It’s been a bit of a break but we are off to racing again in less than a weeks time. Back to one of our favorites, Cohuna.
This will be run to our usual format – F400, Q500 and FA1 will be run. We should get 8 rounds of each in and have a great weekends racing!
Also coming up is the AMPRA Championship to be held in Munro on the Queens birthday weekend (June 6th, 7th and 8th – if required) .
Not only is this our national championship for our usual classes of F400, Q500 & FA1, but is will be a team selection event for the next F5D world championships in 2016. For more information on this event, go to this link on the AMPRA website.
The annual VMPRA race was held at the Warrnambool Club’s field on the weekend of 28 – 29 March 2015. The event has been on the VMPRA calendar for well over a decade and the club has been very supportive of pylon racing.
Warrnambool is located on the Southern Ocean, and historically this has meant cool and windy conditions…and fast times. This year a storm front passed through the area on the Thursday prior to the event giving the area and the flying field a good watering. The weather then improved throughout the weekend.
Pilots that arrived on Friday were treated to sandwiches and tea/coffee and sweets – the hospitality was provided by Toni Axon. It was a very civilised way to start the weekend and there was plenty of time for practice flights. Late in the afternoon, Tom Jacobsen and the dedicated group from South Australia arrived. These guys are truly passionate about their pylon racing and they helped bolster the numbers as a number of the VMPRA regulars had family and business commitments.
Saturday dawned overcast and cold, with occasional rain showers. The course was set up and racing got underway by mid-morning. The schedule was to follow the usual VMPRA plan – VIC F400, Q500 Sport and FA1, with the target of completing eight rounds for each class. As usual VMPRA procedure, racing was over 10 ½ laps.
VIC F400 was first up and this class attracted eight entries. Four rounds were flown on Saturday and Shaun Jacobsen set the early pace, ending up with a best time of 64.88 for his DKT powered AR-6. Shaun was chased all the way, wing tip-to-wing-tip, by an inspired Jim Orenshaw. Jim had found a new prop that gave more speed and he finished the day with his best time of 65.51.
Four rounds of Q500 Sport was the next class to see action and this class attracted seven entries. John Schmidli set the early pace in the first round, however, he was not able to maintain consistency. John’s regular team-mate, James Hurley, had other commitments this weekend and Gary Davidson stepped in to help out. James York was debuting an impressive new Banshee and John Yanni also had a new model. David Axon had recruited Barry Murphy (apparently bribed by offers of sandwiches and tea) as a mentor and caller for the weekend – in the absence of Brian Steele. George Angelov was back in action as well with help from Gary. However, their efforts were in vain, as Tom Wetherill bagged some good scores in the 94 second range to finish ahead at the end of the day.
FA1 was the next class to be run and this class also attracted seven entries. Leigh Hocken, a member of the host club, member of the Australian F3D 2015 Team and local hero, set the pace on the first day with a string of 59 second times. His best time coming in Round 5 with a brand new model. At the end of the day, Tom Wetherill was second with best times in the 61 second range and Daniel Arapakis was third with a best time in the 62 second range.
On Sunday, the weather continues to clear and beanies were replaced with sun screen. The first event was to complete the final four rounds of VIC F400. Shaun Jacobsen continued to show the way and finished first overall with a score of 394.4. Another win for SA! Glenn Matthews finished second with a score of 421.2. He was followed 0.5 seconds behind by Jim Orenshaw. Cuts incurred during chasing Shaun caused him to drop back in the results. Times on Sunday were slower than the previous day.
The remaining four rounds of Q500 Sport were flown next. There was plenty of very close racing as well as some bumping and sharing paint in flight – fortunately no loss of models occurred. Although the times were also slightly slower than the prior day, Tom Wetherill finished in first place with a score of 578.9. John Schmidli was second with a score of 610.0 and James York, who had started to dial in his new model, finished third with a score of 668.8.
The last event for the weekend was to complete the final three rounds of FA1. Leigh ran a new model in preparation for the 2015 World Championships and blitzed the field with a best time of 57.44 for 10 ½ laps. He ended the weekend in first place with a score of 354.9. Daniel Arapakis stepped up the pace and posted a personal best of 59.2. He finished second with a score of 369.9. Tom Wetherill was third with a score of 377.6.
Attrition during the weekend was low overall. However, Gary Davidson bore the brunt of any misfortune. He had an impressive engine blow-up, creating a new ventilation system for his MB, as well as losing an F400 model.
In summary, a great weekend of racing and special thanks go out from VMPRA to the host Warrnambool club for use of their facilities, their hospitality and for their members who worked the course and served in the canteen. Thanks also to Glenn and Nerida Matthews for running the timing system, to Toni and David Axon for working as starters, and the VMPRA members who worked the course during the weekend when they were not racing.
Event Report – Tom Wetherill.
Additional content – John Schmidli
Photos – John Schmidli and 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 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.
L-R: Tom Wetherill, Daniel Arapakis, Barry Murphy & Jim Orenshaw
The John Hughan Trophy event was held at Barry Murphy’s field in Munro, VIC on the weekend of 28 February – 1 March 2015. John was one of the founding members of VMPRA who had a great passion for pylon racing.
The dedicated pylon racing field was in excellent condition as usual. Many competitors arrived on Friday to set up camp and to get some practice. A number of friends of the competitors attended as well and helped out as course workers. This support was greatly appreciated as regulars David and Toni Axon were attending the Avalon Airshow and Nerida Matthews was recovering from the flu.
The program for the weekend was to run eight rounds of F400 VIC, Q500 Sport and Formula Australia One (FA1), with 4 rounds being flown each day. The FA1 rules allow use of both muffled and un-muffled pipes. As per usual VMPRA practice, racing was over 10 ½ laps of the FAI course.
