At the Albury meet for the NSW F2C and F2A State Champs, there were many delays in the racing and speed program due to the damp weather.  The drizzle did not clear until after lunch on Sunday when conditions became ideal.

The program was held at the magnificent hard stand facility at the Twin Cities Club. We cannot forget the foresight and generosity of the MAAA and State aero modelling bodies that provided this superb venue for Australian control line Speed and racing fliers.  Used for intensive practice last year, this hard circle has already provided dividends with two current Australian World F2C champions and a forth placed team as well.

I am surprised it is not also in demand by the aerobatic competitors as overseas events like the Worlds and the US & British Nats are all flown on hard surfaces.

F2A was won by Ian Gapps with 289.38 kph from Andrew Heath and Richard Justic. Ken Hunting was the winner of Combined Speed with his Midge after a 151.34 kph flight to claim 92.67% of the current record.

F2C final was won by Murray Wilson & Mark Poschkens from Hugh Simons & Grant Potter. Fitzgerald Ellins withdrew from the final with gear failure.

Steve Rothwell took advantage of the breaks in flying to continue testing the R320 in the Andrew Linwood built Anduril.

Along with National Combat Champs, Murray Wilson and Mark Ellins, I was fortunate enough to have a fly. It was most impressive! The model ran very strongly through the turns, losing very little speed. The way it hauled was very different from a good 2.5 diesel. Prop was an 8x6 nylon.

Steve tried a number of different venturi sizes and the R320 continued to pull the Anduril around without a miss, even on the big sizes. We checked level flight speed a few times and regularly got mid to low 26’s/10 with a best of 25.9.

This special combat engine certainly shows a huge amount of promise.
 

Classic B was next as it was held over from Saturday. Six teams took to the air with some mixing and matching of pitmen and pilots going on among the participants.

It was really good to see John Nolan having a crack in the Classic circle. His own design model flew very nicely with Steve Rothwell as the pilot. The OS FP 25 engine needs a little sorting and then it should be right on the pace. Just for the record, the fastest Classic B model in the world is Mark McDermott’s Lone Gone, also with an OS FP 25. It regularly records less than 15 seconds for 7 laps.

The Cosmic Rays had the B25R/Crescendo combination wound up with their airspeed the equal of any. It was only a couple of extra flicks both times on the restarts that kept them out of the final. Their heat times were amazingly consistent with a 3.15.44 and a 3.15.47!

Harry Bailey thought he had won the lottery when he scored reigning World Champs F2C pilot Hugh Simons to fly for him! Their second round time of 3.09.31 with the B25R Galaxie was only 37/100ths of a second away from FTD.

That belonged to John Hallowell & Mark Ellins who posted a 3.08.94 with the new orange Rocket and OS FX power. This was the first time a .25 ball race engine has been run at a competition in Australia. They have been used in the USA in their Classic B for at least 10 years. They flew the untried Streak in the second round using Melbourne settings but were way too rich on the day.

Murray Wilson & Mark Poschkens got their act together in the second round with a smokin’ 3.09.63 with the Galaxie and B25R. ‘Posh’ was on pitting duties filling in for engine man Lance Smith who, although he couldn’t be at Albury this time, was there in spirit with his stamp on most of the engines used.

The Dream Team of Ken & John Hunting tried hard with a best of 3.19.69 but could not reproduce their excellent times of the last Albury Nats. Just like then, at this competition, half the teams were separated by less than a second!!! As has been said many times before, if you like close racing, there is none better than Classic B.

The final promised more of the same, but as is often the case, it didn’t happen. Murray & Posh changed fuel brews and couldn’t get the right setting back so they slowed right down and effectively threw in the towel.

Hugh and Harry showed early promise but seemed to slow down a bit as the race progressed and were often passed by the orange Rocket. Meanwhile, Mark Ellins needed just three flicks to win the race… one at the start and one at each of two stops. As Mark said later, “it was just two 3.05 heats back to back.” So the new Rocket was victorious in the first competition for the OS FX engine in the very fast time of 6.10. Not quite Paul Stein and Fitz territory yet, but we’re working on it!

