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.
On the 17th & 18th of August we ventured up to Cohuna, a town up near the Victorian and New South Wales border between Kerang and Echuka, for a weekend of pylon racing (classes – FA1, F400 and Q500). This was the first event since the F3D World Championships in Holland that some members of the VMPRA were involved in.
The last event at Bendigo was severely affected by rain and only the F400 class managed to race 4 rounds. This weekend was looking also to be badly effected, not by rain but by very strong winds. Those who traveled up to Cohuna on Friday to do some test flights encountered extremely strong winds. Not much testing was done that afternoon.
In the morning, after even stronger winds during the night, the wind died down and was a lot calmer. Due to the uncertainty of the weather and the fact that there was a forecast for more strong winds on Sunday, we needed to get a good amount of rounds in on the Saturday. We started with FA1 and Q500 together as these classes missed out at the Bendigo event all together.
We flew 5 rounds of FA1 and Q500 during the morning and after lunch, we flew 5 rounds of F400 leaving only a planned 4 rounds of each class for Sunday, weather permitting.
That night, after dinner, the VMPRA AGM was held at a room at the Cohuna Hotel. Members will receive minute of the meeting in the coming weeks.
Sunday morning wasn’t too bad to start with but the winds gradually increased in strength throughout the morning. After 2 rounds of FA1 and Q500, a meeting was held and we agreed to abandon any further racing. We packed up, had lunch, presented trophies and then headed off home early.
Cohuna is a great place for pylon racing and the club provides us with a great deal of support. It was especially good to have enough helpers from the club to man all the pylons including judges for pylon 2 and 3.
FA1
Paces:
1st Barry Murphy
2nd Brian Steel
3rd James Hurley
F400
Places:
1st Andrew Davies
2nd Gary Davidson
3rd Daniel Arapakis
Q500
Places:
1st John Schmidli
2nd Jim Oreshaw
3rd Daniel Arapakis
This event was mostly incident free except for Daniel managing to hit Pylon 2 with his Q500 leaving a trail of polystyrene and balsa strewn across the field. He possibly was followed in his mentors footsteps too closely as Beau Murphy did the same at Munro a short time before the World Championship.
In the wrap-up of the World Champs, there has been a lot of information, photos, video etc. added to the official website at www.wcf3d2013.nl/
Congratulations to Chris Callow for taking out the championship once again and to all the Australian & New Zealand team members who took part.
VMPRA Season Championship
Tom receiving the FA1 & F400 2012-2013 season championship trophies.
It’s well and truely off and running after a bit of a fause start due to the Bendigo wash-out. You can compete just by attending as many events as possible and working at building the best set result possible. The championship really rewards consistency.
At this event, the previous championship winners were presented with their awards (Tom Wetherill – FA1 and F400 and John Schmidli – Q500).
We are off to Swan Hill on September 14-15. VMPRA hasn’t been to Swan Hill in a long time and it’s always great to get a new location to go racing.
In the last couple of years the Swan Hill club has experienced a real resurgence 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 so this event will be well supported.
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 let’s make this a successful weekend and it would be great to see numbers back up to pre-World Champs numbers.
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
This will be a short report. I’ve been told to pretend that the weekend went off without a hitch but this was not quite the case. With already lower numbers than usual due to the many members that were in or on the way to Holland for the World Champs, the forecast of rain all weekend wasn’t very encouraging.
The reality was that we only flew 5 rounds of F400 on Saturday morning and 1 round of FA1 on Saturday afternoon before rain stopped proceedings and that was it for the weekend. There was no Q500 flown at all.
This meant that F400 was the only class that could be counted as a result.
F400
1st place – Andrew Davies
2nd place – James Hurley
3rd place – Daniel Arapakis
As a result of the washout, only F400 was awarded championship points with the exception of all entries for FA1 and Q500 being awarded 1 point each for entering.
This was the first event for the 2013 – 2014 Championship Year.
https://twitter.com/vicpylon
The last link is the VMPRA Twitter feed and can be view via the vmpra.org.au web site in the RHS column.
Next Event
The next event is at Cohuna on August 17-18 and we are racing FA1, F400 and Q500.
