Jeff Gitchel is at the starter motor while James VanSant holds his father, Glen’s, A Speed plane, ready to launch it for a 182.75 mph run.
By John Moll
On Tuesday, the third day of Control Line Speed, we flew three events, A Speed, FAI/F2A peed and Fox 35 Stunt Speed. There were five contestants in A Speed and F2A Speed, and there were 13 planes entered in Fox 35 Speed. So needless to say, we had a bunch of flights. Several pilots used all four of their attempts to finally get their best official speed.
A Speed had four very close final speeds and there was a difference of only 4.83 mph from first place to third place. In the end, Bill Hughes finished in first place with a speed of 183.97 mph. Glen VanSant came in second place with 182.75 mph. James VanSant got a speed of 179.14 mph for third place. Congratulations to these flyers.
In FAI/F2A Speed, there were five entries. This event is very difficult to achieve a really fast speed. There are so many variables that affect the way these planes perform. Each contestant keeps track of air temperature, air density, air pressure, and humidity for each flight and different settings with the motor. Slight adjustments are made to the motor between flights trying to better the speed.
FAI Speed planes are very sleek and made for maximum speed. They run with a .15 cubic inch motor or 25cc displacement, a tuned pipe, and with only an inboard wing. They look a bit different, but that is why they go the fastest. Oh, and they run with only a ONE-bladed prop! Yes, you read that right. When the plane is running right and getting on the pipe, the motor is turning around 40,000 rpm. They make such a sweet sound and you can tell they are really going FAST! Bill Hughes came in first place with a speed of 289.4 kph or 179.83 mph. James VanSant came in second place with a speed of 286.2 kph or 177.84 mph. Glen VanSant got third place with 273.3 kph or 169.82 mph.
Finally, we flew Fox 35 Stunt Speed. We have been flying this event for the last 12 years and it’s really catching on. You can only use just one kind of motor for this event, and that is a Fox 35 Stunt Motor. The motor can be modified internally to make them go fast. Everyone likes to get first place, but for this event, the real prize is the best Average Speed. We take all the best final speeds and average them out to see who came closest to the average speed. The winner this year came within .06 mph! I think was the closest result I have ever seen for that award. This was won by Glen VanSant. Dave Rigotti came in first place at 109.87 mph. Bill Hughes was second at a speed of 105.59 mph. Henry Nelson got third with a speed of 104.95 mph.
At lunchtime today, we were treated to seeing Dave Rigotti fly his F2G Electric Speed plane that he used in May of this year in Perth, Australia for the F2 World Championships. He Came in fifth place overall and third for team USA in this event. He has also set a new AMA speed record with this plane at the annual world cup event held in September in St. Louis, Missouri. Way to go Dave!
Tomorrow, Wednesday, we wrap up our four days of speed with 1/2A Speed, 21 Sport Speed, Perky Speed and new this year PerkE speed. PerkE is an electric speed plane event. With this event, we are trying to get more people involved with Speed and people who want to just go electric. So come to flying site 6 and watch some Speed!
