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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Gippsland as a region is famous for its agricultural development and has become Melbourne’s largest supplying region of dairy and vegetables.
Munro pylon field has also grown to what most racers would consider one of the best fields of its kind in the country.
As always, the grounds were meticulously prepared by a local fishing tackle sales rep, Ian Rickard who devotes nearly every weekend at the strip working on a list of odd jobs and manicuring the bowling green run way!
Race preparation began on Friday where several pilots took to the course for fine tuning in preparation of the last pylon event for the calendar year.
The day saw Master Murphy’s and Dannmann with their Minute Master’s out circulating in the 20 knotter and Beau rippen into his new Miss Dara F400 running in a fresh motor. The Miss Dara model was designed by Dan Kane who also designed the Polecat and Loki both also being extraordinary models.
Ranjit and Tricky Ricky test flew Ricks Veyron and all went well. Rick due to extended family commitments with the safe arrival of baby boy #2 Albert couldn’t stay for the weekend show down. Unfortunately Phelans’ new V Tail models came to grief with more development required.
The day ended with good spirits and plenty of Crownies with many pilots arriving setting up camp with a feast prepared by the Axons.
The fist race day plan was for 4 rounds of F400, Q500 then followed by F3D.
Willy Weather forecast for the weekend was for fine weather and Saturday morning was perfect for racing start at 9:45am of the F400 class. 10 entrants at his event with the podium hotly contested every month. Brain Steele and Andrew Davies the dynamic duo flew well all weekend proving out consistency was the recipe. Beau recorded the fastest time of the day and weekend with a 64.96sec. Jim and John managed to keep clear of each other as sometimes it seems an unfortunate magnetism exists between some models and pilots, Hmmmm.
John Schmidli got all his times and Dannmann cutting him self out of the race after setting himself a target and pushing really hard for a record time! Great too see Frank back with the shiniest models ever unfortunately hitting terra firma after take off in his first heat. Pity as his plane was a ripper in practice but an upside for Father Christmas would be a new model order! An unexpected mid air between Barry Murphy and Andrew Davies saw both models return to ground with a broken prop on the Baz model and repair required on Batman’s model.
After 4 rounds of F400, the Quickie pilots were fueled up and ready to race. With 12 entrants and a variety of skills saw fantastic racing with a veteran Tom Prosser returning to Munro for his second Q500 event. Tom must have had fun at the last event at Munro with his custom built plane which is a master piece and scratch built. Unfortunately the Prosser and Axon models had a mid air but both pilots returning into the comp for the next round. Also a special mention to Tom Allen returning to the pylon scene after a stint of car racing with only his second event back, well in the mix with his best time of 100.50 sec only 0.57 sec of the fastest time of the event by Jim Orenshaw….no doubt Tom is on it and will be going real fast in the near future.
F3D up next albeit weather proving a little slow, Beau opened up with a respectable 59.8 sec which proved to be the quickest time of the event. Dannmann recorded 61.2 in first heat which was also his best time for the weekend. Mix results with all other pilots with Frank flying great but plug problems in resulting in a few 200’s.
Day 1 ended with a very familiar garlic scent of charcoal grilling lamb, chicken and pork gyros followed by Narida’s tiramisu and Toni’s Christmas pudding. Camaraderie with all pilots attending the dinner was defiantly one for the record books and now the Saturday night event is almost part of the event calendar for most race weekends. All entrants this weekend stayed for the feast and many thanks to all helpers and to all cooks!
Late afternoon and evening affairs started with old timers, speed gliders and foamies. George Angelov certainly has his rocket master gold wings complemented the sky with rockets all landing safely with parachutes. Much fun by all.
After a dusty start to Sunday, the weather God’s rolled up for the second day with perfect conditions and the F400’s were on their way. The competitiveness of this class was very exciting to watch and well done to all competitors and place getters. John Schmidli again getting all his times with no cuts for the weekend will surely keep the ranks on their toes in months to come.
With Q500 scores very close after day 1, a number of pilots were well positioned to commence the days racing. Jim Orenshaw, Tom Allen and John Schmidli taking out the top three places this time round with many pilots in all placing all recording excellent times and PB’s. Racing this class was great to watch as the very affordable models flown by entry level pilots had a great time and were also very competitive!