Saturday dawned warm and clear and the temperature and humidity were expected to be high. After some test flying, the course was set up and racing got underway by mid-morning.
F400 VIC was the first event to be run and this class attracted a modest five entries. There was close racing, but times were not very fast due to the calm and muggy weather conditions. At the end of Saturday, Brian Steele was in first place and had posted the fastest time of 69.61 seconds. Brian held a nine second lead over Glenn Matthews, who was followed closely by Andrew Davies.
Q500 Sport was the next class to be run and this event attracted an impressive 10 entries. The entry list included two father-son teams – David and Caleb Chippindall and Gary and Alan Whitbourn. John Schmidli set the early pace with a time of 96.35, but at the end of four rounds he was in second place – 0.6 seconds behind Tom Wetherill. A bit further back, Andrew Arapakis posted a personal best time of 107.86. The Chippendall and Whitbourn families had their hands full running all their planes, but were enjoying the challenge.
In the afternoon FA1 was run and this class attracted nine entries. Some of the regulars were away due to family commitments and saving gear for the World Championships. The conditions were not conducive for fast times as the weather was hot, humid and there was no wind. After four rounds, Barry Murphy was in the lead – approximately four seconds clear of Glenn Matthews. Daniel Arapakis was 0.5 seconds behind in third and had posted the fastest time of 64.82.
The calm weather was interrupted during the night as a major storm front passed through the area – making an interesting time for the camping contingent. The following morning was cool and the gusty winds required that the course be reset before racing could begin.
The racing program was a repeat of the prior day, with F400 up first. Brian Steele continued his form and finished first with a score of 425.1. Glenn Matthews was second with a score of 436.2, closely followed by Andrew Davies with a score of 436.8.
In Q500, Tom Wetherill continued to post consistent times and finished first with a score of 587.7. The Q500’s were getting blown about in the wind and John Schmidli’s effort was compromised by two heats with cuts. He finished second with a score of 600.1. Jim Orenshaw was third with a score of 627.2. The family battles were won by David Chippindall and Alan Whitbourn, respectively.
The wind picked up throughout the day and the FA1’s seemed to run much better in these conditions. There was very exciting and close wing-tip to wing-tip racing. In the end host, Barry Murphy finished in first place with a score of 385.3. He was followed very closely by Daniel Arapakis in second place with a score of 385.9 – all the practice at this field for the upcoming World Championships was paying off. Glenn Matthews was a close third with a score of 387.0.
The times improved significantly over the prior day – with Barry Murphy posting the fast time of 60.89. Notable FA1 performances were also put in by Gary Davidson flying an Evo NXT and Andrew Davies flying the ex-Arapakis Veyron. The Veyron proved to be very competitive in its debut with Andrew at the helm, just edging Daniel for a 2nd faster time.
At the end of the day, the course was packed up and a prize-giving ceremony was held. VMPRA expresses its appreciation to Barry Murphy for making the field available and for hosting the competition. The VMPRA committee apologises for not having trophies available in time for handing out at this event.
As we start the 2nd half of the season championship, the following is how the top 3 positions sit.
FA1
Glenn Matthews remains in 1st place but Daniel Arapakis displaced Andrew Davies in 2nd place. Big mover, Barry Murphy jumped from 10th to 6th position with his win of this event.
1 – Glenn Matthews
2 – Daniel Arapakis
3 – Andrew Davies
F400 – Results
Similar movements in the order as for FA1, Andrew Davies remains in 1st position and Brian Steele displaced Glenn Matthews for 2nd place.
1 – Andrew Davies
2 – Brian Steele
3 – Glenn Matthews
Event Report – Tom Wetherill.
Additional content – John Schmidli
Photos – John Schmidli and 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.
The VMPRA 2015 season got underway on the weekend of 7 – 8 February at the Corangamite Model Aircraft Club in Camperdown, VIC. The event is a favourite amongst the VMPRA members and the host club members were out in force to help out with working the course and supplying great food and refreshments over the weekend. The flying field, which is located in the centre of a horse racing course, was in good condition due to recent summer rainfall.
There was a good turnout on Friday as pilots wanted to get some practice after the summer break. However, a hot northerly wind was blowing and the temperature at the field pushed past 40 degrees during the afternoon…so most chose to adjourn early, opting for glider flying at the nearby volcanic crater, rest and cool refreshments.
On Saturday morning, the course was set up during the curfew period while the horse training was underway. The northerly wind continued but the temperature was in the low to mid 30’s – slightly cooler than the previous day. The plan for the weekend was to run eight rounds of each class – F400, Q500 and FA1 – with the two worst scores to be dropped. Racing was over 10 ½ laps per usual VMPRA practice as this reduces the number of workers required to run the event.
Racing got underway late morning and three rounds of F400 were flown. This class attracted eight entries and but this was reduced after a mid-air during round two. Brian Steele took an early lead and had posted the best time of 70.77. Times were not spectacular, due to the heat.
Next up was Q500 and this class attracted six entries and three rounds were also flown. There was some close racing and unfortunately the field in this class was also depleted due to another mid-air. After three rounds Tom Wetherill was in the lead with the best time of 96.80. Andrew Arapakis has been improving under the guidance of son Daniel and he posted a personal best time of 108.83.
The main event – FA1 attracted a good turnout with 10 entries. Five rounds were flown to complete racing for the day. The cut judges were kept very busy during the first two rounds and some pilots were still tuning for the conditions. As a result, there were many 200’s on the board. At the end of the afternoon, Leigh Hocken was in the lead and had the best time of 60.78.