The OS 25FX engine used by the winners was stock standard out of the box except for a head modification by Lance Smith to increase the compression ratio and improve high speed burning. Lance would be very happy to assist anyone requiring this modification. A Rothwell ‘B Class’ venturi was also fitted screwed into a delrin ‘top hat’ expertly made for the OS by Andrew Nugent. An OS R5 plug was used and a 7x7 APC was the prop of choice.

Further solo testing of the same setup the following Sunday showed a best speed of 15.65 and up to 55 laps using a fuel containing 20% oil, 20% nitro, 10% IPA, 5% xylene, 5% iso propyl benzene and 40% methanol. I have little doubt that 15-20% IPA would work just as well as the xylene and IPB. Lots more testing still needs to be done. With Lance, Murray Wilson and Gavan Opperman, we are down at Frankston just about every weekend trying to find the ideal set up. I believe we are now getting very close! The GMS .25 ball raced engines are also going very well. Lance Smith can supply these engines in racing tune at a very reasonable cost.

As a reminder, the new Classic B engine rules are as follows: Allowable engines: Any engine (max. .30 cid) manufactured for commercial sales prior to January 1, 1961. Any “modern” (max. .30 cid) plain bearing engine. Any of the following modern ball race engines are allowed:
OS FX .25 GMS .25 Enya SS.25 BB (diesel or glow) Thunder Tiger PRO 25 BB Rothwell R320BR Irvine .25 ASP .25

Glow plug engines in the above list of modern ball race engines must use a 1/4 “ x 32TPI standard thread glow plug. No Nelson plugs, Turbo plugs or button heads are permitted in the modern ball race glow plug engines listed above.

Everything else remains the same. The existing OS LA & FP, Brodak, Enya, Thunder Tiger and other .25 PB engines can continue to be used.

Ever popular VINTAGE A was next to be run with 8 teams lined up ready to do battle. After the tuning flights, it was obvious Steve Rothwell’s superb new Ray Harvey built Dimpled Dumpling was going to be the model to beat. Swinging a Graupner 7x7, the R250 sounded quite different with more revs and had the legs on the others for speed. Richard Justic was slick in the pits and a second round FTD of 3.16.90 underlined their potential.

No doubt that Graeme Wilson and Mark Ellins should have easily won their last race at Albury, the Nats, by a fair margin if the gale force wind had not dashed their model into the ground on the other side of the circle on takeoff. This time they were out to make amends. A first round time of 3.19.28 saw them off to a good start.

A regular at Albury meets, Andy Kerr was conspicuous by his absence. He was rumoured to be somewhere in Asia on holidays. Hugh Simons and Harry Potter had a forgettable afternoon with their Vintage A engine playing up. They withdrew from the event without posting a time. That should be enough to stir Harry up for the Nats as back-to-back titles beckon.

Things didn’t quite happen on the day for Colin & Jim Ray. Their R250 Voodoo V is quick enough to make a final any day of the week IF everything goes to plan!

The brothers Hunting were also having a few worries trying to get engines like their MARZ on race pace.

Last Nats Vintage A finalist Harry Bailey was flying with Murray Wilson in what should have been a winning combination.

As Lege couldn’t make it, Rob Fitzgerald was helping John Hallowell with pitting duties for the Pluto. They were a bit slower than they should have been and could only manage a best of 3.26.16, but still good enough to sneak into the final.

As expected, Richard Justic had the DD in the air right on the go signal and this team was never headed from there. They went on to win from an off tune Wilson/Ellins and a fast finishing Hallowell/Fitzgerald. Doing ¼ lap landings with the Pluto, on one occasion John couldn’t get to the circle’s edge quick enough and a wide landing to Fitz’s fingertips saw a possible second place slip away. Nothing ventured, nothing gained…

It was the end of the racing and despite the weather, it was the end of another top racing and speed weekend at Albury in October.

John Hallowell. AUS 1984