The Utah Valley Aeromodelers Club out at the Saratoga field has been holding pylon racing for years. Last year they started an electric class using GWS Warbirds. They have continued their high-speed gas class as well, which alternates heats with the electric class. The electric class has been gaining ground, and is growing quickly, while the gas class has been diminishing.

The Utah Flyers Organization wants to join with the UVA in electric pylon competition, and this thread is here to help our gang of flying maniacs get in on the action.

I've spoken with Jason Gillies, who ran their electric class last year, and he went over their rules and specs with me, so I'm going to put as much info as I have here in the next few posts and try and keep it updated.

The pylon races are held out at Eagle Mountain on a sod farm.

March and November are "iffy" months for their schedule, but they plan on holding races on the 2nd saturday of every month all year, weather permitting.

I'm including the UVA 2008 schedule, and a map here.

To order your parts, first go here:

http://www.utahvalleyaeromodelers.com/

Click on the RCHOTDEALS.com link on the right of their page. Doing this is what gets the club good deals, including prizes to be given out. If you just go directly to RCHotdeals.com, the club doesn't get prizes or discounts.

In the drop down "Select....Go To Anywhere From Here" select "Combo Packages"

Select the third one from the bottom 240918CB

Change the ESC from Suppo-20A ESC to HW18A ESC
Change Motor from 2408-21 to 2409-18SS (+$5.00)

SS stands for "Short Shaft", which keeps your shaft from getting bent as much.

Jason Gillies from UVA recommended getting replacement shafts.

in the drop down "Select....Go To Anywhere From Here" select "Motor Mounts and Shafts" and order the first item "Spare Shaft for Motor 2409-18SS W/Prop Adapter".

Any 3S or 4S battery is allowed in the race. Nobody has used 4S in the past, but a few including Jason are planning on it this year.

Planes can be purchased from Apex in AF or Some Dudes on Redwood Road, and if you mention the UVA club racing, they'll sell the white slope glider versions for $25.

Jason mentioned that most of the guys will actually have 2 or 3 planes ready to fly because they are constantly running into each other or crashing.

Now THAT'S my idea of a GOOD TIME!

Your order should look like the attached image.

The contest rules and point system can be found on the UVA web site following this link. There's also a thrust chart which sheds light on what setups get you speed and thrust with the approved electronics.

http://www.utahvalleyaeromodelers.co..._2A/index.html

I've been using this web site heavily since I found it. It's a great tool for estimating conditions, including temps, wind speed, wind direction, cloud cover, and precipitation. I'm including it here in case it will help people plan their travels according to conditions.

http://www.usairnet.com/cgi-bin/laun...=KPVU&state=UT

Anybody can compete in these competitions as long as they are using the approved electronics. You don't have to be a club member, nor do you need AMA. People come from all over the Wasatch Front to compete, and they usually have 15-20 people flying in multiple heats.

The more people we can get to come and do combat after the competition, the more likely we'll get more people joining us for combat. Talk about ulterior motives!

The competition is sponsored by GWS, who provides free plane kits to the club as prizes. So chances are, if you crash a plane one week, you'll win one another week.

These races are only once a month, so they won't really pose a threat to our regular combat sessions, the combat may just move to the sod farm on the second week and we'll do combat there before or after the races, depending on time of season.

If they push it back a week, I'll have a UVA spec'd plane ready for racing!

I cant believe they would allow a 4S setup. Maybe the added weight offsets it but seems like you would just want a 4S setup to go faster than others.

Maybe it instantly burns out the motor so you are out of the race anyway. Those motors are kinda sensative to voltage.

I'm with Jon, 4s has to be faster, even if it weighs a little more.

I think they've been more focused on having consistent setups and winning by skill rather than winning by design advantage. But after flying 3S all year in 2007, it sounds like some of the guys are ready to advance in speed - both to make it more exciting, and to make it more challenging. The faster you go, the harder the course is to fly cleanly.

The motor can probably handle 4S, but it depends on the size of prop you choose. The faster you fly, the wider your turns are, and the longer it takes for your plane to build speed back up because you're gonna be spinning a smaller prop. Smaller prop means less torque, and these planes are not efficient, they scrub speed fast.

So a 3S setup may appear way faster than a 4S just because it has the torque to regain speed after scrubbing it in a turn.

Would the little red motors we've been using be a better choice for GWS pylon? I know they're better on wings, which can use smaller props, but don't the GWS planes need to fly with 8 or 9" props?

It has been my expreience that an 8" prop is minimum. I flew on a 7x6 and it was terrible on the Corsair for the motor I had.
This could be fun.
I would agree that they are smart to keep things as simple/cheap as possible. Especially when the chance to pile up a plane are very high. I dont want to be running around with a $400.00 setup and have some idiot fly right through my plane. Not that a guy like Todd would do that. ..... Please put your hand on your heart and remember the Formosa of Love.



There is always one of those guys (Finch) who would be able to always get a faster motor and it may limit the participation of 95% of those interested if it too hard to compete. I would agree that it would be fun to go faster than you can get a fat GWS warbird to go.

We just need to play along and find out what works for these guys.

A plane that would be a good faster, but still cheap and easy, would be the slipso.
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=428821

WOW that happens to be the EXACT configuration on my spitfire!!!!

I'll give you something to remember me by Todd. Oh and by the way John, there's no way I'm slowing down in front of you again.

I agree that an arms race would not be fun. But the motor in this class sucks, imo. When you have to buy spare shafts to replace bent shafts due to just landing, that motor is too cheap. I wish they'd have picked a different motor. In the end motor selection is likely of minor importance when compared to piloting skills.

I've got a slipso 3/4 of the way done. The build is much more difficult than a gws kit, but the additional speed might keep me interested longer.

I don't think it would be a hard sell to get everybody to move up to a better motor if the price of the motor were agreeable. Jason said several times that after reviewing what's out there now, especially from the United Hobbies site, that he wishes he could move it up to something a little nicer.

But somebody has to do the R&D and prove that a specific motor is a good fit for those planes. Then we can sell it to others either as an upgraded class of warbird racing, or as a replacement for the existing class. The best time to do that is now, before the season gets going.

I don't have a plane ready to go, but I do have some motors that could be tested if somebody had time. I don't, I'm slammed at work.