During the evening a storm front came through (this is Victoria!) and on Sunday there was a cool breeze from the south. This required that the course be changed and after this was done the remaining five rounds of F400 were flown. At the completion of eight rounds, Brian Steele was in first place with a score of 414.3 and the best time of 64.79. The cooler conditions helped and he was more than 5 seconds quicker than the previous day. Team mate Andrew Davies was second with a score of 430.7 and Gary Davidson was third with a score of 433.5. Andrew and Gary also improved their times by about 5 seconds from the Saturday.
The remaining five rounds of Q500 were flown next and the close racing continued. In the end, Tom Wetherill was in first place with a score of 580.3 and had the fast time of 94.73. James Hurley was second with a score of 620.1 – just edging out arch rival and team mate John Schmidli, who was third with a score of 623.6.
The last event was the completion of the final rounds of FA1 and Leigh Hocken put in some very impressive and aggressive flying to finish in first place with a score of 367.5. Glenn Matthews was a distant second with a score of 407.7. He was followed closely by Barry Murphy with a score of 412.6. Beau Murphy posted the fastest time of 58.43. Daniel Arapakis was flying very impressively against the veterans, but unfortunately lost a model trying to keep up with Leigh.
A prize giving ceremony was held following completion of racing and VMPRA thanked Foster Taylor and the Corangamite club for hosting the event and for providing great food over the weekend. Special thanks were also given to the club members for helping work the event, as well as to Toni Axon for starting, David Axon for serving as a cut judge (and awarding the most cuts) and to Nerida Matthews for running the computer system and taking care of the administrative side of the event.
As we start the 2nd half of the season championship, the following is how the top 3 positions sit.
FA1
Glenn Matthews bumped Andrew Davies from the top position and Daniel has jumped up from 5th to 3rd position.
1 – Glenn Matthews
2 – Andrew Davies
3 – Daniel Arapakis
F400 – Results
The opposite to FA1, Andrew Davies has bumped Glenn Matthews from the top position down to 2nd place and like Daniel in FA1, Brian Steele has jumped from 5th to 3rd place.
1 – Andrew Davies
2 – Glenn Matthews
3 – Brian Steele
Event Report – Tom Wetherill.
Additional content – John Schmidli
Photos – John Schmidli and 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.
The final event on the VMPRA 2014 calendar was held at the Hamilton Model Aeroplane Club’s field in Branxholme, Victoria, on the weekend of 15 – 16 November 2014. The event attracted a very good number of entries – from both Victoria as well as a large contingent from South Australia. The weather forecast for the weekend was for changeable conditions, with storms expected. As usual, many competitors camped at the field on Friday and settled in for the weekend.
On Saturday morning the course was set up and racing got underway with four rounds of F400. This class attracted an impressive 14 entries. Shaun Jacobsen set the early pace and there was a lot of close racing throughout the field. Times for the 10 ½ laps were not particularly fast due to the conditions.
Andrew Arapakis's Viper came off the worst
Q500 Sport commenced following a break for lunch and this class attracted 11 entries. However, the numbers were soon reduced in the first round when 3 models came together on the ground! After that, things settled down. However, the wind was increasing and times dropped off. After four rounds, John Schmidli was in the lead and was closely followed by Jim Orenshaw. Times were also slower than usual in Q500.
F3D was next on the schedule, and this class attracted 12 entries. There were a number of new models being tested on the weekend – Beau Murphy had a Redonkulous and Daniel Arapakis, Andrew Davies and Tom Wetherill all had new Veyrons. Unfortunately, a major storm front came through in the early afternoon, which was followed by another one a bit later on. This brought thunder, lightning, heavy rain and strong winds. As a result, the day’s racing was called off and F3D was not flown.
During the break, a meeting was held to discuss rules and other related matters. It was agreed that VMPRA would target running eight rounds instead of nine (before dropping two scores) for each of its competitions starting in 2015. This change aligns the VMPRA procedures with the international rules for F3D.
Tom Wetherill's new Mc Laren themed Vayron
On Sunday morning, there was a slight delay while waiting for the weather to clear and racing got underway with seven rounds of F3D. Conditions began to deteriorate as a strong cross wind and turbulence coming off the nearby trees made flying very difficult. A record number of 200s were posted as some pilots had problems launching their models.
At the end of the seven rounds, Andrew Davies was in first place with a score of 344.5. He flew an older model and saved the Veyron for another day. He had the reliability in the difficult conditions and was the only pilot not to get any 200’s.
Tom Jacobsen from South Australia, flying an old style Evo, was in second with a score of 432.7. Daniel Arapakis showed very good form for the first time out with his Veyron and finished third with a score of 437.4. Times were not fast due to the very windy conditions, with Glenn Matthews posting the fastest time for the event of 62.8 for 10 ½ laps.
After a break for lunch, three additional rounds of Q500 Sport were flown. John Schmidli extended his lead and finished with a score of 619.5. He was followed by Jim Orenshaw in second with a score of 644.2 and Tom Wetherill with a score of 648.4.
Team SA's Collection of aircraft
Last up were the remaining three rounds of F400. Shaun Jacobsen flew very well and finished well ahead with a score of 412.6. Glenn Matthews was second with a score of 432.7 and Andrew Davies was having a good weekend finishing third with a score of 437.4.
Certificates were handed out to the place getters at the end of the day and the course equipment was packed up. VMPRA extended its thanks to the Hamilton club for hosting the event and for providing course workers and great food all weekend.
Report – Tom Wetherill.