Grand finale premier F3D class was again a mixed bag something similar to a fishing trip in Western Port Bay! Again the weather a little slow with Beau recording the fastest time of the day of 61.76 sec, Baz flying very consistent this weekend and Andrew Davis holding it together to complete 8 rounds. Brian Steele alias Robin landed his F3D in a tree which took a mastermind of construction materials, Tarzan and luck to get his model back. Onya Brian!
Dannmann got all his times in for the weekend bar 2 cuts for the event ended up with the best average score to take out 1st place, 2nd Barry Murphy and 3rd Andrew Davies. Great to see Gary back in the air for 4th place and Beau in 5th due his last run a little rich resulting in a 200.
The next event will be Camperdown on February 6-7, 2016. Make sure you have this and all the currently listed events marked in your calendar.
Another date to remember is the Sandown F1 Air Race to be on January 31, 2016 which includes a general remote control hobbies expo. The VMPRA will have a stand there and we will also have some members involved in flying displays throughout the day. There will be a number of us manning the stand and promoting the pylon racing special interest group. http://www.sandownairrace.com.au/
On a final note for the year, I wish everybody all the best for the Christmas and New Year break and that we all return to racing again next year refreshed, ready for some great competition and good times.
Event Report and Photos– 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
I was approaching this event with some trepidation due to the weather forecast which turned out to be justified to some degree. With the start of Spring only around the corner, wet condition had been experienced leading up to this event down at Barry Murphy’s purpose built pylon racing field at Munro.
Turning up on the Friday as many did, there was a lot of standing water lying around the site making water proof shoes or gum boots essential. Some practice flying was possible during dry spells on the Friday.
Saturday morning came and conditions were very grey and windy with predictions of the wind increasing during the morning. Regardless, we went about setting up the pylon racing equipment so we could get racing started.
The first class to be racing was F400 with an unusually small number on competitor for this typically very popular class. Only 2 rounds were flown before the wind became just too strong causing excessive turbulence from the surrounding trees. Jim Orenshaw became a victim to the conditions with his plane being forced into the ground going around pylon 3.
Everybody hung around the field for the rest of the day waiting to see if conditions would improve but no further racing took place. A fare bit of time was spent standing around fires chatting and supervising the dinner being cooked. I noticed that Jim managed to hang around the spit roast all afternoon taking the odd taste test!
That night we had another excellently cooked spit-roast meal prepared by Andrew Arapakis and afterwards, we had a beautiful desert prepared by Nerida Matthews. Thanks to Andrew and Nerida for a great dinner.
Sunday morning greeted up with perfect condition with blue skies and still conditions the event was on in earnest.
F400 was up again flying only another 2 rounds.
Q500 was up next with a view to flying 5 rounds. We had 7 competitors with the notable inclusion of a past pylon racing identity, Tom Prossor. Austin Omman was making his 2nd pylon racing appearance and father and son team Gary and Alan Whitbounre were racing also. I’m pleased to say racing was good and clean and Jim and I avoided any coming together by calling for each other.
The 5 rounds on Q500 were completed fairly promptly as we left the fuel out on the racing line and we didn’t need to walking back to the pits between races.
Next up was the premier class, FA1 with 5 rounds to be completed also. There was some pretty exciting racing, particularly between Barry Murphy and Leigh Hocken. Brian Steele tried burying his model, adding to Jim’s hole in the field from the previous day. It was also good to see Frank Cassella back flying at this event.
Once racing was finish, the course was packed up and the delicate task of making sure the various caravans could be extracted and placed on solid grounds was undertaken. Certificates were then presented and we all headed off home.
Although it was a challenging weekend, I think the racing on Sunday made it all worthwhile. Thanks again to Barry Murphy for providing this superb locations, Nerida and Glenn Matthews for running the event so well and Toni Axon for starting all weekend.
There was new fastest times in for FA1 & F400 at Munro. Well done Leigh and Frank.
FA1 – Leigh Hocken – 57.38
F400 – Frank Cassella – 67.25
Q500 – Jim Orenshaw – 95.97
Next Event
This Sunday (September 13) there is a Sports/Q500 race at LDMFA. This is not a championship event but should be fun and another good chance for newbies to be introduced to pylon racing.
Our next full weekend event is the VIC State Championships at Hamilton to be held on October 24-25, 2015.
