nd Tom Allen
3rd John Schmidli

Fastest Time: 95.62 – Tom Allen
No. of competitors: 12

Check out the full results>>>

Season Championship

This was the last event for the 2015-2016 Season Championship for FA1 & F400.
Q500 has one more event to run which is on July 3 at Werribee. Trophies for 1st place for each class will be presented at the AGM at the Bendigo event.

The following is how the season championship wrapped up for FA1 & F400 and how Q500 currently stands.

FA1

1st – Daniel Arapakis – Winner
2nd – Barry Murphy
3rd – Glenn Matthews

Congratulations to Daniel for an extremely strong year of racing.


F400

1st – Brian Steele – 
2nd – Glenn Matthews
3rd – Shaun Jacobsen

Congratulations to Brian for what was also a very strong year of racing.

Q500

1st – Jim Orenshaw
2nd – John Schmidli
3rd – Andrew Arapakis

For Q500, again there was no change for the top 3 positions but John Schmidli is back in with a mathamatical chance to knock Jim off the top at the last event in Werribee.

Check Out Season Championship >>>

Season Fastest Time

There was no new fastest times recorded at this event. A huge congratulation goes out to Leigh Hocken for taking out the fastest times for the year in both FA1 & F400.

 

FA1 – Leigh Hocken – 57.38

F400 – Leigh Hocken – 61.75

Q500 – Daniel Arapakis – 89.59

Check Out Complete Calendar >>>

Next Race

AMPRA is being held on the Queen’s Birthday weekend (June 11-13, 2016) up at Coolum “Sunshine Model Flyers” in QLD. This is the 1st of the 2017 WC Team Trials. Good luck to all the VMPRA members attending this event.

For the VMPRA, the next event is a Sports/Q500 1 day event being held at Werribee on July 3. A great opportunity to have some fun racing. Bring a Q500 or Sports model along.

Check Out Complete Calendar >>>

Event Report – Anonymous
Additional information: John Schmidli
Photos – Lydia Arapakis & John Schmidli

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. They are chosen from a pool of photos taken by myself and others when time permits.

If a perspective is not being represented, I am more than happy to publish any written content or photos that are supplied to me provided it is fair and reasonable.

Quick Reference

Event Result
Photo Gallery
Season Championship
Event Calendar

Hot Stuff Model Fuels

Warrnambool 2016 – Event Report

Warrnambool located on the south-western Coast of Victoria and at the western end of the Great Ocean road, is world famous for it’s spectacular oceanic coastal views. Home club to the Hocken family, Koroit is a humble club amongst farm land with great facilities and very well maintained grounds.

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As usual Friday arrivals consisted of pilots and teams travelling from afar and were greeted with perfect Autumn conditions of mid 20’s and light winds.

The usual campers of Axons, Steeley’s, Murphy, Arapakis’ settling in for the afternoon and evening grazing with spits roasting and beers flowing. Well into the evening, festivities continued with perfect star filled night skies. In the morning, we woke up to misty rain and cold winds.

The field of competitors for Formula 400

Flying didn’t start until late morning due to the wet weather conditions. The usual race format of F400, Q500 followed by F3D was to be flown.

A field of 11 F400 pilots challenged the sky’s with Shaun Jacobsen in fine form with opening rounds in the 60’s putting loads of pressure on the rest of the field. Great to see the South Aussies at the event with 4 pilots flying in this class. Brian (Iron-man) Steele finished with the most cuts for the weekend which is certainly uncharacteristic and Leigh Hocken recording the fastest time of 64.95  seconds. Nevertheless Ranjit Phelan and Baz Murphy finishing 2nd and 3rd respectively after 1st place getter, Shaun Jacobsen. Well done to all pilots.

- Long time pylon racing friends, Jim Orenshaw and Gary Davidson (LtoR) with Gary's El Bandito F400 model.

Q500 always slated for a few laughs and a bit of sledging on the start line saw some brilliant flying and sub 100 seconds times by the three top place getters. A mix of experience and newer pilots to the racing scene challenged each other with each pilot flying at their best.

Jimmy (Tiger) Orenshaw taking out 1st place again, now in a really good position for the season championship just nudged in front of Tom Allen who came 2nd with Jarrod Jacobsen finishing 3rd dueling Dannmann’s Dad (Andrew Arapakis)for the weekend. 

Local lad and winner of F3D class - Leigh Hocken and his VooDoo pylon racer.

