Why did QM [ 2.5cc ] end ? and when ?

Does anyone have a complete story ?

I thought it a popular event , or was it just a slow death ?

I loved QM.

I too want to know what happened.

I flew with Gail Jacobson, Bob Reuther, Austin Leftwich etal....

What happened?

Dan in Atlanta

OK, I lived through it so I'll take this one on. This is the executive summary; for more details you'll need to follow up with others because I really don't have time to rehash it all.

The last QM15 contest was the NMPRA championship in Rough River, KY, in September of 1993. This followed the adoption of QM40 in place of QM15 in the 1991-'94 AMA rule cycle. The reason for substituting one rule formula for another was to promote participation right off the bat using one of the existing Nats time slots, of which there were already 4 at the time: QM, Q500, Formula 1, and FAI (F3D).

Prior to 1991, QM had endured about a decade of stagnation and steadily declining participation. There were many theories and proposed rule changes discussed, including allowing tuned mufflers, allowing higher nitro, reducing the airframe weight, increasing the displacement to .21, and abducting people at gunpoint to show up at contests. Ultimately the Contest Board was persuaded to change the formula to increase the size of the airframe and copy the existing Q500 engine specs (a front-intake, side-exhaust .40 with tuned muffler on 15% nitro). The theory was that you could take your Q500 engine off your Q500, bolt it into your QM40 semi-scale airframe, and fly 2 events with the same type of powertrain. No one would have to buy new engines, and the parts would be interchangeable.

The first official contest for QM40 was the 1994 Nats in Lubbock, TX. As predicted, turnout was good, 30 entries or so. But due to the immutable laws of physics and the cumbersome/corrupt nature of the AMA rule change process, engines and props quickly evolved so that a Q500 powertrain would not do the job. But the physical size of the case and muffler were still the same, and the front-intake engines running on 15% fuel were much more user-friendly and a bit quieter than the Formula 1s. Also, the airplanes were just as fast or faster, and there was no scale judging ("beauty contest").

I must say I loved the QM15s, but they were basically just little F1s -- loud, high-maintenance (with modified wood props, tuned extractors and crankcase pressure), and tricky to take off from grass fields. IMHO, the better solution would have been to transplant Q500 engines into the existing F1 airframes and let "speed creep" take care of the fact that they would have started out slower than Q500s. As it was, the smaller airframe specs for QM40, coupled with the inevitable speed creep, meant that within a season or two, the QM40s were faster than the F1s. This had not been the goal. But the proponents of the smaller airframes insisted that no one would bother to fly a semi-scale airplane unless it was guaranteed to go faster than a Q500, so we ended up overshooting on the airspeed.

That's the short version.

Cheers,

Duane

Thank you ..

I did like the 2.5cc Concept ..

Noise suppressors would have dealt with the DB , larger wheels with grass fields , but I did like watching QM more than the other classes for some reason ..
Maybe cos at the time I was flying 2.5cc Control line events .

DHG,

What it wasn't because of sinister plan by the people of the Midwest to eliminate Formula 1?

DK

I wish I were half as clever as some seem to think!

Dan, that's capital P in "People of the Midwest"...

Eddie Jump actually flew his Shark F1 when we were at the Wichita race a few weeks back. Those things really sound off, don't they? I might have to dig out my old Prather Toni and see what it would take to get it flying again.

I had an all wood Caudren. Don't remember which kit it was (DeBolt???) but the engine was in a crutch that was removable with the fuel tank. I sold the plane abut a year ago but still have the Cox .15.

QM was an affordable event IMO. I got in on the decline so never flew that much. We often had Q500 and 1/2A at the same event. 1/2A was FUN. I still have my TD.051 also!

Ken

Originally Posted by fizzwater2

Dan, that's capital P in "People of the Midwest"...

Eddie Jump actually flew his Shark F1 when we were at the Wichita race a few weeks back. Those things really sound off, don't they? I might have to dig out my old Prather Toni and see what it would take to get it flying again.

Got it!

Nice, were you guys around at the NATS when we flew ours?

DK

Yep.. almost makes me want to dig out my Prather Toni and get it set back up. I think I still have the original S130 servos I had in it. I don't have a Nelson F1 engine, but do have a K&B F1 engine in the "collection" still.