Event Report – John Schmidli
Photos – Lydia and Andrew Arapakis and 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.
Wow, what a great event. On the Queen’s birthday long weekend, VMPRA hosted the 2015 AMPRA Championships and F5D Australian team trials. This event was held in Munro at Barry Murphy’s superb purpose build pylon racing field.
Arriving at the field a few days early, it was obvious that a lot of hard work had gone into getting the field prepared including flags, banners and even a winner’s podium that was fitting of any high class event. Ian Rickard took his annual leave holidays to prepare the grounds for pilots, campers and spectators. Preparations of the field were spectacular!
Thursday night saw competitors starting to arrive with most participants from the four different states arriving during the Friday. After some fairly dubious weather earlier in the week, the weather Gods turned up on Friday and really turned it on for perfect conditions over the weekend in Gippsland one of Victoria’s famous regions for veggie growers and cattle. Friday consisted of setting up of aircraft and campsites and plenty of test flying. Most pilots camped for the long weekend enjoying a real country felt environment. After some pre sunset electric flying, we were treated to a fantastic dinner put together by Toni Axon and also contributions by Lydia Arapakis and her legendary meatballs and fed the 30 campers and visitors. Dessert consisted of plenty of cold beers and mash mellows around the camp fire.
The AMPRA Championships are a once a year national event that is held in different states where pylon racers from typically VIC, QLD, SA and NSW come together to compete. This year it was decided that this would be the F5D World Championships team selection. F5D is a pylon racing class that uses electric powered motor flying a very similar speeds to F3D. As it was a selection event, this class would take priority to ensure 8 rounds are flown.
After some early test flying and setting up the course and timing system, first up was 2 rounds of F5D. Early pace and consistency was set by Alex Davie, Barry Murphy and Bruce DeChastel.
Next up was F400 of which 3 rounds where run. With 14 entrants, it took a while to get through each round. Shaun Jacobsen set the bench mark with a (62.45) in the first round and consistency flew with great times all weekend and also recorded the fastest times on both days. With prefect conditions for flying with a 5km/h westerly and 18 degrees, saw more rounds of F5D and lunch to follow.
Lunch consisted of hamburgers and pasta carbonara also organized again by Toni Axon. Straight after lunch, there was another couple of rounds of F5D with all pilots on the money. Beau Murphy pulled out a ripper and flew the fastest time (57.53) of the event.
Next up was Q500. Lots of cuts for the 1st round but Caleb Chipendale putting in a nice fast clean time. with his PB of (98.08) and the fastest time of the round– truly a great effort as this was only his second pylon race event! The 2nd Round Jim Orenshaw recorded the fastest time for the weekend of 90.81 and he put in a nice fast time for the 3rd round. The sun was now setting so racing was stopped for the day. Surprise entrant Austin Omann (Curley) in his very first event was flying very tight circuits and positioned really well for the start of the weekend.
At 5:30, the AMPRA AGM and general meeting was held under the cover of a huge marquee, supplied along with tables and chairs by Marcus Guss which was a perfect set up for the weekend festivities. Once the official items for the night were completed, Andrew Arapakis put on one of his now legendary Greek style spit roast chicken and Lamb, Greek salad and butter and garlic potatoes. Dessert was one of Gary Davidson’s favorites being “World Famous Sticky Date Pudding” and cream which was impeccably made by Nerida Matthews. It was a terrific evening with all participants staying out at the field for the meeting followed by great food, great camaraderie spirit and certainly one for the history books.
Sunday Morning, dawned with beautiful clear conditions yet again. Racing started a little earlier as there was no resetting of the course required. First up again was round 7 of the F5D selection races. This time Daniel Arapakis was also racing giving him an opportunity to be selected as a junior representative. In this round, Beau really hit his stride, with another sub 60. Unfortunately for Allan Swift, he managed to hit the #3 pylon during this race which ended his racing for the day prematurely. The ever reliable Barry Murphy yet again on his game with our friends from QLD Tony and Bruce flying great with only a few seconds apart between them.
Next up was the final round (round 8). Beau again recorded a fast time of 57.56, only 3/100s off the fastest time he recorded the day before and pipped Baz finishing in top spot and only 5 seconds separating the next three places. Dannmann also flew his PB ripper in round 8 with a (60.15).
