These photos are from the National Championship Air Races at Reno. Welcome to the world's fastest piston driven motor sport. The rules are simple. It has to fly, be powered by one or more reciprocating engines, and have at least one propeller. That's it. Front runners, like the six timed national champion Rare Bear, are highly modified WWII war birds. A couple scratch built specials have poked around the edges, but to date the Unlimited class has been dominated by brute force. |
After having been grounded for several years with a broken motor and no money, Rare Bear almost made it back in 2002. A fan sponsorship program brought in over $150,000 in donations to get the Bear in the air. Sadly, after months of frantic effort, gear problems caused the team to miss the qualifying window by five minutes. Air racing's most famous F8F Bearcat successfully returned to competition in '03. |
2002 was a bad year for radials. Critical Mass suffered a gear problem while taxiing, resulting in wing, prop and motor damage. The engine, a hybrid Wright R3350, is built to the same basic standard as the Bear's. For those of you in Rio Linda, That's 3,350 cubic inches distributed around two rows of nine cylinders each. These engines turn at roughly 3,000rpm and make over 3,000 horsepower. |
Precious Metal is a heavily modified, Rolls Royce Griffon powered P-51 Mustang. The counter rotating props are taken from a British Shakleton patrol bomber. Although a real crowd favorite, the plane has not been fully developed. It doesn't really matter. Watching those props swing is enough to make the plane a winner in my heart. I always try to buy at least one t-shirt from them every year. Its not much, but every little bit helps. |
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This shot looks incredible in a good viewer. Its a shame to have to give up so much resolution for the web. Whether or not the counter rotating props are effective, to the mechanically inclined they are certainly mesmerizing. |
Wow! Mike Brown's F7F Tigercat is an immaculate machine, and its the only Tigercat ever to have flown the pylons. Mike had engine troubles on his first attempt in 2003, but flew flawlessly all week in '04. Air intakes in the wings make a distinctive whistle in the air. The total sound experience from this machine is not to be missed. Its enough to have "Big Bossman" on the flight line, but its only one of three aircraft Mike brings to the races. |
The aircraft on course is a Hawker Sea Fury. With a 38 foot wingspan, its clear he is flying at under 100 feet of altitude. If he's on the clock, he would be traveling in excess of 400 mph. This is another shot which loses a lot of interest when presented on the web. |