We expect to run the VMPRA AGM and general meeting at the local motel on the Saturday night and this will take place following a spit roast dinner (TBC). VMPRA members will be notified when this has been confirmed. It is important to come along to the meeting and support pylon racing in Victoria
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
F400 – Tom Wetherill – 64 points
Tom Wetherill - VMPRA 2012-2013 Season Champion - F400
Q500 – John Schmidli – 88 points
John Schmidli - VMPRA 2012-2013 Season Champion - Q500
What a weekend this was! I would have to say, “too much pylon racing is barely enough” but it came pretty close.
Vern's rather cold F400 model (Vern's iPhone photo)
It’s seldom we get to go pylon racing for 3 days in a row, but even more rare that we would have good weather to do this. This weekend, we encountered absolutely spectacular weather for all 3 days. Icy mornings to start with, clear blue skies and extremely still conditions prevailed.
Strictly speaking this isn’t a VMPRA event. It’s the annual AMPRA (Australian Miniature Pylon Racing Association) Championship and this was hosted by Barry Murphy at his spectacular, purpose-built pylon racing field, affectionately known as Bazza’s Paddock.
We had a good turnout of Victorian competitors and 1 interstater (Ranjit Phelan) with a large contingency camping out at the field which is becoming a popular thing to do at a lot of the country locations. It was a shame that not more interstate competitors could make it to the event.
The catering at this event was fantastic with a huge variety of food throughout the day including a pre test flight breakfast.
FA1 (AUST F3D), F400 & Q500 classes raced this weekend.
Saturday we raced 4 rounds of F400, 4 Rounds of Q500 and 2 rounds of FA1.
Sunday, 3 rounds of Q500 and the remaining 7 rounds of FA1.
Monday, 2 rounds of Q500 and the remaining 5 rounds of F400.
FA1
Places:
1st Beau Murphy
2nd Gary Davidson
3rd Vern Gibson
(R to L) - Vern Gibson, Marcus Guss, Barry Murphy, Beau Murphy, Glenn Matthews & Gary Davidson,
The fastest time was Ranjit Phelan with 56.51s. Terry O’Connor’s plane went in, going around pylon 3 and Beau Murphy hit a pylon.
F400
Places:
1st Glenn Matthews
2nd Tom Wetherill
3rd Andrew Davies
(L to R) - Brian Steele, Andrew Davies, Jim Orenshaw, Tom Wetherill, Glenn Matthews & Garry Davidson
James Hurley raced his new KD Racer and Daniel Arapakis flew F400 for the first time with his Terry O’Connor built aircraft. His best time and 2nd race ever in this class was 72.36s.
Fastest time was flown by Andrew Davies with 68.74s.
Q500
Places:
1st Daniel Arapakis
2nd Ian Haigh
3rd John Schmidli
(L to R) - Jim Orenshaw, John Schmidli, Daniel Arapakis, Beau Murphy, Ian Haigh & Kim O'Conor
There were 10 entries – the largest number I’ve seen at a 3-class event in the last 4 years. Really great to see more interest in this class and this has really raised the game with closer levels of competition.
The fastest time was Ian Haigh with 95.19s. This was achieved with his spare aircraft after the mysterious mid-air disintegration of his Viper.
By the time our next event comes around, competitors will be there or on their way to the F3D World Championships in the Netherlands. We’d like to wish the Australian and New Zealand teams all the best. Those representing Australia are:
Beau and Barry Murphy
Ranjit Phelan and Rick Townsand
Tyler and Warren Mees
and our junior, Matt Young and caller Bruce DeChastel
Also other VMPRA members:
Tom Wetherill and Jim Orenshaw who are representing New Zealand.
Next Event
The next event is at Bendigo on July 13-14 and we are racing the FA1, F400 and Q500.
We are currently trying to confirm whether camping is allowed at the field, but there is a caravan park 5 minutes away in Marong where we usually have the AGM. We are also expecting to run the VMPRA AGM and general meeting (venue and time TBC).
New Event – Swan Hill
We have an event coming up on September 14-15 in Swan Hill. VMPRA haven’t been to Swan Hill in a long time and it’s always great to get a new location to go racing, so put this one in your diaries and let’s support this one.