Editor’s – Comments:
The Hamilton club facilities where in great condition. It appeared that there had been recent painting and asphalting around the club house and toilet facilities.
Andrew Arapakis put on an awesome meal on Friday night. Thanks for organizing this Andrew.
There was a lot of difficulty taking off at times with a strong cross-wind and several competitors flying new aircraft types. Daniel Arapakis was racing a new Veyron and Beau Murphy a Redonkulous. Tom Wetherill and Andrew Davies had new Veyron models at the field with Andrew making a maiden flight of his aircraft.
There was also a fairly large amount of models damaged for one reason or another. As Tom mentioned, on Saturday, there was the coming together of 3 Q500s when taking off. On Sunday James Hurley lost his TeeQue Q500 model around pylon #2. Tom Wetherill had his very new AR-6 go off the air and do a fly-away which surprisingly was found by Matt Young in a newly plowed field. Unfortunately it was destroyed. The last race for the day (F400) was cut short having only completed half a lap before a mid-air between myself (John Schmidli) and Mike Savill.
It was good to have pylon judges on all pylons on Saturday and most of Sunday.
We have now finished the 1st half of the season championship and the following is how the top 3 positions sit.
FA1
With Andrew Davies win at this event, he has now jumped up into the top position with Ranjit Phelan dropping a position to 2nd place. Glenn Matthews has jumped from 5th up to 3rd place.
The top 3 are all on 28 points and only separated by total time scores with Glenn Matthews in top position followed by Shaun Jacobsen and in 3rd place Ranjit Phelan.
On the Saturday, during the impromptu meeting that was held while waiting for the weather to clear, the subject of a F3T international event was discussed. Here is a link to some information about this event and a letter from Rob Metkemeijer – Chairman RC pylon racing subcommittee.
F3T ( Q40 ) has been selected to be one of the 3 aeromodelling classes at the upcoming World Air Games in Dubai, December 2015. The other two are F2D control line combat and Aerobatic Indoor Aero Musicals. World Air Games is a kind of Olympics for airsports; this 4th edition will include Powered and Glider Aerobatics, Aeromodelling, Amateur-Built and Experimental Aircraft, Ballooning, Gyrocopters, Hang Gliding, Helicopters, Microlights, Paramotors, and Parachuting.http://www.fai.org/news/38367-fai-wo…taged-in-dubai
We have chosen F3T because the aim of the World Air Games is a sort of display competition for public, and F3T means close racing with highly reliable planes and engines, which is exiting for public! All information is not available yet, but for the moment we think of the following format: • 16 competitors from all continents, see for selection of pilots next item • 4 planes per race • a full competition, so every pilot flies all the others ( 5 races for each pilot), scoring by points, AMA system, and best fastest time per pilot if there is a tie.(points is easiest to understand for the public) • 2 * 2 semi final flights between the 8 best, scoring by points , tie break by fastest time. • final between the 4 best from the semi finals.
The location is Skydive Dubai, see attachment and under. There will be flown on the grass close to the runway. The size of the site is appr. 400 * 250 metres. We plan to have the public at appr 70 distance to the site behind safety nets.
It may be expected that the organizers will invite the competitors and pay for travel and stay; the only thing we have to do is to get the best pilots with the highest flying ability there. There is no fixed selection format for this, but for now I suggest the following as a first guess, which reflects a little the performance level of the best half at the last F3D champs: a total of 16 pilots: 6 from North, Middle and South America (Canada, US, Mexico, Guatemala, Venezuela) 5 from Europe 3 from Australia/New Zealand 1 from Qatar ( the local touch, Abdullah and Smitty, they also will be in charge for a part of the local organization) 1 from Japan
Competitions for selection : a. Phoenix feb. 2015 for North, Middle and South America, b. 2 F3T 2015 Euro cup competitions in Europe, ( e,g, Modena, Siziano, Tours, Senftenberg?) to be selected. c. Australia could use their own system. Of course we would like to see their top pilots ( guys like Callow, Murphy, Mees if they want to fly F3T here) d. Japan could do the same, e. Abdullah and Smitty will be simply invited.
Please give feedback on this, we need to act to get the best pilots there. I hope it will be the best pylon display ever with the first big title in F3T. The organizer will need help for a couple of things, like getting a timing system with display. Our CIAM president would like to see little cameras on the planes for projection on large displays. I don’t know if that could work in our type of planes, but possibly one of you has ideas.
With kind regards
Rob Metkemeijer chairman RC pylon racing sub committee.
Up and coming Events
That’s all the events for this year.
The next formal event will be Camperdown on Feb 7-8, 2015
On Jan 11, 2015, there is the Sandown R/C Festival which will involve some members in a static display, Glenn Matthews will be flying a Q500 and Chris Callow is coming down to do an F3D demonstration.
http://www.rcfestival.com.au/
Event Report – Tom Wetherill.
Additional content – John Schmidli
Photos – John Schmidli and Andrew Arapakis
Editing/Proof reading – Caroline 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 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.
This weekend we’re off to Hamilton. There will be some of us camping out at the field. As usual, the Hamilton club will be providing lunch on Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, the Hamilton club will be asking for an indication of numbers for breakfast on Sunday. Thanks in advance to the club for this catering.
There has been an update of events on the event calender so make sure you pencil them in to your diaries so not to miss a race.
There has also be a end-of-year fun fly/practice/test flight weekend scheduled for November 29-30 down at Bazza’s paddock at Munro. Thanks to Barry for making his field available.
See you all down at Hamilton for the last race weekend for the year.
