Electric Formula 1 Racing!!

[akent]

I have been involved some in the new class of E-F1 (Electric Formula 1) pylon racing!
I have been to three races so far. The one in Austin saw me win the Novice class! I also had fastest time for Novice.

Here are a few pictures:
This is my Pogo and I! I am 'high red'. That is what the callers use for telling if you cut a corner. There is high red, low red (other wing), high green and low green. There are four planes racing per heat. We had six rounds with 5 heats each.


Here is me getting weighed in:


Here is a picture of all the racers. There are some prolific pilots in this group, including the fellow who designed ALL of these planes, including the Pogo. Others here have won national and world titles in F5D and nitro types. My Pogo is in the middle of the back row.


Here's my laser etched wooden coaster for winning Novice:


It is huge fun to race these planes!
Kent

[akent]

I was lucky to be able to get a one of ten Miss Dara kit from Dan Kane. He and Jerry Small designed all of these racers.

Here are some pictures of this most awesome kit. It is REALLY strong.

Oh, and this is the first kit I've built in 30 years! I am loving every minute of it!
I just need to install the servos and it's done.







I don't think I'll race this plane, as it's very rare. No more kits will be made, so they say. If they do, I want to build another one and race this one! It should be faster than the Pogo. It's much sleeker!
Fun stuff!
Kent

[akent]

For racing, this is what I'm running:

LR1A Pogo:
Servos: Turnigy D-16MG
Motor: Turnigy SK-3542-1250kv
ESC: Turnigy 85amp
Battery: Turnigy Nano Tech 4s 2650 35-70C
Receiver: Spektrum AR-6200

Miss Dara:
Servos: Hitec HS-85BB
Motor: Turnigy SK-3542-1250kv, but I have an Eflite P25-1250kv, too.
ESC: Castle ICE 75
Battery: Turnigy Nano Tech 4s 2650 35-70C
Receiver: Spektrum AR-7000

The only legal prop is an APC 8x8E. APC has been donating props for these races. That's really nice, as everyone is then guaranteed to have a box stock prop, like you are supposed to have.

==================

These racers run around 110 to 115mph in a straight line, so they are faster than some of the nitro pylon racers.
The course (that I have run so far) has two pylons 400 feet apart. You fly 10 laps per heat. The average heat time is about 70 seconds, so you are running an average of 7 seconds per lap. Remember that you must fly very long on the corners so you won't cut!
The first cut costs you a whole lap. The second cut gets you disqualified for that heat. So you fly LONG!

It's a blast!
Kent

[19000rpm]

Congrats on your win! That is just awesome. Those pogos are really nice.

And that Miss Dara build is absolutely beautiful. I don't blame you for not wanting to race it until you got a backup.

We've got a pylon club up north a bit. I've never been to it, but I'll check into it soon.

[akent]

Thanks 19k.
I think you'll be impressed with the races! At least here, we have all the planes on the runway without a holder, so we do standing starts. I really like that! 2 of the lanes go when the flag drops and then the other 2 go when the flag is raised again, about a half second later. That reduces the number of ground crashes.

These things torque left hard on takeoff, if you nail the throttle. Everyone gives it throttle slowly, well except for ME!!

I just so happened to have installed one of my extra gyros on the rudder! It's setup in HH mode, so I just nail the gas. It goes straight as an arrow!! As soon as the plane is in the air, I flip the switch and turn off the gyro...

I checked with all the rules makers and it's legal to have a gyro! Most of them don't believe that it would help...Heh heh!
Kent

[r/c basher]

Sounds fun.

Congrats on the win. To bad their aren't any flying clubs/races around where I live.

[Gabe]

Wow! That looks like a lot of fun. I've been weaving in and out of football field stadium lights for about 6 months now. That pylon racer looks like it may be a good investment. I'll have to scope out the local club.

Congrats on the win!

[Solitaire]

Good stuff, Kent. Looks like you're having a blast.
Very streamlined frontal area on those babies and not a lot of aileron, but I guess at 100mph, you don't need much. Not having to ease into the throttle with the gyro must give you a definite advantage and I'm surprised the other flyers haven't caught on to that...yet.

Is there a limit on motor size, or is it simply an AUW restriction?

[19000rpm]

A gyro! You sly dog

[akent]

Yes, Sol, there are rules for almost everything!
Hey, and there is a very active group of racers in Canada, but I don't remember where they are.
Gabe, there is a group in California too that race these!

There are three legal motors. The Turnigy, the Eflite and the newest, an Arrowind. The Arrowind is more expensive and too fat for many of these airframes. They are also more expensive.

The Turnigy is a little faster than the Eflite (that most run), but they also burn up regularly. I have found that if you take the Turnigy apart, oil the bearings well, pull all of the windings tight and then put aquarium silicon on the top of the windings that they won't come apart. This is not considered cheating as it does nothing for power, but it keeps these motors together. I have not burned up one since doing this.

The Eflite is the most reliable motor and is the one that I will run in the Dara, as that plane has very limited airflow.

With the Pogo and the Turnigy motor, I'm running a Great Planes spinner with a ventilated aluminum backing plate and a plastic cone. I drilled a 3/8" hole in the nose of the spinner and then used my dremel to machine a fan shape to the ventilation holes in the base plate. This made a HUGE difference in temperatures, to the tune of 50 degrees! I have not burned up a Turnigy since doing this and the above mods.

The batteries are limited to 325 grams total, including connectors. Any brand. The new hot ticket are some 65c 2650's. I can't remember the brand. I don't care about that, as I'm not that good, yet!

There is no limit on the ESC. Most run the Castle ICE 75. I am very happy with my Turnigy 85, though, but I do like the logging ability of the ICE.

The other limits, besides the prop is the total weight of the plane ready to fly must be > 3.25 pounds.
My Pogo weighs 3.5 pounds, and my Miss Dara weighs in at a hefty 3 pounds 12 ounces. It's beefy, but much sleeker than the Pogo. It will probably be a wash for speed, as it's a pig, but a sleek pig!!
===
I didn't have the guts to fly the Dara today. It is ready to fly, but it was one of those days. I totalled the ME-163 (faster than my FJ Ultra) on takeoff and then had a receiver go bad on the F27Q, so I was not in the mood for flying it.
I did bring it to the field though and had a huge number of questions and comments on it! It does look really good when sitting on the ground! As one guy said, it looks like it's going fast just sitting there.
Kent

[akent]

Electric Formula 1 Rules:

Attachments:

[akent]

Jul 10, 2011 14:29:22 GMT -6 19000rpm said:

A gyro! You sly dog

Actually, a couple of the pros said that by me using a gyro, I'm costing myself time on the takeoff!!

Heh heh! I'll post a video soon of one of our starts, if I can get it off of the camera. I am HALF A LAP ahead by the first lap!
I'm just not a good pilot at all, so they all catch and pass me a few laps in...
It's fun, anyway!

Now to find that video...
Kent

[akent]

Sorry it took so long, but here is a video of one of the heats at the races in Waco.
I was in lane one, high red. I am the right most pilot and my caller is the tall fellow in the red shirt.



You can see how my plane starts! I am the first one off the line. I was farther ahead in other heats, but I flew this heat better.
Kent

[19000rpm]

Neat! That sure looks like fun.