The Cohuna event is at the end of this week and it’s an exciting one with being the last of the F3D team trials for the Australian Team Selection for the 2015 World Champs. It’s also been a reasonable break since the last event.
The Cohuna club has let us know that there will be breakfast and lunch available on the Saturday and Sunday. There will also be camping available out at the field.
We look forward to seeing everybody at Cohuna.
In the meantime, follow this link to see a slideshow of photos take by a Werribee club member and the recent Q500/Sport race day. Youtube Clip >>>
Back on August 24, VMPRA held its regular Q500 event at the Werribee Club. The day started off with brilliant sunshine while the early risers waited for the club gates to open. Soon a club member opened up and over the next hour, competitors tricked in and started setting up planes ready for the end of the noise curfew at 9am to end.
Test flights were undertaken and then the course was setup. This included mowing a patch for the take-off area, especially because the sports planes do sometimes actually need a runway.
Les Spaltman and his Viper
This event was for the Q500 class plus a sports and the EF-1 class. Some of the more recent regulars weren’t in attendance but the numbers were boosted by a couple of first timers and a second timer and a recent returnee to pylon racing. It was great to see Andrew Arapakis finally race and complete an event flying a his trainer. Looking at his times, he made really good improvements in times as the day went on . The Arapakis’s brought along a fellow club member in Nathan Ranson who ended up flying Andrews trainer also, breaking the age old VMPRA curse where a shared plane always is destroyed in the first round that it is flown. Nathan took to the course quite quickly and was flying the trainer tightly around the pylons. Les Spaltman flew his second event in both Q500 & Sportsman as did George Angelov who is a recent returnee to pylon after a spell away from it.
Andrew Arapakis about to race the trainer
Q500 was hotly contested as usual with a return of the recently retire Daniel Arapakis. This class 6is just a lot of fun to fly and now that we have good numbers at each event, it is looking very health. It is worth mentioning that it was at Werribee 2 years earlier that our next junior representative at the 2015 F3D world championships, Daniel Arapakis, raced a trainer for the first time. He quickly started flying Q500 and along with his father’s dedication, the awesome mentoring of the Murphy’s and the progression into faster classes he is now a very competitive flyer amongst the seniors. This is a great example of what someone can do with the right guidance and support.
George Angelov
Thanks to the Werribee club for hosting this event, providing food and refreshments and for supplying helpers for the number 1 pylon cage.
There’s a bit of a break over September and then we have 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.
The Cohuna club has let us know that there will be breakfast and lunch available on the Saturday and Sunday. There will also be camping available out at the field.
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.
We now have our first 3 events for 2015 confirmed and added to the Event Calender. Add these to your diary now so as to not miss out. More event conformations to come.
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.
With the Friday being ANZAC day, it was a good chance to leave early for the trip to Warrnambool and do some test flights and setting up. The weather on the Friday was quite spectacular. Quite a few of us camped out at the field.
Saturday started off with rain but this dispersed by the time test flights started. After setting up the course, F400 started. With the first round completed, it was decided that the course needed to be re positioned due to a visibility issue with the no. 1 pylon judges. There was long grass obscuring the planes taking off, causing some confusion as to which plane to follow. If you don’t know all the plane very well, it is very easy to end up following the wrong plane if you can’t see the launch.
The course was reset and racing started again having dropped the already raced rounds. It was around 11am by the time we got going again. As a result, the number of rounds ended up being 7 rather than the usual 9 rounds for the weekend.
This was also exacerbated by having to reset the course at the last minute on the Sunday due to the predicted wind direction.
Pylons 2 and 3 judges were in place all week end which was excellent. Again this makes for legitimate results.
Thanks goes out to the members of the Warrnambool Club, Toni Axon, Nerida Matthews and all who helped out with pylon judging.
Place getters in FA1, Tom Wetherill, Leigh Hocken & Frank Cassella (L-R)
It was good to see the team of Leigh Hocken and Frank Cassella back racing at this event and doing well. F3D is getting serious now with the next event at AMPRA being the start of the Australian team trials for the next world champs in 2015.
Places:
1st Leigh Hocken
2nd Tom Wetherill
3rd Frank Cassella
Fastest Time: 57.37 – Leigh Hocken
No. of competitors: 11
Course – 10.5 Lap
F400
Places:
1st Glenn Matthews
2nd Tom Wetherill
3rd Andrew Davies
Fastest Time: 68.71 – Glenn Matthews
No. of competitors: 10
Course – 10.5 Lap
Q500
Places:
1st Daniel Arapakis
2nd Tom Wetherill
3rd John Schmidli
Fastest Time: 96.35 – Daniel Arapakis
No. of competitors: 8
Course – 10.5 Lap
This event marked the end of the 2013-2014 VMPRA Season Championship after a total of 8 events for FA1 & F400 and 9 for Q500. I know from my point of view, it has added an additional element to the competition through-out the year.