With the much anticipated Cohuna pylon event, came an influx of competitors from interstate. Starting with Queenslanders, Chris Callow, Steve Turna, Tyler and Warren Mees arriving in Melbourne and making their way up to Cohuna on the Thursday. Friday saw the majority of other competitors arriving with much F3D testing done during the day. Later on Friday, South Australians, John Yianni, Tom, Shaun and Jarrod Jacobsen Arrived. Regular competitor, Ranjit Phelan from New South Wales also attended.
This event was shaping up to be a very exciting one with this being the final of the Australian F3D World Championship team selection trials where at the end of the weekend, positions on the team would be confirmed. Already confirmed was Daniel Arapakis as junior representative and of course, Chris Callow as defending World Champion.
The weather for the weekend was shaping up to be perfect with fine, warm and light wind conditions.
As the team selection was the most important part of the weekend, F3D was to take priority. Saturday started with 3 rounds of Q500 to be used as a settling in phase for the pylon and lap judges. Refueling out on the line, meant that 3 rounds was completed fairly quickly. Then it was on to the main event. After 5 rounds of F3D, Saturday was finished off with 3 rounds of F400.
Sunday started with the final 4 rounds of F3D and a presentation of trophies. The rest of the event consisted of 4 rounds each of Q500 and F400.
It must be said that this event would not have been run so successfully if it wasn’t for the efforts of a large number of Cohuna members helping. The 10 lap course needed 4 people timing, 4 #1 pylon judges and 1 judge each on the #2 and #3 pylons.
The final event to select the team that will represent Australia at the 2015 F3D World Championships was held on the weekend of 4 – 5 October 2014. The event was held at the Cohuna Model Flying Club’s field in Cohuna, Victoria. Cohuna has been the “home” of pylon racing in Australia for approximately 30 years and the club turned out in full force to provide their support by working the course and serving up hot meals all weekend.
Three Australian “team” positions were up for grabs. Selection of the team is based on the average scores from the best two (of three) designated Team Trial events. This year the designated events included AMPRA, the Queensland or the Victorian State Championships and the Cohuna Team Trial. Chris Callow had already earned a position as returning World Champion and Daniel Arapakis had earned a position as Junior.
AMPRA and the respective State Championships had already been held and based on the results for the first two events the people that were almost certainly assured to be on the team were Beau Murphy and Tyler Mees. The pilots in contention for the remaining position on the team were Ranjit Phelan, Leigh Hocken and Steve Turna.
Nine rounds were to be flown over two days – with five rounds planned for Saturday and four rounds on Sunday. Most of the competitors arrived a day early to tune for the conditions. Chris Callow attended the event to help Leigh and Steve (but did not fly).
During Friday practice – it was apparent that some contestants were having difficulty tuning for the conditions. Winter was over and temperatures were increasing – so it was time for sunscreen instead of jackets and beanies.
On race day, Q500 was run in the morning to make sure that the course workers and timing system was working properly. F3D did not start until mid-day and when the racing began – Beau got off to a very good start, seemingly cruising to get reasonable scores. However, it became apparent that the conditions were not good for very fast times. Ranjit and Steve had problems, with both pilots getting 200’s in the first two rounds.
By the end of the first day – Beau and Tyler were both running well, but Ranjit, Leigh and Steve had their backs against the wall with 2 x 200’s and they could not afford to make any errors.
On the second day, the final four rounds were flown in the morning. Once racing began – Tyler, Leigh and Ranjit really stepped up their performance. Leigh posted a very impressive time of 55.44!
In Round 7, Beau Murphy had a problem with takeoff and hit the ground. The next round his model was unstable – but he still managed a 57. In the last round – he had difficulty controlling the model and shut down. This gave him 3 x 200’s.
Tyler had increased his pace – posting 2 x 57 second times. Ranjit also posted some good scores, but was just edged out by Leigh who had made a very strong finish. The final results for the event were – Tyler 420.5, Leigh 421.5 and Ranjit 425.0.
Stephen Turna also recovered well and posted some good scores on the second day to finish fourth with a score of 426.0. Following behind was a group that included Daniel Arapakis, Bryan Steele, Tom Wetherill and Glenn Matthews.
The Australian Team will be as follows:
Chris Callow (returning World Champion) Kevin Callow – Caller
Tyler Mees, Warren Mees – Caller (average 58.89)
Beau Murphy, Barry Murphy – Caller (average 58.96)
(L-R) Tyler & Warren Mees, Leigh Hocken, Vern Gibson & Barry and Beau Murphy
The Australian 2015 F3D World Champs Team Qualifiers with their Callers.
Tyler & Warren Mees, Leigh Hocken & Vern Gibson, Beau & Barry Murphy.
This was a hard-fought set of team trials. Congratulations to these guys!
Andrew & Daniel Arapakis
Daniel Arapakis with his father Andrew will represent Australia
at the 2015 World Champs as a junior. Look out F3D World…..
F3D Results – Cohuna
Places:
1st Tyler Mees
2nd Leigh Hocken
3rd Ranjit Phelan
Fastest Time: 55.44 – Leigh Hocken
No. of competitors: 14
Course – 10 Laps
F400 report
This class was hotly contested with SA visitors, Shaun and Jarrod Jacobsen and their very nicely turned out AR-6 models. Lilydale’s pairing of Gary Davidson and Jim Orenshaw were both relieved of having to take home one of their models each. Tom Jacobsen was also lucky having sustained some damage when involved in a post-racing incident with both wing and tail damage possibly having clipped James Hurley’s undercarriage. No one actually saw this happen but there was some evidence of this on James’s model.
