Competiton Report - Sunday 20 May 2007

Event 2 saw a slightly reduced entry with Barry being the only 7 cell entry, with the remainder flying open class on LiPo, with Tony also flying cells in his S-11.

Opening the flying, Barry put in a decent 21 legs albeit with some cuts. Following Barry, round 1 saw Nigel put in a solid 43 legs with his B-06, just dropping short on the landing from the maximum. Mark switched from the Evolution and S-14 flown in the last competition, to fly his B-06 on 4S. Opening up with 40 legs - a personal best. Dick again flew the S-13 on LiPo with the Kontronik motor, putting in a respectable 33 legs and a good landing. George opened up with the S-14 putting in a score of 33, underlining the difficulties the UK pilots have had with obtaining consistent results with the S-14. Tony again flew his 'vintage' model converted across to 6S LiPo. An opening 30 legs with this model showed the advantages of LiPo even on older airframes.

Round 2 resulted in lower scores. Nigel put in a disappointing (for him) 39 legs, which should have been 40 except for some dodgy advice given to him by his timekeeper. George switched to a S-11, and recorded 38 legs. Over-enthusiastic flying by Mark saw him record 34 legs with a number of cuts at both base A and B and Dick backed up his first round score with 32 legs. Barry improved his first round score, but still managed to cut base B, so there's still some gains to be made. Tony switched to a S-11 on 16 cells and recorded 30 legs but with a slow brake on his ESC somewhat killed his speed into the course.

Round 3 scores improved, indicating the 'bad air' everybody thought had come through during round 2. Tony switched back to his LiPo-vintage setup and improved on his first flight. Barry again improved in 7 cell. Dick managed a personal best of 35 legs with his S-13. George reverted back to the S-14 after problems with a mis-firing ESC on the S-11. Looking like he was dropping short on the landing, George gave a short burst of motor, which resulted in the need to go around to hit the landing bonus, which hurt his duration time. Nigel put in another solid 41 leg flight and Mark managed 38 legs but was let down by a poor landing bonus.

Round 4 scores echoed round 3. Tony reverted back to the S-11 on cells and put in his best round of the day, vowing to convert it to LiPo to improve the performance. Dick was disappointed with his 29 but struggled with orientation and trim after switching models. The rest of the pilots backed up their previous round scores with similar performances in the last round.

No models were damaged although one prop was dramatically shortened from 15x16 to around 5x16 when a throttle stick was caught when a model was on the floor. A number of motor start problems were encountered. Barry's was traced to a faulty battery pack. Georges S-11 had difficulty starting before failing with an unexplained problem, which sort of indicated a phase loss. George also encountered a stuttered start on his S-14 in round 3 which led to a final round comedy moment…

..Launching for George, Mark called 'ON' and just before releasing the model the motor didn't start when expected. Thinking that a no motor launch was about to occur, Mark held onto the model, which promptly started but with the nose now pointing earthwards. Mark held onto the plane rather than launching it into terra-firma. The result of this caused Mark to stumble facing the prospect of flattening £1000 of F5B model with a 17 inch prop still running at full power. Fortunately George killed the motor, Mark managed to drop the model undamaged onto the floor before completing a forward roll ending up flat on his back. At least the gathered spectators found it amusing.

The final result reflected last month's competition with Nigel again taking top spot, followed by Mark, George, Dick and Tony. Barry took the 7 cell honours.

Round 1

Competitor
Legs
Time
Motor
Landing
Points
Score
Nigel Potter
43
9,59
6
20
1043
1000
Mark Haigh
40
10,04
3
30
1023
980.82
George Shering
33
9,58
6
30
952
912.75
Dick Whitehead
33
10,01
9
30
950
910.83
Tony Wilson
30
10,02
11
30
917
879.19
Barry Flude
21
9,43
26
30
797
764.14

Round 2

Competitor
Legs
Time
Motor
Landing
Points
Score
Nigel Potter
39
9,59
4
30
1015
1000
George Shering
38
9,58
4
30
1004
989.16
Mark Haigh
34
9,57
3
30
964
949.75
Dick Whitehead
32
10,04
9
30
937
923.15
Tony Wilson
30
9,51
6
20
905
891.63
Barry Flude
22
10,02
10
30
838
825.62

Round 3

Competitor
Legs
Time
Motor
Landing
Points
Score
Nigel Potter
41
9,57
6
30
1031
1000
Mark Haigh
38
9,57
5
10
982
952.47
Dick Whitehead
35
10,04
6
20
960
931.13
George Shering
36
10,22
5
20
953
924.35
Tony Wilson
31
9,59
5
30
934
905.92
Barry Flude
23
9,57
11
30
846
820.56

Round 4

Competitor
Legs
Time
Motor
Landing
Points
Score
Nigel Potter
41
9,56
5
30
1031
1000
Mark Haigh
37
10,06
4
20
980
950.53
George Shering
36
9,58
6
20
972
942.77
Tony Wilson
32
9,56
26
20
910
882.64
Dick Whitehead
29
10,05
4
10
891
864.21
Barry Flude
20
9,44
30
20
774
750.73

Result

Competitor
Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Round 4
Total
%Age
Nigel Potter
1000
1000
1000
1000
3000
100.00%
Mark Haigh
980.82
949.75
952.47
950.53
2883.82
96.13%
George Shering
912.75
989.16
924.35
942.77
2856.28
95.21%
Dick Whitehead
910.83
923.15
931.13
864.21
2765.11
92.17%
Tony Wilson
879.19
891.63
905.92
882.64
2680.19
89.34%
Barry Flude
764.14
825.62
820.56
750.73
2410.32
80.34%