So, the semifinals:
Round one was a mess for us - we were undercomped and had an 11 flick pitstop, subsequently only putting in a 3:13.
However, Fitz/Mellins had a good race and recorded an easy 3:09, putting them into second behind Surugue/Surugue with a 3:07.
On the second day of the semifinals the weather changed a bit, allowing for slightly faster air and the potential for quicker times. I had a hard draw with a Russian team and Kram/Chaika, but they had some overheating issues while we managed to finish it trouble free with a slightly quicker 3:07.
Thierry and Roland also had a superb race, running a genuine 3-up 3:05 in tough conditions, also putting them into the final.
The final was originally run at about 4:00, and started will with all teams in the air from the first flick. We had the slightly better airspeed in the centre, but not enough to overtake anyone I think. So, everything was going sweetly, and we had a good first stop, putting us into the lead by a lap or so. But, Surugue/Surugue dropped a catch (I think), and Thierry tripped over Pascal, putting both teams out. The Jury allowed us to finish the race 1-up, where we recorded a 6:15 or therabouts.
However, Ougen/Surugue put a protest in, which was upheld to give them a refly with us. So the 2-up final then began between us and Ougen/Surugue. Once more, both engines started first go and the airspeeds were close to identical. The second or third pitstop for Thierry and Roland was a tad slow on the restart, putting us ahead by 3 laps. Thankfully, nothing went wrong and we retained the lead through the race to record a 6:13.
Anyway, I can't really remembered what happened after that, so I'll just skip it...
Monday, August 4, 2008
Friday, August 1, 2008
Aussie Aussie Aussie!
Had a phat time today.
Started the morning by going over and cleaning Trevor & Steve's Lerners, as well as mixing them some fuel in preparation for the day. At that time, Australia was in contention for third team place, hence the pressure on Steve & Trev. Went out to the practice site to see how they went - they picked up almost a second/10 over night. We were looking good.
Official practice went well, though everyone on the field was about 0.5s/10 slower than yesterday, due to the sudden change in air conditions.
Fitzy had a tough race, but still managed to put in a 3:12 which somehow turned into a 3:15 due to timer variation (!!!!!!).
Trev/Steve had a rough race, but were given a refly due to a minor line tangle with the RSA team.
Meanwhile, the 3rd and 4th Ukr teams put in a 3:15 and a 3:21, putting them pretty solidly into 3rd team spot. Nonetheless, Fitzy was still in P4 with his 3:07 from yesterday.
Grant and I were in the final draw of the day with a reasonably difficult draw, but the engine setting was perfect (albeit 1/2 a second/10 slower than before), and the restarts were brilliant. So, with some circle traffic we recorded a 3:05.8, 3-up the whole way, which feels pretty f**king good to tell the truth!
Anyway, we had a few beers afterwards, and wandered around the flying site chatting to the poms, french, hungarians, italians, dutch, and anyone else that would listen.
So, tomorrow is the semis, where we'll have to put in a repeat performance - gulp!
Started the morning by going over and cleaning Trevor & Steve's Lerners, as well as mixing them some fuel in preparation for the day. At that time, Australia was in contention for third team place, hence the pressure on Steve & Trev. Went out to the practice site to see how they went - they picked up almost a second/10 over night. We were looking good.
Official practice went well, though everyone on the field was about 0.5s/10 slower than yesterday, due to the sudden change in air conditions.
Fitzy had a tough race, but still managed to put in a 3:12 which somehow turned into a 3:15 due to timer variation (!!!!!!).
Trev/Steve had a rough race, but were given a refly due to a minor line tangle with the RSA team.
Meanwhile, the 3rd and 4th Ukr teams put in a 3:15 and a 3:21, putting them pretty solidly into 3rd team spot. Nonetheless, Fitzy was still in P4 with his 3:07 from yesterday.
Grant and I were in the final draw of the day with a reasonably difficult draw, but the engine setting was perfect (albeit 1/2 a second/10 slower than before), and the restarts were brilliant. So, with some circle traffic we recorded a 3:05.8, 3-up the whole way, which feels pretty f**king good to tell the truth!
