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Sunday the 15th of Septembre - a
sandstorm. It is still not sure if the finals will take place. |
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The teams of the unlimited bronce class
were lucky - their races started already at lunch time. The teams of the unlimited bronce
class were lucky - they started their races already at lunch time. |
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As the silver group was due for the start
the light breeze had already become a storm. |
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Against all hopes the storm grew stronger
until the prospected start of the Gold Race. The race organizers left it to the teams to
take part and after a meeting of all the pilots they decided to fly except one team. |
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"Hoot Gibson" with Riff Raff
half a body lenght in front of Jim Eberhardt with Merlins Magic. |
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A very close race in the Unlimited Bronce
- Ole Yeller in a narrow lead. |
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Start of the Unlimited Gold. A few
moments before Steve Hinton in the T-33 "Chase Plane" has radioed the famous
words "Gentlemen, You have a race". |
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Wingtip on wingtip over the finish line
and the crowd is cheering. |
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Dennis Sanders taxies with his Sea Fury
Mk.11 "Argonaut" to the take off. |
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As if you could touch it -
Argonaut at Pylon #2. The race track is off limits for spectators but selected reporters
are allowed to acces this area. |
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The living legend of air racing:
"Miss America" now since some years owned by Dr. Brent Hisey from Oklahoma City.
For the first time this year a Merlin engine tuned by engine professional Rick Shanholzer
was used. |
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A fantastic moment - the first test
flight with the new race engine. Copilot: Gerhard Schmid. The feeling: indescribable. |
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Above Stead Airfield. Engine test with up
to 80 Inch Manifold Pressure on a secure altitude. |
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Jim Eberhardt taxies with his P-51D
Mustang "Merlins Magic" to the runway to race a few minutes later in low level
flight over the race track. This Mustang is slightly modified but on the exterior you will
only notice the modified wingtips. |
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One day later: During the qualifying on
the race course and 110 Inch Manifold Pressure the RR Merlin Engine bursts. A Mustang is
no sail plane and quite fast the speed decreases and the plane stalls especially when you
were flying only some feets over the desert ground. At the touch down "Miss
America" bumped into a hole in the ground and the undercarriage broke so that the
Mustang came to a stop on it`s body and some heavy bruises.
At least Brent was lucky that he wasn`t injured at all. The lower picture shows the hole
in the engine - here a childs head would easily fit in. |
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"Risky Business", is the
heavily modified P-51D Mustang of Bill Rheinschild. From its outward appearance it looks
very close to the stock model but this is a wolf in a sheep`s clothing |
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It`s name is bringing it to the point: it
is surely not free of any risks to race over the course in such a low level with 700 km/h. |
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Ike "Red" Enns is really part
of the inventory at the Reno Races. |
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Ike Enns during the race. He had to quit
in round 5 of the Unlimited Silver with his "Miracle Maker" due to technical
problems. |
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"Bad Attitude", Bill
Rheinschild's second "race horse" is a Hawker Sea Fury, taxiing along the
spectators to the take off point. |
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"Bad Attitude" showing the
markings of the Canadian Air Force on the race course. A real bad attitude would surely
not be the right prerequisite for a succesful race. |
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Of one of fastest unlimited racers is Tom
Dwelle`s #10 "Critical Mass", a heavily modified Sea Fury. |
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After some promising training results Tom
was caught by bad luck: while taxiing to the pits his undercarriage gave way and
"Critical Mass" was seriously damaged and had to withdraw. |
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As a former airline pilot Stewart Dawson
has for sure amassed some hours in his flight log. |
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But it is very far from being a routine
thing to fly a mighty Hawker Sea Fury in a race against 7 opponents . |
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"Spirit of Texas"coming back
from the race. With an average speed of 400 mph Stewart finished on the 6th place in the
Gold Class. |
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A home game for Michael Brown and his
heavily modified Sea Fury "September Fury". His home town, Carson City, is only
a few miles away. |
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In the second year now #232 in this
undercoat colour scheme. It really IS undercoat!!! |
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With nearly 456 mph in the final Michael
Brown finished 2nd in the Unlimited Gold. |
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#4 "Dago Red" won for the 4th
time in a row! Piloted again, as in the year 2000, by Skip Holm the "Hired Gun". |
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Dago Red had a fairly easy task after all
serious competitors failed to complete the training without having more or less severe
problems or accidents. Average speed in the final: over 466 mph. |
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Also from Carson City comes Randy Bailey
with the Sea Fury "September Pops". You can recognize the trainer version by
it`s longer canopy. |
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Randy comes back with the #911 after a
succesful race. |
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The P-51D Mustang "Flying
Dutchman". This machine is an unmodified aircraft from the stock and takes part in
the Unlimited Bronce Class. |
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The flying dutchman on the race course.
Piloted by Dan Martin it reached the 3rd place in it`s class. |
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As in the year 2000 Bill
"Tiger" Destefani with his #7 Strega had no luck: at top speed the lower cowling
just fell off and parts of the engine were damaged. |
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Also some nightshifts of the ambitious
team couldn`t change luck - "Strega" had to withdraw. All the fans hope for a
comeback in 2003. |
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"Furias" is a thoroughbred
racer. This Sea Fury was equipped with a R-4360 radial engine with 28 cylinders and
over 70l cubic capacity. To level the massive torque the rudder had to be enlarged. |
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Art Vance decided for securtiy reasons
not to take part in the final. A sandstorm made the race more difficult for all the pilots
on the Sunday afternoon. |
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With 435 mph Matt Jackson won a superb
3rd place in the Unlimited Gold. Everything went well this year for the Team
"Voodoo". |
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#5 "Voodoo" during a race. |
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A very oustanding appearance is Ron
Buccarelli`s P51 "Precious Metal". It is the only P-51 without a RR Merlin
engine of all the competitors. Underneath it`s cowling works the mighty RR Griffon
engine. |
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Here you can clearly see the
contrarotating double propellers of this extremly modified Mustang. |
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Back to earth. Ron finished with an
average speed of 381 mph in the Unlimited Silver on the 3rd place. |
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"Riff Raff" was again this year
flown by Robert "Hoot" Gibson. |
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Just a few years ago Hoot piloted the
Space Shuttle and now he is an airline pilot. |
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And after there breakdown in the year
2000 the team "Riff Raff" didn`t have to face any major problems this time.. |
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Who ever visited a US-Airshow some years
ago knows the "Ole Yeller". Flying legend R.A. "Bob" Hoover perfomed
finest aerobatics with it. Today this legendary Mustang is owned by John Bagley. |
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Here you see a russian Jak-11 taxiing to
the take off. It is Thomas Camp with #27 "Miss Trinidad". |
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Low, close and fast - that is what Jimmy
Leeward with his P-51D "Cloud Dancer" is known for. Jimmy finished 2nd in the
Unlimited Bronce. |
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