F400 results
Places:
1st Andrew Davies
2nd Shaun Jacobsen
3rd Ranjit Phelan
Fastest Time: 63.81 – Andrew Davies
No. of competitors: 13
Course – 10 Laps
Q500 report
We had a new addition to the ranks of Q500 pylon with Andrew Arrapkis flying in this class for the first time this weekend. He had his son Daniel calling for him which is a bit of a role reversal. He also improved his time considerably over the weekend having started with a 128.77 and the last race on Sunday he got a very respectable 106.55 and came 5th out of 10 competitors. Well done Andrew!
Q500 results
Places:
1st Jim Orenshaw
2nd John Schmidli
3rd Tom Wetherill
Fastest Time: 93.78 – Jim Orenshaw
No. of competitors: 10
Course – 10 Laps
Things have tightened at the top with James Hurley and John Schmidli drawing with 34 points each. There are some big changes further down with John Yianni moving from position 12 up to 6, Les Spaltman going from position 10 to 7 and David Axon moved from position 18 to 9.
1 – James Hurley
2 – John Schmidli
3 – Tom Wetherill
A much overdue refurbishment of our pylon racing trial was carried out prior to the event. A huge thanks must go out to Andrew Arapakis for taking this upon himself and organising this work. It was looking great at Cohuna and has now got a new lease on life. Thanks Andrew!
Next Event
The next event and the last for the year is November 15-16 at Hamilton.
Also, if anybody is interested, the Nationals are on in April 2015 up in Brisbane.
Event Report & photos: John Schmidli & F3D report by Tom Wetherill.
Editing : Caroline 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 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.
The VMPRA State Championships were held at Barry Murphy’s field in Munro, Victoria over the weekend of 2 – 3 August 2014. The event also served as the Victorian Team Trial Qualification round for those that were looking to be on the Australian team for the next F3D World Championships, to be held in Olomouc, Czech Republic in July 2015.
Brian Steele and Andrew Davies
By planning or coincidence – the Queensland-based racers were participating in their equivalent Team Trial event in Rockhampton on the same weekend. There are three places for the Australian Team as well as one for a Junior. Competitors who were going after a position on the team included Leigh Hocken, Beau Murphy and Ranjit Phelan. Thirteen year-old Daniel Arapakis who is chasing an additional position on the team as a Junior.
Due to the importance of the event as a Team Trial, a number of competitors began arriving on the Thursday afternoon – only to be greeted by a major winter storm that was sweeping across the state. Winds were in excess of 100 kph, there was snow in the local hills, trees across the highway and power failures.
Friday was planned to be a practice day, and the field well groomed and was in excellent condition –thanks to the efforts of Ian Ricard. Unfortunately, the winds were still gusting to over 70 km/hr. so not many chose to risk taking flights. By Friday evening, the pit area was full with competitors setting up camp and making sure that adequate supplies of firewood and anti-freeze were available.
Saturday morning dawned a balmy 3 degrees Celsius, but the weather had improved considerably. Racing was to be completed over the standard 10 lap course – so that scores were consistent with the requirements for the Team Trial. It was decided to allow time for practice and then 3 rounds of Q500 Sport were flown to get the workers comfortable with the system, to allow the sun to rise and the weather to warm up.
David Chippendale - His first Q500 event.
Q500 Sport attracted eight entries and by the end of practice and Round1 – Marcus Guss had not only lost his model, but introduced a model loaned from Vern Gibson to pylon #2. Jim Orenshaw’s model did not make it to Pylon #1. After this unfortunate start – no further models were lost or damaged all weekend.
At the end of Round 3, James Hurley had set a very fast pace with a 90.16 and was in first place. John Schmidli was showing good pace with his new Banshee and newcomer David Chippendale was quickly getting a handle on things.
Vern Gibson, Leigh Hocken and Tom Wetherill at the line for test flying.
The main event for the weekend was the F3D FA1 Team Trial. This class attracted 11 entries and the goal was to complete nine rounds. Racing got underway late Saturday morning and the conditions were looking good. After the first Round, Beau Murphy had posted a 57.60, which narrowly edged Leigh Hocken’s 57.75. The txt messages were already being transmitted to/received from Queensland-where fast times were also being posted in their event.
Five rounds of FA1 were flown on Saturday and at the end of the day, Beau Murphy was in the lead and had also posted a fastest time of 55.73. Ranjit Phelan was second with a best time of 56.13 and Glenn Matthews was in third with a best time of 60.45. Daniel Arapakis had posted five scores and was sitting in 6th place overall. Leigh had experienced problems and withdrew at the end of the day.
Next up was F400 VIC and four rounds were flown. This class also attracted 11 entries. The weather conditions were improving and some fast times were being posted. At the end of four Rounds, Ranjit Phelan was in the lead and had set the pace with a best time of 63.39. Brian Steele had posted a best time of 64.87 and a number of other competitors had times in the 65 second range.
After the racing was completed, an eclectic collection of models – ranging from small electrics to old timers – took to the skies. Masterchef, Andrew Arapakis served up a dinner feast that included sashimi and roast pork.
ED – The remarkable thing about pylon racers is as soon as the wind drops at the end of a day’s racing or during the still of a morning, all sorts of models come out to be flown. Many of them are gliders, old timers and fun-flies. This is contrary to what most expect of the pylon racing fraternity. Basically, we all have the fascination with flight.
Andrew Davies with his diesel powered old-timer.
Sunday morning dawned cold and clear, with the temperature at the field being minus three degrees Celsius! Racing was delayed until the temperature increased and four rounds of Q500 Sport were then flown. James Hurley continued his pace from the previous day and finished in first place with a score of 568.5. Arch rival (and teammate) John Schmidli was second with a score of 592.8 and Ian Haigh was third with a score of 633.8.