Next we went straight into FA1 racing with a view completing all 8 rounds that day.
To start off, the 1st round saw half the field record DNS’s including Daniel Arapakis who uncharacteristically recorded 2 DNS’s for rounds 1 &2. After 4 rounds had been completed, lunch was called. The ever reliable Glenn Matthew started the event really well and great to see Frenchy having a go!
Before lunch was ready, we had a trophy presentation for the F5D event as the QLD competitors needed to leave that afternoon to catch flights back. Well done guys and big efforts recognized by all…..
The places where:
1st place: Beau Murphy, Caller – Barry Murphy
2nd place: Barry Murphy, Caller – Beau Murphy
3rd place: Tony Singleton, Caller – Bruce de Chastel
Place getters received a very nice glass trophy and both pilots and callers received AMPRA mugs with the appropriate and place and position. The podium really made a great feeing of an official presentation and memorable pictures for the album.
After lunch FA1 was up again. Round 6 saw Beau Murphy, record a fastest time for this class for the weekend of 58.82sec. This rounds also saw an unfortunate post race collision betweenGary Davidsonand Brian Steele. Andrew Davies struck some bad luck as well destroying a new piston and withdrawing from the event. Tom Jacobsen flew his best time of the event with a (62.33) but found the ground in the last round tearing a cannon in Bazza’s bowling green. So the last race of the day saw Beau and Dannmann. Both pilots flew their WC models neck and neck which was truly a spectacle to watch as neither pilot gave an inch. Both Dad’s obviously nervous but very proud to watch their sons on top of their game and Beau’s unquestionable character mentoring Dan with final World F3D Championships preparations. Both pilots pushing hard resulted in cuts and show time thankfully was over, never the less both pilots and callers had a ripper time and high fives all round with both planes safe on the ground.
Daniel Arapakis and Austin Omann
Next up was Q500 and racing continued till dark. James Hurley and John Schmidli recording a string of sub 100’s placing them in top positions. It was also becoming evident that a young first time racer, Daniel Arapakis’s best mate and protégé, Austin Omann has been practicing behind the scenes at Munro going really fast even though he had recorded a cut in most rounds. Dark horse Jimmy cut himself out of the event after the first 6 rounds scores were posted. Consistency of Ian Rickard also positioned well after 6 rounds and flying really well. Great to see all pilots having a go and Matt Young also back flying.
After another great night and now into the left over’s saw plenty of laughs and beer around the camp fire and a reasonably quiet night, the morning kicked off starting with F400 (round 4). It was in the 1st heat that John Schmidli and Jim Oreshaw had a mid-air (link to Youtube clip) putting them both out of the competition for the rest of the day. The rest of the F400 races went without incident and there was some very good and fast flying. Shaun recorded the fastest time for the class in the 7th round and ended up securing 1st place. Great to watch the Jabobsen crew from the side line as all three guys had a great weekend flying!
As the F400 race drew to a close, the wind had really picked up which had been expected. Q500 had only 2 rounds to be completed but Glenn Matthews, the contest director, declared it too windy so Q500 was to only be the 6 round already flown.
Great call as the weekend ending with a BBQ lunch. The field equipment was then packed up and then trophies presented at the contest podium (see results below) which drew what can only be classed as an absolutely awesome weekend’s flying to an close.
In closure, the weekend was one for the history books with contributions by all pilots, spectators, visitors and helpers being truly outstanding. Special mention to the Munro ground crew and the interstate visitors who made great efforts to travel significant distances to participate in this year’s event!
Back in January this year, the VMPRA was involve at Sandown Race Way as part of the Sandown F1 R/C Air Race. As part of this, we had a Great Planes Viper Q500 racer kindly donated by Dawn Trading (http://www.dawntrading.com.au) along with a Thunder Tiger engine (TT 46 PRO), also kindly donated by R/C Headquarters – Werribee (http://www.rcheadquarters.com.au/). This aircraft was used by the VMPRA for flying demonstrations at that event.
The VMPRA committee decided that this donated aircraft should be awarded to someone that would benefit from the use of such a model in the pursuit of getting started in pylon racing.