F3D with a 10 pilot entry was great to watch. The first up race was with good mates Shaun Jacobsen and Dannmann. Shaun opening up with a personal best, WELL DONE Shauny! Dannmann having looked forward to this weekend, unfortunately hit #2 pilot on his 3rd race with uncharacteristic model issues which saw him finish well down for the weekend. Leigh flew a brilliant race with his average for the event of 60 seconds and Shaun finishing 2nd in his second ever F3D race. He flew very consistently and was closely followed by a veteran of pylon, Baz Murphy, having got all his times in.

With only one event to go at Munro before the great race at AMPRA which is being held at Coolum QLD. This will be the first event for the team selection trial for the 2017 F3D World Championships to be held in Sweden. Good luck to all pilots!

Check out the event photo gallery>>>

Results

Class – FA1

Places:
1st Leigh Hocken
2nd Shaun Jacobsen
3rd Barry Murphy

Fastest Time: 58.97 – Leigh Hocken
No. of competitors: 10

Class – F400

Places:
1st Shaun Jacobsen
2nd Ranjit Phelan
3rd Barry Murphy

Fastest Time: 64.95 – Leigh Hocken
No. of competitors: 11

Class – Q500

Places:
1st Jim Orenshaw
2nd Tom Allen
3rd Jarrod Jacobsen

Fastest Time: 95.87 – Mike Kellet
No. of competitors: 6

Check out the full results>>>

Season Championship

The following is how the season championship stands currently.

FA1

1st – Daniel Arapakis
2nd – Barry Murphy
3rd – Leigh Hocken

No change for the top two positions, but Leigh Hocken has moved up to 3rd position, displacing Glenn Matthews.

F400

1st – Brian Steele
2nd – Glenn Matthews
3rd – Shaun Jacobsen

No change for the top two positions, but Shaun Jacobsen has moved up to 3rd position, displacing Jim Orenshaw.

Q500

1st – Jim Orenshaw
2nd – John Schmidli
3rd – Andrew Arapakis

For Q500, again there was no change for the top 3 positions.

Check Out Season Championship >>>

Season Fastest Time

There was no new fastest time recorded at the Warnambool event

FA1 – Leigh Hocken – 57.38

F400 – Leigh Hocken – 61.75

Q500 – Daniel Arapakis – 89.59

Check Out Complete Calendar >>>

Event Report – Anonymous
Additional information: John Schmidli
Photos – Andrew Arapakis & Tom Allen

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. They are chosen from a pool of photos taken by myself and others when time permits.

If a perspective is not being represented, I am more than happy to publish any written content or photos that are supplied to me provided it is fair and reasonable.

Quick Reference

Event Result
Photo Gallery
Season Championship
Event Calendar

Hot Stuff Model Fuels

 

Munro March 2016 – Event Report

The Annual John Hughan Memorial Event was held at Munro for our monthly Pylon Race.

John Hughan was at the forefront promoting pylon racing in the 70’s and was instrumental in the formation of AMPRA itself. John greatly assisted the pylon flyers and helped instigate several F3D rule changes as well as the plane dimensions that we now all enjoy. Hughan was remembered by all as a pylon racing enthusiast who loved the hobby and pylon racing. For many years John also was a column writer for Airborne Magazine with his regular article, “Pylon Round-Up’, which included great stories and technical information for precision aeromodelling and hence the significance of this weekend flying for all pilots.

Hot Stuff Model Fuels

The Munro field after the peak of summer was in impeccable condition with the grass, perfect as always and now with a facility upgrade of a substantial roof structure for all competitors to use. Gippsland’s local pylon pilot David Chippendale, together with the assistance of Ian Rickard, championed the construction that will no doubt stand the test of time (and a tornado or two)!

Pilots from far and wide arrived on Friday for model set up and engine testing for an exciting weekend ahead of racing. The weather Gods were kind to use yet again, with a  forecast for perfect conditions for all to enjoy during this fantastic weekend racing.

As per previous events the weekends racing schedule was for F400 then Q500 followed by F3D.

Scores for the Saturday were very impressive until we discovered a computer glitch which left many pilots discussing this around the dinner table that Saturday night.

Formula 400 - Ready for the 60 second count down to start. Ranjit Phelan and his Polecat held by his caller, Jim Orenshaw.

The F400 class yet again was very competitive with 10 pilots challenging themselves round after round. Baz Murphy recording the best time for the event of 66.26 seconds. Our very own man of steel, Brain Steele with help from his good mate Andrew Davies, took out top prize with Baz second and Ranji in third. Only 10 seconds between the top 3 place getters and the rest of the field flying really well too!