Anyway, we had a few beers afterwards, and wandered around the flying site chatting to the poms, french, hungarians, italians, dutch, and anyone else that would listen.
So, tomorrow is the semis, where we'll have to put in a repeat performance - gulp!
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Urgh
Long day, hot weather, nothing to eat etc etc.
Had a good draw in the early afternoon, but 33 laps in the other pilots had mishaps on takeoff putting me into a redraw.
So, late this afternoon I flew my heat with an Italian and a Swedish team, but only put down a 3:12. Personally, I was hoping for a little more than that, but the tune was undercomped and we had to wait for landing models to clear our segment before release.
However, Trev & Steve put in a solid 3:30 with room for improvement, while Fitz and Mellins came through in a reflight to record a 3:07.
So, at the end of day we have 2 Aussi teams in the semis, at P3 and P7, surrounded by various Russians, Ukrainians, and Frenchmen.
Kram/Chayka put in a 3:01 too, with a few bad restarts, though the race was largely two-up.
Anyways, I'm up with the French and the Poms tomorrow, which should be good.
Had a good draw in the early afternoon, but 33 laps in the other pilots had mishaps on takeoff putting me into a redraw.
So, late this afternoon I flew my heat with an Italian and a Swedish team, but only put down a 3:12. Personally, I was hoping for a little more than that, but the tune was undercomped and we had to wait for landing models to clear our segment before release.
However, Trev & Steve put in a solid 3:30 with room for improvement, while Fitz and Mellins came through in a reflight to record a 3:07.
So, at the end of day we have 2 Aussi teams in the semis, at P3 and P7, surrounded by various Russians, Ukrainians, and Frenchmen.
Kram/Chayka put in a 3:01 too, with a few bad restarts, though the race was largely two-up.
Anyways, I'm up with the French and the Poms tomorrow, which should be good.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
So tonight I'm gonna party like I just did a 3:09!
After round one we're in P4 with a 3:09, behind Sur/Sur, Alo/Ing, Bon/Ler, which feels pretty solid. I had originally guessed that the semi cut-off time was going to be 3:15, though it looks like it's going to be a lot less than that!
Still, the Aussie team is bringing the smack-down with a 3:14 from Fitz and Mellins and a 3:33 from Trev and Steve. All had some bad luck in the race, so these times should improve, too!
The jury has been excellent, along with the general level of piloting, which I think has contributed to the number of quick times put up yesterday. It was also great to see Wingetner/Devenish and Fluker/Lambert get quick times on the board with 3:13 and 3:11 respectively.
There was a bit of a screw-up on the flight line before our race which lead to Asher/Asher getting DQ'd for overlength lines, so the organisers put ourselves and Mihinov/Sobko in the reflies instead. However, I drew the Russians again, though with a Swedish team as well. It was a smooth race with good airspeed and flying, which no doubt encouraged fast times.
Today we clean the engines up, go out for official practice, then fly our second round with Surugue/Surugue (FRA) and Richter/Tetjukov (GER).
Before all of this, however, I need to find me a croissant.
Still, the Aussie team is bringing the smack-down with a 3:14 from Fitz and Mellins and a 3:33 from Trev and Steve. All had some bad luck in the race, so these times should improve, too!
The jury has been excellent, along with the general level of piloting, which I think has contributed to the number of quick times put up yesterday. It was also great to see Wingetner/Devenish and Fluker/Lambert get quick times on the board with 3:13 and 3:11 respectively.
There was a bit of a screw-up on the flight line before our race which lead to Asher/Asher getting DQ'd for overlength lines, so the organisers put ourselves and Mihinov/Sobko in the reflies instead. However, I drew the Russians again, though with a Swedish team as well. It was a smooth race with good airspeed and flying, which no doubt encouraged fast times.
Today we clean the engines up, go out for official practice, then fly our second round with Surugue/Surugue (FRA) and Richter/Tetjukov (GER).
Before all of this, however, I need to find me a croissant.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Random events
So the championship is now under way, and we've spent the last 4 days getting up at 6am, practicing and working on the planes until 12-1am every day. So, I'm understandably tired (I think).
