Fun Sports Pylon Racing:

"JIM RUN FASTER!" That guy is so slow - Have to get another helper.

The scene is from the 100 lapper race event - Details Below!!

Serious racing after a while sometimes gets boring. To create more fun - try a novelty Pylon Event.

The beauty of this is - it ropes in the untapped talent at the club. It is good to see new people having a go. Quite often these interested people are somewhat frightened to start - they need an event that is a bit on the slower side - and something that will help to get their eye in.

Many of our very experienced pilots enter these events. It is great to get your thumbs working, and flying in these endurance races are ideal for everyone, beginner and expert alike.

You can sent any rules you like. For example - some have ruled to prohibit the use of the more expensive and faster engines. Also that models must be idling when landing - special sizes of props and event engine makes can be specified. It is all up to the organizer to dream up the event. However it must be mutually agreed by the contests that they are happy with the rules.

20 LAP HANDICAP: (This is really a Great System)

 

For many years I have played around with different methods of handicapping pylon events. 

The most logical one is to have separate trials to establish a handicap. This did not work because some of the guys to get a good handicap, purposely put in a bad run . You can do this a number of ways eg. Set a rich needle - overload the engine with a big prop - or just fly the aircraft badly around the course.

This striving for a good handicap actually destroyed the event - if a person won, he was immediately accused of Trial rigging. To counteract this I once included a system whereby - if a person breaks his handicap by a certain amount he suffered a penalty or even disqualification, but this did not solve the problem.

Actually the whole thing was somewhat of a nightmare to calculate and run. It also took up too much time to establish the handicaps, and people just wanted to get on with the racing. SO there must be a better way.

I then came up with a system which establishes a handicap whilst flying. I recorded a secret three laps, during the actual 20 laps of the race- and this would form the basis of the handicap. Everyone is told that the three laps will be timed - anytime within the race - so going slow could backfire.

The beauty of this system is anyone can win - you can win with a trainer. I usually schedule the event so that models are grouped in order of speed. You do not want a trainer flying with a fast racer or even a slick sports model. Sometimes it is nice to get new guys flying against their mates. You have to make the event interesting!

The course can be any size - the handicap takes care of any variation of distance traveled. Originally we started making this event over 40 laps - this kept the faster "Juice gobbling" models away. This however did present some problems, as the new guys had problems in concentrating over such a large time frame and this resulted in very erratic flying. So we cut it down to 20 laps. This seems to work out well. Ten laps is too short a distance 20 laps allow a new comer to get his eye in.

This event (As with all these fun pylon events) are real easy to run in regard to helpers. This is because all the helpers are obtained from the contestants.

In my state of Victoria. The Victorian Pylon Body (VMPRA) will take our pylon trailer to any club - and even supply the trophies. In this way, we run a closed club pylon event for just the local club members. They really seem to get hyped up about this. This service is just a promotional tool to put pylon on the map in our State. It also helps in giving pylon a good - friendly name.

I eventually found that the calculation of the results became a nightmare - so I bought a programmable calculator, and did it all in algebra. I currently have a - SHARP-EL-5120.which is in the middle range as far a calculators are concerned. I have also had a number of others and they all perform in a similar way. I use this calculator for other things - you can store a rather large number of formulas on it. If you are unsure how to program it - just give it to a student and he will take no time to get the formula in - as they are doing it all the time.

The Formula for 20 Lap Handicap Pylon Race is: (If you want to change it to 40 laps all you have to do is transpose 40 for 20 in the formula)

X={[((varM1x60)+varS1]x[(varC1/20)+1)] / [(varH1/3)x20]} 100 enter

Command 1 X enter Note / = divide

 

Where Variables are:-

X = result

M= minutes

S= Seconds

H= Time in Seconds for the three lap trial

C = Number of cuts recorded

With this little system the calculator prompts me for the variables and after hitting the enter key I am immediately given a percentage score. No hassles what so ever! and it is very quick!

This is the percentage achieved against the handicap - the contestant with the lowest percentage is the winner.

This event has now become a major part of the racing scene in Victoria Australia.  It enables us to run pylon at new club fields. In fact we have now organized a round robin event whereby points are being accumulated to have a class champion over the series. We have even selected a model that is very sporty and slow which is the RCM X-Pert.  Which is a very old 1970's design.  I even have one - it is nice to throw something around in the sky on occasions, and this model is okay for that.

We have broken down this handicap event into two classes. Expert and Novice.  I decided that we will give the Novice pilots a very good chance to win - so their score will be related to get below their 100% target.  However if they get below 90% that round is disqualified.  So anyone can win the Novice class.

For the ex-pert it is a different situation he is the better pilot and should be able to fly with accuracy and consistency - we expect him to be around the 100% - which means that he flying exactly to his handicap - a thing that I do not believe a Novice can accomplish.

Note:  I have now programmed this so that all these calculations can be done using an Excel Spread Sheet.  In this way we are able to take our Lap Top Portable Computer down to the field and use it to calculate all the results.

The program also shows E and N which is short for Expert and Novice.  I suggest that when the event is finished -  the multiple sort facility of  excel can be used to determine the result.  

You achieve this by clicking DATA and then SORT. Then select column B and then column H. (This is not necessary - but it is rather easy).

That will give you a sort of the Variances from the desired target within E (Expert) and N (Novice).  Just play around with it and it will become clear to you.  Remember save this original program as a TEMPLATE and in this way you will not lose it.  So then if you make a mistake - just delete the whole document and start again.

Click this to get excel program:

 

100 LAP PYLON RACE:

This event is rather simple.

Each contestant flys 100 laps and during that time he must make 10 landings. The model cannot be taxied back to the pits. The reason for this is during the course of the event, some of the taxiing became very erratic - in fact real dangerous. So a rule was brought in that the engine must be stopped and the model carried back to the start line for a restart. Pictured above is my caller running with the aircraft that was owned by Terry Dodds. It was Terry who was yelling out to him to go faster - not me!

To win this event you must have a good landing aircraft and a good starting reliable engine.

Naturally the winner of the event is the contestant that has the best time for the 100 laps

THREE HOUR ENDURO:

There are a number of versions of this - all with different time frames. I personally liked the three hour event.

In this you have a team of three pilots - they call for each other. You also have a mechanic and a person who sits in No1 cage - he operates the timing light. After a max of 15 minutes the pilots are changed. They are alternated throughout the three hours.

This is a great fun event and really brings team spirit into pylon. Winners are often in the 800 to 1000 lap ranges - plenty of flying on the day - this certainly blows the cobwebs away.

I have found that in these longer events, it is better to have a reasonable size course, as the smaller courses, make things very hectic - as you are in the turns all the time - Our FAI course is ideal.

The Winner is the team that records the greatest number of laps during the three hours.