It was with great pleasure that the VMPRA awarded the prize of the Great Planes Viper and Thunder Tiger TT466PRO to first time Q500 competitor, Austin Omann. Austin has been going flying and practicing pylon racing under the encouragement and guidance of Daniel and Andrew Arapakis and was flying using their aircraft. By awarding this aircraft to Austin, we feel that it will assist him in his Pylon Racing ambitions. Congratulation Austin and we look forward to seeing you at future events.
Season Championship
For 2 out of the 3 classes, the championship has finished for the 2014/2015 season.
FA1
Final Positions:
1st – Daniel Arapakis
2nd – Glenn Matthews
3rd – Barry Murphy
A big congratulations must go out to Daniel for clenching this championship at the age of 14 and only 3 years after coming long to his first pylon race armed with a Boomerang Trainer. This not only has happened as a result of a huge effort and commitment from Daniel but also by his caller and dad, Andrew and coaches and mentors, Barry and Beau Murphy.
Congratulations also goes out to Glenn Matthews for coming in 2nd place and also last year’s champion, Barry Murphy sneaking into 3rd place in the last event for the season.
F400
Final Positions:
1st – Andrew Davies
2nd – Glenn Matthews
3rd – Brian Steele
A big congratulations goes out to Andrew Davies for gaining the winning position at the last event for the season displacing last year’s winner, Glenn Matthews who has come in 2nd place and then Brian Steele has come in 3rd place.
Q500
This class has still got one more event to go before places will be confirmed. Current placings are:
1st – John Schmidli
2nd – Jim Orenshaw
3rd – James Hurley
In actual fact, the winner can’t change as John Schmidli is 25 points ahead with a maximum of only 10 points available to the winner of the next race.
Between 6-11 July, 2015, there is the FAI F3D world championship being held in the Czech Republic. We wish all the Australian team and defending world champ, Chris Callow, all the best. In particular, our fellow VMPRA members, Beau Murphy and Caller Barry Murphy, Leigh Hocken and caller Vern Gibson and Junior representative, Daniel Arapakis and caller Andrew Arapakis. We wish you all the best.
Also we wish our Team New Zealand represents, Tom Wetherill and his caller Jim Orenshaw, all the best too.
To all supporters and family travelling over for the event, have a great trip and a good time at the world champs.
Next Event
As mentioned in the Season Championship section, we have a Q500 and Sports pylon race on at the Werribee Club Field on July 5, 2015. Hope to see many there and anybody keen to try pylon racing, you are welcome to come along with a sport or trainer plane.
After that, there is a full 3 class pylon race at the Marong field near Bendigo on August 1-2, 2015. This will be the 1st event for the new 2015/2016 championship season and there will also be our AGM on the Saturday night which is usually held at the caravan park. More details will be posted closer to then.
Event Report – John Schmidli and Andrew Arapakis
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.
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.
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 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.
Once again a great week end was had down at Barry Murphy’s superb pylon racing field at Munro in Gippsland. The weather forecast was for fairly good conditions. There was a really good turnout with 12 compeditors in FA1, 11 flying F400 and 9 flying Q500. It was great seeing interstate competitors there also in Ranjit Phelan and Tony Howse.
It was a very impressive collection of caravans, trailers and gazebos with the addition of Andrew and Daniel Arapakis’s Basecamp van complete with Dannmann18 livery.
We flew 9 rounds of each class with 4 rounds each for F400 & Q500 and 5 rounds of FA1 on Saturday and the balance made up on the Sunday. This was officially the “John Hughan Trophy” event and trophies were given out at the end of racing on the Sunday. John Hughan was a very big influence on pylon racing in Victoria, Australia and internationally. Most of us flew with John in the past and it is fitting that we remember him with this event.
On Saturday Q500 models were randomly scrutinized checking props, muffler baffles, intake venturis and weight. It was great to see this happen. Also there where cut judges on 2 & 3 all weekend which also kept us honest and the racing very competitive. Thanks to all who volunteered to judged on all the pylons. It’s important for the health of pylon racing to run our races this way.
Tony Howse and his beautifully presented F3D model
Now with only one event left for the 2013-2014 Season Championship, we are really down the business end. But also it’s time to consider starting a-fresh for your assault on the title for the 2014-2015 Championship.
FA1
No change at the top with Barry Murphy still in 1st and Brian Steele in 2nd, but Glenn Matthews has jumped up to 3rd place displacing Gary Davidson. It’s tight between these two.