FA1
2013-2014 Season Champion for FA1 – Barry Murphy
2nd place – Brian Steele
3rd place – Glenn Matthews
Congratulation to Barry Murphy who won by a huge margin even though having raced in 1 less event than the maximum. Brian Steele also raced in 1 less event and came in 2nd.
F400
2013-2014 Season Champion for F400 – Glenn Matthews
2nd place – Andrew Davies
3rd place – Daniel Arapakis
Congratulations to Glenn Matthews on winning this class. It was very close at the top with Glenn and Andrew on equal points with only 1 event left to run.
Q500
2013-2014 Season Champion for Q500 – John Schmidli
2nd place – Daniel Arapakis
3rd place – Jim Orenshaw
It was a tight battle all season between Daniel and myself and I had not expected to be able to defend my title from the previous year. Daniel announced at Warrnambool that he was going to retire from Q500 and put all his efforts into FA1 & F400. Well done Daniel. He was responsible for many of us cutting our personal bests by a considerable amount. There is nothing like strong competition to sharpening your performance.
There has been the addition of a Q500, EF-1 & Sport event scheduled for Werribee on August 24, so all those interested, pencil this one in to the calendar. We have been getting quite good size turnouts at these 1 day events, especially being to close to Melbourne.
Next Events
The next event for those wanting to travel to sunny Queensland and to the 1st of the 3, F3D world champ team trials is AMPRA which is being held at Maryborough on the Queen’s birthday week end . Check out the AMPRA schedule and the QMARA website.
The next VMPRA event is at Marong near Bendigo on July 5-6. We intend to run the VMPRA AGM on the Saturday night. Time and location TBC.
Report & Photos: John Schmidli
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.
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.
Not sure how many people we would get to this event, the good weather and an location that is close to Melbourne, brought out a good number of people. We ended up with 12 Q500, 4 sports and 2 EF-1 pilots. There was a couple of Scanner pilots there but it is a little surprising that with the popularity of this model and the scanner racing program, that there wouldn’t be more interest in going racing more often and trying out flying the international recognized FAI pylon course. Theoretically, I believe the Scanner actually conforms to the Q500 rules, so could be flown as a Q500. A good way to start.
We ran 4 rounds of each class before lunch and another 3 rounds after lunch. There was no helpers for the event so, we took it in turns with Pylon#1 and being starter. I think all who attended had a good time.
Daniel was blitzing the field again with some fast time. Unforntuneately, a model that Barry Townsend and Tony Curzon were sharing was written off in the first race.
Places:
1st – Daniel Arapakis
2nd – Tom Wetherill
3rd – James Hurley
Fastest Time: 90.37 – Daniel Arapakis
No. of competitors: 12
Course – 10.5 Lap
Sports
There was a bit of a mix of planes in this class, but all where able to work on improving their times. Tony Curzon’s Nemesis was flying very nicely and looked the part going around the course.
Places:
1st – Tony Curzon
2nd – Brian Steele
3rd – Matt Young
Fastest Time: 117.11 – Tony Curzon
No. of competitors: 4
Course – 10.5 Lap
EF-1
Unfortunately Walter Muller’s plane was damages during a take-off incident, so Alan Swift flew 4 round on his own.
With only 2 races left for the championship, the battle at the top has seen Daniel Arapakis catch up to John Schmidli (myself) on equal points with only accumulated times leaving me at the top (for now)!
The next full FA1, F400 & Q500 2 day event is at Bazza’s paddock down at Munro on March 22-23, 2014. Sure to be a good turn out as this is a great venue for pylon racing. As this is a private flying field, if you are interested in attending this event and don’t know the location, can contact the committee for the address.
John Schmidli
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.
Pylon racing in Victoria was off to a start for the first time this year with a return to Camperdown. As with nearly every race since June, weather had an extraordinary effect on the race. It was hot hot hot!
I’m not sure if it was the predicted hot conditions or the fact that this race was a little early in the year than usual, but numbers were a little down but all who attended seemed to have a good time and the weather actual led to extra socialization after racing finished on the Saturday both at the field and back at the Motel.
Proceedings started on the Saturday with 4 rounds of F400, followed by 3 rounds of Q500. After lunch the day was finished off with 4 rounds of FA1. Sunday started early at 8:30 to try and beat the heat with 3 rounds of FA1, 4 rounds of Q500 and then 3 rounds of F400. Then we had lunch and headed home early. There was some good clean racing and no models went home in a plastic bag. There was only some broken props and under-carts as the ground was a little hard and uneven.
The masters and their apprentice (Beau & Barry Murphy and Daniel Arapakis).
Places:
1st Beau Murphy
2nd Barry Murphy
3rd Daniel Arapakis
Fastest Time: 60.44 – Beau Murphy
No. of competitors: 9
Course – 10.5 Lap
F400
Places:
1st Daniel Arapakis
2nd Gary Davidson
3rd James Hurley
Fastest Time: 67.26 – Gary Davidson
No. of competitors: 9
Course – 10.5 Lap
Q500
There was only 4 people competing this weekend which was really down on recent numbers. Daniel was quick as usual but was finding difficult to get a clean round. James was in form with mostly clean rounds.