In the last couple of years the Swan Hill club has experienced a real resurgence 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 let’s 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 – (report and some photos) Additional photos provided by Lydia Arapakis (thanks).
The third VMPRA event for 2013 was held at the Warrnambool Model Aircraft Club’s field in Koroit, Victoria. The field was in excellent condition and had been well groomed by the host club. Contestants began arriving on Friday afternoon and a large contingent set up camp at the field. Those that arrived early enjoyed excellent weather conditions for testing and practice.
Three classes were scheduled to be flown – Q500 Sport, VIC F400 and FA1, the Australian version of FAI. Per usual VMPRA practice, the racing was held over 10 ½ laps of the FAI course. This reduces the requirements for the number of course workers as the cut judges at the No1 Pylon also serve as the timers.
Q500 Sport and VIC F400 were scheduled for Saturday morning. Q500 attracted six entries and VIC F400 attracted 5 entries. Beau Murphy also flew an F5D. Three rounds of these classes were completed before the weather conditions deteriorated and racing was called off for the day.
At the end of three rounds, James Hurley was setting the pace in Q500 Sport. David Axon had entered the fray and was running in second place – under the guidance of Bryan Steele, with maintenance support from Jim Orenshaw. James’ arch rivals – John Schmidli and Daniel Arapakis suffered 200s. Matt Carter obliterated his model when it came in contact with the ground.
In VIC F400, Glenn Matthews lead the way with his new Nelson LS powered Supercat. He was followed by Andrew Davies and Gary Davidson. These proved to be the final placings for this class as there was not sufficient time to complete any additional rounds on Sunday.
Sunday dawned with misty rain and low cloud cover, which delayed the start. However, once the weather improved racing got underway with eight additional rounds of Q500 Sport and eight rounds of FA1 being completed.
Maybe one of the next generation of Q500 flyers - Helping dad!
The racing action in Q500 Sport became more intense on Sunday and times dropped significantly as conditions were much better than the day before. At the end of 11 rounds of racing Daniel Arapakis was comfortably in first place. His best time was 90.85 seconds, which is very impressive for this class. John Schmidli was in second place and Davis Axon was in third place – having improved his race times by over 20 seconds!
The initial pace in FA1 was fairly conservative, as re-tuning seemed to be in order for some contestants due to the significant change in the weather conditions. However, by Round Four the pace was picking up and the weather conditions had stabilised. Eight rounds were run before time and daylight were starting to run out. When the scores were tallied Tom Wetherill was in first place. Andrew Davies finished second – a good return to form with a fresh engine. Glenn Matthews finished in third place, posting some good times along the way. The fastest time in FA1 was a 58.5 (for 10 ½ laps) that was posted by Beau Murphy. The scores for the other competitors in FA1 were hampered by a few too many 200’s.
Team Murphy on the way to the start line
The Warrnambool event proved to be a great competition and VMPRA extends it thanks to the host club for allowing use of the field, providing workers to help man the course and for keeping everyone well fed during the weekend.
by Tom Wetherill
Results
FA1
This weekend was not so good for team Murphy with both Barry & Beau having issues. Very uncharacteristic for them.
1st – Tom Wetherill
2nd – Andrew Davies
3rd – Glenn Matthews
F400
There was smaller numbers than usual particularly with James Hurley & myself not having a model to fly in this event. Tom Wetherill had an mishap when landing his Loki and broke the fuselage.
1st – Glenn Matthews
2nd – Andrew Davies
3rd – Gary Davidson
Q500
And Matt sat there working all afternoon until he had a plane to fly for the next day!
Another good turn-out for Q500 with David Axon joining in the fun. With the exception of a mishap with one of his models throwing a prop blade and being uncontrollable and going in, he had another model which flew well and he really improved his flying with the help of Brian Steel (shouting at him – David’s word) who was calling for him. David kept achieving new personal bests and ended up with 3rd place.
There was some good scrapps between myself and Daniel Arapakis with both of us getting new personal bests. 90.85 & 92.98 respectively. At this rate Daniel will be sub 90 seconds before long!
