Cohuna 2014 – Event report

Posted on October 23, 2014 by Scadtastic

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.

Check out the event photo gallery>>>

F3D report

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)
Leigh Hocken, Vern Gibson – Caller (average 59.18)
Daniel Arapakis (Junior), Andrew Arapakis – Caller

F3D Report – Thanks to Tom Wetherill

The team selection table:

See Additional Info >>>

(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

Check out the full results>>>

Season Championship

We are getting on to the end of the 1st half of the season championship.

FA1

There’s been a swap in positions at the top with Ranjit Phelan now in 1st position and Brian Steele now in 2nd. Tom Wetherill remains in 3rd place.

1 – Ranjit Phelan
2 – Brian Steele
3 – Tom Wetherill

F400

There has not been any change in the top 3 positions for F400.

1 – Ranjit Phelan
2 – Brian Steele
3 – Glen Matthews

Q500

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

Full Championship Results>>>

Refurbished trailer

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.

2015 Nats Program >>>
2015 Nats Entry Form >>>

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.

Quick Reference

Event Result
Photo Gallery
Season Championship
Event Calender

September Update

Posted on September 29, 2014 by Scadtastic

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 >>>

John Schmidli

Werribee 2014 – Event Report

Posted on September 15, 2014 by Scadtastic

The Werribee Club Pit Aera

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.

Check out the event photo gallery>>>

Results

Q500

Places:
1st Daniel Arapakis
2nd John Schmidli
3rd James Hurley

Fastest Time: 90.58 – John Schmidli
No. of competitors: 9
Course – 10.5 Lap

Sports

Places:
1st Tom Wetherill
2nd Alan Swift
3rd Les Spaltman

Fastest Time: 94.91 – Tom Wetherill
No. of competitors: 8
Course – 10.5 Lap

Check out the full results>>>

Season Championship

Q500

James Hurley is still in 1st place, John Schmidli has gained a point on James and Daniel has jumped into 3rd places.

1 – James Hurley
2 – John Schmidli
3 – Daniel Arapakis

.Full Championship Results>>>

Next Events

Cohuna start line 2013

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.

Check Event Calender >>>

Event Report & photos: John Schmidli

Quick Reference

Event Result
Photo Gallery
Season Championship
Event Calender

2015 Calender – Update

Posted on August 28, 2014 by Scadtastic

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.

Event Calender >>>

Victorian State Championships – Munro August 2014 – Event Report

Posted on August 11, 2014 by Scadtastic

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 6^th 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.

Check out the event photo gallery>>>

Results

FA1

Places:
1st Beau Murphy
2nd Ranjit Phelan
3rd Daniel Arapakis

Fastest Time: 55.73 – Beau Murphy
No. of competitors: 11
Course – 10 Lap

F400

Places:
1st Ranjit Phelan
2nd Brian Steele
3rd Andrew Davies

Fastest Time: 62.70 – Ranjit Phelan
No. of competitors: 10
Course – 10 Lap

Q500

Places:
1st James Hurley
2nd John Schmidli
3rd Ian Haigh

Fastest Time: 90.16 – James Hurley
No. of competitors: 8
Course – 10 Lap

Check out the full results>>>

Season Championship

Two events into the new season championship for 2014-2015 and this is how the positions sit.

FA1

Brian Steele remains at the top and Ranjit Phelan has improved his position and jumped into 2nd place, displacing Tom Wetherill down to 3rd place.

1 – Brian Steele
2 – Ranjit Phelan
3 – Tom Wetherill

F400

Ranjit Phelan stays in 1st place, Brian Steele and Glenn Matthews move up into 2nd & 3rd place respectively.

1 – Ranjit Phelan
2 – Brian Steele
3 – Glen Matthews

Q500

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

.Full Championship Results>>>

Next Events

Daniel & Beau, 3rd and 1st place in F3D

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.

Check Event Calender >>>

Event Report: Tom Wetherill
Additional Post items & photos: John Schmidli
Additional Photos: Andrew and Lydia Arapakis

Quick Reference

Event Result
Photo Gallery
Season Championship
Event Calender

Bendigo July 2014 – Event Report

Posted on July 15, 2014 by Scadtastic

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.

Check out the event photo gallery>>>

Results

FA1

Places:
1st Brian Steele
2nd Tom Wetherill
3rd Glenn Matthews

Fastest Time: 60.11 – Ranjit Phelan
No. of competitors: 9
Course – 10.5 Lap

F400

Places:
1st Ranjit Phelan
2nd Shaun Jacobsen
3rd Brian Steele

Fastest Time: 62.92 – Ranjit Phelan
No. of competitors: 14
Course – 10.5 Lap

Q500

Places:
1st James Hurley
2nd Daniel Arapakis
3rd John Schmidli

Fastest Time: 93.95 – Daniel Arapakis
No. of competitors: 13
Course – 10.5 Lap

Check out the full results>>>

2014-2015 Season Championship

This was the first event for the new season championship for 2014-2015 and this is how the positions sit.

FA1

1 – Brian Steele
2 – Tom Wetherill
3 – Glenn Matthews

F400

1 – Ranjit Phelan
2 – Shaun Jacobsen
3 – Brian Steele

Q500

1 – Tom Wetherill
2 – James Hurley
3 – Daniel Arapakis

It’s early days for the championship and everybody has a chance to be in the mix for the championship. All you have to do is go racing.

Full Championship Results>>>

Next Events

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.

Check Event Calender >>>

Event Report: Tom Wetherill
Additional Post items & photos: John Schmidli

Quick Reference

Event Result
Photo Gallery
Season Championship
Event Calender

Warrnambool April 2014 – Event Report

Posted on May 9, 2014 by Scadtastic

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.

Check out the event photo gallery>>>

Results

FA1

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

Check out the full results>>>

2013-2014 Season Championship

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.

Full Championship Results>>>

New Event

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.

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Munro March 2014 – Event Report

Posted on April 1, 2014 by Scadtastic

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.

Check out the event photo gallery>>>

Results

FA1

The Minute Master crew - 1st, 2nd & 3rd

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

Fastest Time: 59.78 – Beau Murphy
No. of competitors: 12
Course – 10.5 Lap

No change in places from Camperdown with The “Minute Master” Crew coming 1,2 and 3 again. Daniel was only 0.1 of a sec behind Barry after 9 rounds.

F400

Places:
1st Ranjit Phelan
2nd Andrew Davies
3rd Glenn Matthews

Fastest Time: 66.04 – Gary Davidson
No. of competitors: 11
Course – 10.5 Lap

Q500

Places:
1st John Schmidli
2nd David Axon
3rd Jim Orenshaw

Fastest Time: 91.89 – Gary Davidson
No. of competitors: 9
Course – 10.5 Lap

Check out the full results>>>

2013-2014 Season Championship

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.

Full Championship Results>>>

Next Event

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

Quick Reference

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March Update

Posted on March 13, 2014 by Scadtastic

Just a quick update to mention that the next pylon racing event coming up at Munro is the John Hughan Trophy. This will mean something to many of us who flew with John in years gone by.

The rules on this website have been updated to link back to the AMPRA rules except for the F400 rules which are VMPRA specific. This mainly effects Q500 as a couple of recent changes at AMPRA had not been reflected in the rules on this site.

See you at Munro.

John Schmidli

Bacchus Marsh, March 2014 – Event Report

Posted on March 9, 2014 by Scadtastic

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.

Check out the event photo gallery>>>

Results:

Q500

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.

Check out the full results>>>

2013-2014 Season Championship

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)!

Full Championship Results>>>

Next Event

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

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