Q500 saw 8 pilots compete with a mix of beginners through to experienced pilots. A variety of hand crafted and precision molded planes enjoyed the conditions and fun was had by all. Apart from a mid-air and various unfortunate terra-firma incidences, fun was had by all. Jimmy and John battled it out for first and second place and Andrew (Dannmann’s Dad) finishing in solid 3rd. Jimmy recorded the best time of the event of 95.44 seconds with a very special mention to both Ian Rickard and David Chippendale for their PB’s.

Mark French was very happy after racing his Minute Master F3D model at its first event.

F3D witnessed Mark French returning to F3D with a Minute Master fuz from Leigh Hocken and wing from Dannmann. Quite a colourful combo for this model as the engine was also a first for Dannmann setting it up for his good mate Frenchy.

Racing was at its best with Baz Murphy and Frank Cassella full throttle dueling it out lap after lap resulting in what some say was one of the most spectacular mid-air crashes of all time! Even after collecting confetti, both pilots still had huge smiles on their faces as I am sure the adrenaline of action and a great sense of comradry being the winner.

• Daniel Arapakis with his winner's "John Hughan Trophy" for first place in F3D with his mentor, Barry Murphy beside him.

After 8 rounds of F3D Steely and Ranji finished with second and third place respectively for the weekend but the 1st place trophy went to Dannmann flying out of a swivel chair which he self propelled with his left foot (his right foot in plaster after nasty ankle surgery for a reoccurring tendon issue flew). A huge sense of achievement for Dannmann with the ever reliable Baz set up saw Dannmann fly at his best with ripper times and also recording the fastest time of the weekend of 58.28 seconds.

The big race for the annual VMPRA Season Championship trophy’s is almost over with season leaders remaining unchanged with Dannmann now on 55 points further extending his lead in F3D, Brain Steel 1st place with an aggregate score of 56 points in F400. Jim Orenshaw is currently running in 1st place in Q500 with 56 points with John Schmidli only a few points behind.

Check out the event photo gallery>>>

Results

- Ian Rickard holding Barry Murphy's own design, Minute Master F3D while the mixture is adjusted only seconds from launch.

Class – FA1

Places:
1st Daniel Arapakis
2nd Brian Steele
3rd Ranjit Phelan

Fastest Time: 58.28 – Daniel Arapakis
No. of competitors: 8

 

Jim Orenshaw launches Ranjit Phelan's Polecat F400 racer.

Class – F400

Places:
1st Brian Steele
2nd Barry Murphy
3rd Ranjit Phelan

Fastest Time: 66.26 – Barry Murphy
No. of competitors: 10

 

Q500 models ready to be launched.

Class – Q500

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

Fastest Time: 95.44 – Mike Kellet
No. of competitors: 8

 

Check out the full results>>>

Season Championship

The following is how the season championship stands currently.

FA1

1st – Daniel Arapakis
2nd – Barry Murphy
3rd – Glenn Matthews

No change for the top position, but Barry Murphy has moved up to 2nd and Glenn down to 3rd.

F400

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

No change for these positions.

Q500

1st – Jim Orenshaw
2nd – John Schmidli
3rd – Andrew Arapakis

For Q500, again there was no change for the top 3 positions.

Check Out Season Championship >>>

Season Fastest Time

Once we disregard the Saturday results due to the time system anomaly there was no change to the fastest time for all classes.

FA1 – Leigh Hocken – 57.38

F400 – Leigh Hocken – 61.75

Q500 – Mike Kellet – 94.74

Next Race

We have a Q500, Scanner and Sports 40 pylon race on at the Westernport Model Aircraft Club down at Crib Point on Sunday April 3. There are a number of us going down on Saturday to practice, share a spit roast dinner and stay over night ready for racing on the Sunday.

2 weeks later (April 16-17), we will be down at Warrnambool for one of our regular 3 class races.

Check Out Complete Calendar >>>

Event Report – Anonymous
Additional information: John Schmidli
Photos – John Schmidli & Andrew Arapakis

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 perspective and reflects how I have experienced this event.

Photos published as feature images are selected purely for their quality, general interest or topicality. They are chosen from a pool of photos taken by myself and others when time permits.

If a perspective is not being represented, I am more than happy to publish any written content or photos that are supplied to me provided it is fair and reasonable

Quick Reference

Event Result
Photo Gallery
Season Championship
Event Calendar

Hot Stuff Model Fuels