Jeff Gitchel puts the electric starter to the spinner on James Van Sant’s B Speed plane.
By John Moll
We flew A Speed, B Speed, and Sport Jet Speed. Yes, that was us making all that noise over on Site 2. A Speed is flown using a .15 cubic inch motor. B Speed is flown using up to a .29 cubic inch motor. There were a total of five entries in Sport Jet. We had five entries in B Speed and four entries in A Speed.
Sport Jet uses a stock pulse jet engine. When I say “stock,” I mean nothing can be changed to the original motor. The only part of the motor that can be changed is a metering jet to determine how much fuel can be put into the motor. Sometimes you just hope you get the jetting right. You just have to hope you get good air and it develops maximum thrust.
The difference from 1st place to 3rd place was ONLY .13 MILES PER HOUR! That is very close. Sport jets use a fuel that is a mixture of 80% methanol and 20% nitromethane.
Sometimes the battle to get the fastest speed for A Speed and B Speed unfolded such that one flyer would get a better speed than the person who was fastest at the time. Not to be outdone, they then would try to go faster. If he did, then the other flyer would fly to try and take the lead back.
Each flyer only gets four attempts to get three official flights. So you have to judge very carefully what to change on the plane to make it go faster. The back and forth between two flyers can get really interesting.
The fuel we use for most of the piston motors is 70% methanol, 20 % oil, and 10% nitromethane. Everyone uses the same fuel.
[insert photo 5, caption: Sport Jet winners Patrick Hemple (L), Dave Rigotti (C), and Jeff Gitchel (R).]
On Friday, we will be flying C Speed, D Speed, and Fast Jet Speed. Fast jets will be doing upwards of 170 mph! So come by Site 2 and enjoy some SPEED…and of course the NOISE of the JETS!
Thursday results:
A Speed winners
Bill Hughes - 1st place - 191.25 mph
Glen Van Sant - 2nd place - 184.34 mph
James Van Sant - 3rd place - 176.39 mph
B Speed winners
Bill Hughes - 1st place - 175.87 mph
Glen Van Sant - 2nd place - 174.60 mph
James Van Sant - 3rd place - 168.18 mph
Sport Jet Winners.
Dave Rigotti - 1st Place - 147.17 mph
Patrick Hemple - 2nd place - 147.14 mph
Jeff Gitchel - 3rd place - 147.04 mph