F400
A pair of Super Cats
Glenn Matthews and Andrew Davies are drawn on equal points. It’s a very tight battle at the top for these two. Gary Davidson remains in 3rd place.
Q500
Top position is now John Schmidli with Daniel Arapakis in 2nd having been equal after the Camperdown event. Jim Orenshaw remains in 3rd.
The next event is at Warrnambool on April 26-27, 2014. FA1, F400 and Q500 classes will be racing. See you there.
Report: John Schmidli Photos: John Schmidli & Andrew Arapakis
The written content in this post is accurate to the best of my 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 last VMPRA event for this calendar year was held at Munro (near Bairnsdale) at Barry Murphy’s superb, purpose built, pylon racing field. We usually get a good turn-out for events at this venue but as usual only the weather can put a dampener on it. Well, this was literally the problem. Showers on Saturday & Sunday stopping racing briefly until rain settled in on the Sunday afternoon bring the event to another early ending. It has been a bit of an ongoing theme this year.
Despite this there was some good racing to be had. Saturday morning was started with 4 rounds of F400 followed by 4 rounds of Q500 and then 4 rounds of FA1. Sunday started with 3 more rounds of FA1 and then we only managed 1 round of Q500 before the rain settled in.
It was great to see James York from South Australia and Ranjit Phelan from NSW at Munro. Although Ranjit does this fairly regularly, it’s great that these guys travelled such long distances to go pylon racing. Such is the passion we have for this facet of the hobby.
Results
F400
With little over a second between Andrew Davies & Tom Wetherill, it was a close result from 1st to 2nd places.
Places:
1st Andrew Davies
2nd Tom Wetherill
3rd Glenn Matthews
Fastest Time: 66.91 – Tom Wetherill
No. of competitors – 8
Course – 10.5 Lap
Q500
Daniel was back in fine form with a convincing win in Q500. It was unfortunate that Matt Young broke his plane on the 1st race of the week end and spent the good part of the Saturday afternoon, and Sunday morning rebuilding his plane only to have the rounds cut short by the weather so he didn’t fly again for the event. It was good to see Matt back racing and now he’s got a license and a car, we hope to see him more often. James York, also had a plane wrecked in the 1st round but luckily flew his backup plane for the rest of the week end.
Places:
1st Daniel Arapakis
2nd Mike Kellet
3rd Tom Wetherill
Fastest Time: 92.67 – Daniel Arapakis
No. of competitors – 10
Course – 10.5 Lap
FA1
Daniel Arapakis and his very proud father, Andrew
It was good to see Ranjit back down in VIC and he was in fine form taking first place. The story of the week end for our premier class was Daniel Arapakis’s first ever race in FA1. He didn’t just get up there and fly around way off the course. He was attaching right from the start, not only giving Gary Davidson and Jim Orenshaw a good run for their money but beat them with a time of 67.47. Unfortunately this enthusiastic approach to his racing saw a mid-air between him and Gary later in the event. There was also a mid-air between Vern Gibson and Tom Wetherill.
Places:
1st Ranjit Phelan
2nd Barry Murphy
3rd Andrew Davies
Fastest Time: 58.93 – Ranjit Phelan
No. of competitors – 11
Course – 10.5 Lap
Barry Murphy increased his lead from 9 to 13 points with Brian Steele and Glenn Matthews remaining in 2nd & 3rd place respectively.
F400
Gary Davidson remained in 3rd place while Andrew Davies moved ahead of Glenn Matthews into 1st position.
Q500
There was no change in positions with myself (John Schmidli) in 1st, Daniel Arapakis in 2nd and Jim Orenshaw in 3rd place, but Daniel has eaten substantially into my lead.
There is no other VMPRA events for the rest of the year with the first one being at Camperdown on 1st and 2nd of February (2014).
In the meantime, there is the MAAA Nationals on at Albury/ Wodonga on December 28-30, 2013. Don’t forget to fill in an entry form if you going to fly at the Nats.
Check out the Event Calender for these events and all the new event entries for next year. Make sure you put them in your diary so you don’t miss any of the action.
I won’t be at the Nats so if anybody would like to do a report and/or photos for the Nationals, I’ll put then on this site. So wishing you all a great Christmas and here’s to some more fun racing next year.
John Schmidli (Report & Photos)
The written content in this post is accurate to the best of my 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.
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).