We had some issues getting the gear to work at first but they seem to have been figured out in time for processing and the first heat tomorrow. I've drawn a Russian and an American team, which should be heaps of fun.
Some other events have happend to ourselves and the Aussie team too, including, but not limited to:
1. Nipple-crippling the father of the current F2C world champions
2. Tricking our Hungarian friends into "holding" our empty beer cups while we scampered off to the car.
3. Being accused of stealing dinner plates by the competition organiser.
4. Subsequently being stalked by 15 year old security staff.
5. Being dragged off the combat field by aforementioned matrix-esque security staff.
All in all, I think we've so far lived up to our reputation as convicts...
We had some issues getting the gear to work at first but they seem to have been figured out in time for processing and the first heat tomorrow. I've drawn a Russian and an American team, which should be heaps of fun.
Some other events have happend to ourselves and the Aussie team too, including, but not limited to:
1. Nipple-crippling the father of the current F2C world champions
2. Tricking our Hungarian friends into "holding" our empty beer cups while we scampered off to the car.
3. Being accused of stealing dinner plates by the competition organiser.
4. Subsequently being stalked by 15 year old security staff.
5. Being dragged off the combat field by aforementioned matrix-esque security staff.
All in all, I think we've so far lived up to our reputation as convicts...
Monday, July 28, 2008
Photographs!
Monte Carlo!
Boats!
Pole position!
A bus tackling the hairpin
Lots of smart cars in Monaco, though this one is a Brabus (!!!)
Something from Modena, I think
This was the only part of the factory I was allowed to take a photo of!
We drove over those mountains - 150km of hairpins. Not recommended.
Generally this is the result.
Those buildings were actually rendered concrete with the details painted on...
Our designated, but not dedicated driver.Grand Prix
Unfortunately, we couldn't practice on the Friday before the grand prix, so we had to wait until the next morning and fly at the practice site some 15min from the main field. We played around with the top ends a little bit, and managed to get the 2 practice models going okay.
Round one went well - we drew Sosnovsky and Dhozodaev and still cranked out a 3:13 with a couple of bad starts. We figured this would make the semis so we switched to our slowest model to get some flying practice. Unfortunately, we cooked pretty badly in the sound round and had to retire.
The next day we got decent settings on both the engines, and put in a 3:14 or 15 with the old model and psyched up for the semis.
These went badly imho. The weather changed dramatically between the rounds and the semis, and so we went up lean into the first round, dropped some airspeed, and only did a 3:20. The second heat was going well for a 3:10 or so, when the tank stuffed up and caused the motor to quit on the second stop. So, DNF and no final place for us. We wound up in 5th, behind Surugue-Surugue, Samellson-Axtillius, Ougen-Surugue, and Sosnovsky and his pilot.
But it wasn't all bad as Dad came 18th(!!!!!!!!) out of over 70 entries (!!!!!!!!) in F2B, so it was his shout at the bar.
Opening today, so I think we'll take it easy, and maybe go through the rest of our tanks to make sure the same problems don't repeat themselves.
Au Revior!
Round one went well - we drew Sosnovsky and Dhozodaev and still cranked out a 3:13 with a couple of bad starts. We figured this would make the semis so we switched to our slowest model to get some flying practice. Unfortunately, we cooked pretty badly in the sound round and had to retire.
The next day we got decent settings on both the engines, and put in a 3:14 or 15 with the old model and psyched up for the semis.
These went badly imho. The weather changed dramatically between the rounds and the semis, and so we went up lean into the first round, dropped some airspeed, and only did a 3:20. The second heat was going well for a 3:10 or so, when the tank stuffed up and caused the motor to quit on the second stop. So, DNF and no final place for us. We wound up in 5th, behind Surugue-Surugue, Samellson-Axtillius, Ougen-Surugue, and Sosnovsky and his pilot.
But it wasn't all bad as Dad came 18th(!!!!!!!!) out of over 70 entries (!!!!!!!!) in F2B, so it was his shout at the bar.
Opening today, so I think we'll take it easy, and maybe go through the rest of our tanks to make sure the same problems don't repeat themselves.
Au Revior!
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