The last four rounds of FA1 were then flown and times were slower than the previous day. Beau Murphy finished in first place with a score of 410.7 and Ranjit Phelan was second with a score of 413.3. Daniel Arapakis had a strong finish and posted some good scores. He finished in third place with a score of 442.9.
Andrew and Daniel Arapakis. One happy father/son team
For comparison, the results for the Queensland event were in. Chris Callow had blitzed the field with a score of 389.1. The scores for other competitors that were chasing a position on the Australian team were as follows – Tyler Mees 414.7, Stephen Turna 422.6. Joseph Black who was competing as a Junior had a score of 451.9.
The final event on the program was to complete the remaining five rounds of F400 VIC. There was plenty of close and exciting racing -an amazingly, no carnage. After nine rounds, Ranjit Phelan was in first place with a score of 448.9. Along the way he posted a best time of 62.7. Brian Steele was second with a score of 458.8 and his team mate Andrew Davies was third with a score of 461.2.
Another of the father/son teams. Barry and Beau Murphy
A great weekend of racing was able to be completed – despite the initial impacts due to weather. Special thanks to Barry Murphy for making available an excellent flying facility and to Ian Ricard for the hours spent mowing and preparing the field. Thanks to Nerida Matthews who ran the scoring system and to those that helped make the event possible by working as judges, timers and the starter. Notably there were NO reflys!
As usual, there has been intense competition for positions on the Australian team and the final showdown/shoot out for positions will be held at the next competition, which will be held in Cohuna, Victoria in early October.
James Hurley has moved up to 1st position as well as John Schmidli up to 2nd position. Tom Wetherill is now in 3rd due to not flying at the Munro event.
1 – James Hurley
2 – John Schmidli
3 – Tom Wetherill
The next event on the VMPRA calender is the Q500, Sports and EF-1 day at Werribee on August 24. A great event for those flying or wanting to get into racing Q500 class. Even if you don’t have a Q500 aircraft, you can have a go with any sports type aircraft. Ideally a 46 size trainer or sports model would do. Also there is an oppertunity for electric/scale racing with the EF-1 class.
The next full 3 class race event is at Cohuna on October 4-5. This is the last of the 2015 World Championship team trials for F3D class so this is sure to be an exciting event.
Event Report: Tom Wetherill Additional Post items & photos: John Schmidli
Additional Photos: Andrew and Lydia 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.
VMPRA returned to the Bendigo Radio Control Aircraft Club (BRCAC) for the annual pylon event that was held at the club’s field in Marong, Victoria on the weekend of 5 – 6 July 2014. This is a very popular event on the VMPRA calendar for many reasons. The club and field are great, the accommodation is very close to the field and the local hotel serves up excellent food, which is very important for getting some extra insulation on the cold winter nights.
While weather can be a factor at this time or year, competitors enjoyed very good overall conditions during practice on Friday and over racing during the weekend. The racing program included Q500 Sport, VIC F400 and FA1, with the objective of flying as many rounds in each class as possible. Per usual VMPRA practice, racing was held over 10 ½ laps to reduce the requirements for the number of course workers.
Friday practice was a somewhat leisurely affair as the weather was good, except for a brief rain shower, and there was plenty of opportunity to get in flights. The field was in excellent condition – and special thanks go out to Rick Townsend spending nine hours with his lawn mower.
Regular competitors came from Victoria and New South Wales as well as a large contingent of racers arrived from South Australia. The host Bendigo club was also well represented with a good number of entries.
Racing got underway on Saturday morning with four founds of VIC F400. There was an impressive 17 entries in this class and it immediately became clear that if Shaun Jacobsen could tame his new DKT powered AR-6, that he would be putting in some good times. Brian Steele had also pried open his wallet and purchased a new Nelson.
By the end of Round 4 he had posted an impressive time of 64.76 seconds, just short of a 64.6 that was posted by Glenn Matthews with his Nelson powered Supercat. Daniel Arapakis and Ranjit Phelan were also fast with times 65 second times.
Next up was Q500 Sport, and this class attracted 13 entries. John Schmidli and Barry Townsend were debuting impressive new Banshee models. Daniel Arapakis “unretired” himself from Q500, as he was saving his FA1 models for the next Team Trial. Three rounds were flown and James Hurley posted the fastest time with a 101.03. Behind him there were many close races. John and Barry were still coming to grips with their new models.
After a brief break, four rounds of FA1 were flown. This class attracted nine entries, including Rick Townsend’s new Veyron and Glenn Matthews new VooDoo. After four rounds, Rick was about 2 seconds ahead of Tom Wetherill, with Bryan Steele in third. Ranjit Phelan had posted the fastest time with a 60.69.
On Saturday evening, most of the competitors met at the Marong Family Hotel for dinner. This was followed by the VMPRA Annual General Meeting, which was held at the caravan park.
Plans for an early start on Sunday morning were thwarted by fog, which did not clear until mid-morning. As a result, the target was re-set at completing seven rounds for each class.
First up was Q500 Sport and times were improving significantly. In the end, James Hurley was in first place with a score of 612.6, Daniel Arapakis was second with a score of 703.4 and John Schmidli was third with a score of 726.6. Tom Wetherill had a score of 606.7, but opted to let the class regulars take the placings. Daniel Arapakis had the fastest time with a 93.95.
The next task was to complete the remaining three rounds of VIC F400 and the pace also improved from the Saturday. In the end, Ranjit Phelan was in first place with a score of 392.3 and the fast time of 62.92…not far behind the pace of the faster FA1’s. Shaun Jacobsen was second with a score of 401.8 and Brian Steele was third with a score of 416.1.