Places:
1st James Hurley
2nd John Schmidli
3rd Jim Orenshaw
Fastest Time: 91.14 – Daniel Arapakis
No. of competitors: 4
Course – 10.5 Lap
We are over half way through the 2013 – 2014 VMPRA Championship Year with only Bacchus Marsh (Q500 only), Munro & Warrnambool left to go.
FA1
Barry Murphy is in a very strong position in first place, Brian Steele remains in 2nd and a change in 3rd place of Gary Davidson displacing Glenn Matthews who is now in 4th position.
F400
Glenn Matthews is now in 1st position after displacing Andrew Davies who is now in 2nd place. Gary Davidson remains in 3rd place.
Q500
No change in Q500 for the places with me (John Schmidli) in 1st, Daniel Arapakis in 2nd and Jim Orenshaw in 3rd.
For the Q500 pilots, there’s a race at Bacchus Marsh on March 2 which will also include EF-1 & Sports.
The next full FA1, F400 & Q500 2 day event is down at Bazza’s paddock down at Munro on March 22-23, 2014.
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 first race for 2014 is coming around rather quickly this year. We are racing at Camperdown on the first weekend of February (Feb 1-2, 2014).
As usual, there are some access restrictions at times, which is important to note so as to ensure a good relationship with the turf club and continued use of this great venue into the future.
On Saturday, access to the flying site is allowed from 8:30am on-wards. We can set up prior to 10:00am but there is not to be any flying before then.
On Sunday there is no horse activity so access flying is as normal
This is usually a great race to compete in and not so far from Melbourne for those who don’t like to travel too far. Also for those wanting to try flying Q500 for the first time or new to pylon racing, even with 40-46 sport low-wing or trainer (eg, Scanner, Boomerang …etc.) come along and join the fun.
The schedule at this stage will be F400, Q500 & FA1.
The club there are a little down on numbers so if you can bring along any friends or family members to help with the event, that would also be great. See you all there.
It’s the first time that we have raced at Swan Hill in a very long time. We were back to our pre-World Championship numbers with a large number of us camping out at the airfield. There were 7 caravans or camper trailers this time. The club members made us feel very welcome and provided us with food for breakfasts, lunches and Saturday night’s dinner.
The weather was good with the rain stopping mid Friday afternoon and the rest of the time was mostly sunny with light to moderate winds.
Barry Murphy starting his Minute Master with call Andrew Arapakis
The racing for both days started with F400, followed by Q500 and FA1 to finish the day. Time allowed FA1 to complete 6 rounds on the Saturday so only needing 3 more rounds to be completed on Sunday. All classes completed 9 rounds over the weekend.
Thanks to the Swan Hill Club for manning the no.1 pylon timing cage, the VMPRA members who looked after the no. 2 & 3 pylons and as usual, Toni Axon for acting as starter and Nerida Matthews for the tireless job of time keeper/result recorder and keeping us moving along.
Results
FA1
Places:
1st Barry Murphy
2nd Gary Davidson
3rd Vernon Gibson
With only a few events under our belts for the season, the Championship is still up for grabs.
FA1 – Barry Murphy has moved up to the top position from second place while Gary Davidson and Glenn Matthews have moved up to 2nd and 3rd places respectively.
F400 – Daniel Arapkis remained in 2nd place with Gary Davidson and Andrew Davies swapping positions with Gary now in 1st position and Andrew in 3rd.
Q500 – John Schmidli remains in 1st place, Jim Orenshaw moved up to 2nd having swapped with Daniel Arapakis, now in 3rd position.
It’s worth having a look at the events calander again as there have been some additions.
For this year, there have been 2 non-Championship events added.
A sports/Q500 event being put on in November by the LDMFA club. A great chance for those wanting to get into pylon racing, to give it a try.
At the end of the year, there is the 67th MAAA Nationals being held in Albury/Wodonga. We have decided to get right behind the Nationals by participating and also encourage others from surrounding states to come along.
2014 Calender
We are starting to get events confirmed for next year, so keep checking back and add them to your diaries. Two events now listed are:
Camperdown – the first event for the year.
A F3D WC 2015 team select event in October being held at Cohuna.
Next Event
The first time Vern has beaten Brian!
The next event on the Calendar is the State Championship being held at Hamilton on October 12-13. I believe there will be a number of our South Australian friends coming to this event which will be great. I look forward to seeing everybody there.
John Schmidli (Report & Photos)
Additional photos thanks to Andrew Arapakis
The written content in this post is acurate 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.
As usual, there are some access restrictions at times, which is important to note so as to ensure a good relationship with the turf club and continued use of this great venue into the future.