1st – Daniel Arapakis
2nd – John Schmidli
3rd – David Axon
FA1 – Tom Wetherill still leads but Glenn Matthews move up to second place and Beau Murphy move done to 3rd.
F400 – No change in the top 3 positions, but the points are close between Tom Wetherill, Jim Orenshaw & Andrew Davies so anything could happen at the next event.
Q500 – No change in the top 3 positions but James Hurley has drop away from the top by 4 points.
There is 1 more event for FA1 & F400 & 2 more for Q500.
The next year’s championship starts at the July 13-14 event at Bendigo so it’s now time to prepare and plan your assault on this title for your favoured class/es.
Next Event
The next event is a 1 day comp at Werribee flying Q500, EF-1 & Sports. The 1 day, introductory class races are the perfect event for coming along and trying pylon racing. There will be plenty of people on hand to assist you. You don’t need to have a special model. A 46 size trainer or low wing aircraft would be a fine model to start flying pylon.
EF-1 (Electric Formula 1) is a popular electric pylon racing class overseas. The planes are ARF models of full size formula 1 pylon racers. If you are into the electric models and want to race, this is your chance.
Bought a new Viper and ready to try racing it, come along to Werribee!
AMPRA
Also coming up is this year’s AMPRA event. This is a national pylon event and it’s being held here in Victoria, so there will be a lot of flyers from interstate. This is the big event for the year. Check the calendar for details.
John Schmidli – (Thanks to Tom Wetherill for the event report)
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.
Back on the weekend of March 23-24, the VMPRA held an event down at Bazza’s Paddock. For those who are unfamiliar with this venue, the field is near Munro between Bairnesdale and Stratford in Gippsland (Victoria, Australia). This field is a private, purpose-built pylon racing course developed by Barry Murphy. It is always a brilliant place to hold an event.
After the recent hot weather, it was nice to have milder conditions. Each day started off still, but the wind picked up during the mornings. Unfortunately on the Sunday, it was decided that FA1 wouldn’t fly as the wind had become too strong to continue racing. As a result, only 5 rounds of FA1 were flown for the weekend.
There was a lot more carnage than at recent events, with planes lost by Rick Townsend, Andrew Davies, Matt Young and James Hurley. James and Matt found themselves out of planes by lunch time on Saturday. Bad luck for both of them but especially for Matt, who had traveled down by train from Bendigo with his planes, gear and camping equipment which was a really big effort! It was also good to have him flying Q500 as well as FA1.
Beau & Barry Murphy with their "Hall of Fame" awards
During our lunch break on the Saturday, we had a visit from some VMAA & MAAA committee members. They presented the VMAA ‘Hall of Fame’ to Beau and Barry Murphy for their 2nd place at the F3D world championships back in 2011. It was great that the presentation could be made during this event and congratulations to Beau and Barry. Well done and we’ll be looking forward to hearing how you go at the world champs in Holland later this year.
FA1
1st Place Barry Murphy
2nd Place Tom Wetherill
3rd Place Glenn Matthews
F400
1st Place Tom Wetherill
2nd Place Gary Davidson
3rd Place Glenn Matthews
Q500
1st Place John Schmidli
2nd Place Daniel Arapakis
3rd Place Ian Rickard
Championship
The championship is now getting close to the end with only 2 FA1, F400 and 3 Q500 events left for this season.
For FA1 there was no change with the top 3 still being Tom Wetherill, Beau Murphy & Glenn Matthews respectively. Tom has increase his lead considerably as Beau had an uncharacteristically bad run on Saturday.
F400 saw a swapping of positions between flying partners Tom Wetherill and Jim Orenshaw. Tom has leaped to the top and Jim has moved down to 2nd place. Andrew Davies has now moved up to 3rd place.
There is a tight battle at the top with myself (John Schmidli) moving back to 1st place with James Hurley in 2nd Place although both on equal points. Positions have been decided based on total times. Daniel Arapakis maintains his 3rd position.
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.
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.
Everything is flown here from EDF’s, nitros, fuel ….etc. Even turbines fly here once or twice a year.
Next Event