The final class to be flown was FA1 and three additional rounds were completed. Conditions had changed from the prior day and a few 200’s were showing upon the scoreboard. Late in the afternoon the position of the sun became problematic, so starter Mick Kellett would wait for cloud cover to appear before starting the final few heats.
After the seven rounds were completed, Brian Steele was in first place with a score of 391.0, Tom Wetherill was second with a score of 524.6 and Glenn Matthews was third with a score of 526.5. Ranjit Phelan posted the fastest time with a 60.11. Rick Townsend detonated an engine in spectacular fashion.
At the end of the day the awards were handed out to the place getters. VMPRA and the competitors expressed their thanks to the Bendigo club for hosting VMPRA and supplying hot food and drinks, to Rick Townsend for preparing the field, to the people who had worked the course in the cold conditions and to the group from South Australia that had travelled to compete. Tom Jacobson is the ring leader for the SA group and their presence and camaraderie really enhanced the event.
The next event is the Victorian State Championships being held on August 2-3, at the fantastic pylon racing field of Barry Murphy’s. Not only is this the State Champs, but it is also another of the F3D 2015 World Championship team trials, so there will be some hotly contested racing in F3D. We will also be flying the 10 lap course and obviously, F3D will take priority due to the importance of this result to selecting the next Australian team. As this is a private field, If you would like to attend this event and don’t know the location, please contact a member of committee for directions. See you all there.
Event Report: Tom Wetherill Additional Post items & 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 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.
The 2014 AMPRA Championship event was held at the Maryborough club’s field, Queensland on the long weekend of 7 to9 June. Five classed were flown including FA1 (FAI – F3D), F400/F3T, F3R and Q500 Sport. FA1 was the first of a series of team trials to represent Australia at the 2015 F3D World Championships that will be held in Olomouc, in the Czech Republic. In addition to the competition for places on the Senior Team, Daniel Arapakis and Joseph Black, were competing for the opportunity to represent Australia as a Junior.
A large contingent from Victoria travelled to the event –either by driving the 4,500 km round trip or flying to Brisbane and renting a car. Most arrived on the Thursday evening and were ready to start practice on Friday morning. The field was in immaculate condition and the club members were on hand to serve up food and drinks throughout the weekend. The weather was also perfect and the forecast was looking good – so everyone was looking forward to the weekend ahead.
(L-R) Tyler & Warren Mees, Leigh Hocken, Vern Gibson and Barry and Beau Murphy
The first event on the program for Saturday was to complete five rounds of FA1. There were 15 entries – 8 from Victoria. Leigh Hocken, Tyler Mees and Beau Murphy all set an impressive pace, each recording 57 second times. There was plenty of close and exciting racing, however, at the end of Round 5, Leigh was just ahead and had posted a best time of 56.86seconds. For the Juniors, Daniel had posted four scores and Joseph had two scores, with three 200’s.
After a leisurely break for lunch, five rounds of Q500 were flown. This class only attracted four entries – half of which were from the Mees family. Two places were awarded to the entry level pilots– with Jack Hickey taking first and Allan Taylor taking second. Tyler Mees posted the fastest time of 106.58 seconds.
The day’s racing had progressed very well and was completed by mid-afternoon. This allowed plenty of time for further tuning of the FA1’s and other models to get ready for the next day of racing.
Andrew & Daniel Arapakis
On Sunday morning, the field was closed at 0830 and the timing equipment was set up. Four more rounds of FAI were scheduled for the morning, and the matrix was changed from the prior day. Leigh, Tyler and Beau continued their pace and finished in the first three positions with scores of 407.1, 409.7 and 414.8, respectively.
Ranjit Phelan finished the event strongly and ended up with a score of 430.0. Tom Wetherill was fifth with a score of 443.5. Daniel Arapakis was sixth and the first Junior home with a score of 450.6 – edging out Brian Steele. A good result for the Victorian-based racers, who took out five of the top seven placings.
In the afternoon, five alternating rounds of F400 and F3T were flown. F400 (no nitro) attracted seven entries from Victoria and New South Wales and F3T (15% nitro) attracted 11 entries from Queensland. There was close racing in both classes. In F400 there was a tie for first place as well as a tie for third place – first time that anyone could remember that happening! In order to break the ties – fly-off’s were held. The first fly-off was between Ranjit Phelan and Daniel Arapakis for first place and both pilots had one cut. However, Ranjit had the lower score and took out first place.
Tom Wetherill and Tony Howse had a fly-off for third place. However, Tony had a cut and Tom Wetherill took third place. The fastest time in F400 was a 65.42 recorded by Ranjit Phelan.
In F3T, Greg Gillies was setting the pace with impressive speed from his Nelson powered AR-6. Joseph Black was not far behind after five rounds, with a best of 62.86. An additional two rounds of F3T was flown on Monday morning for the QLD racers, as the Victorians had to start the trip back home.
On Monday, the weather turned and became quite windy. The remaining two rounds of F3T were flown. Greg Gillies placed first with a score of 390.1, Joseph Black was second with a score of 400.3 and Rod Williams was third with a score of 414.0.
The last event on the program was F3R, which attracted nine entries from Queensland. Five rounds were flown and Bruce DeChastle had a win by a very narrow margin – 298.9 to 299.0 that was posted by Greg Gillies. Rod Williams was third with a score of 318.7.
AMPRA 2014 was very well organised and a great success. The competitors also shared duties working the course and refly’s were a rarity. Most importantly, after four days of flying and racing – no models had been lost. The Victorians enjoyed the event, the weather and the local hospitality from the club and the event organisers.
Report: Tom Wetherill (Thanks fro a great report Tom).
