Guess no one reading this thread made it to TX in '85. Maybe I'm just getting old, it was a long time ago.

Jim

I'm going to move onto that Great British invention in racing - the Club 20 pylon class. IMHO one of the best racing classes ever. If you've got some photos or memories post them here.

I'm new to rc, and I prefer warbirds, but I have a couple of my Dad's old quarter midgets that are in decent shape that I could try to post pics of if you are interested. He raced back in the 70's and 80's.

Please do..

Originally Posted by fizzwater2

Please do..

I will try my best to post decent pics. They are both Sharks that my Dad raced and sold as a kit. I rescued them from my Mom's garage a few years ago but they both have some hanger rash now. It's very ovbious which plane is the newer of the two.


By uncleanone at 2011-05-24


By uncleanone at 2011-05-24


By uncleanone at 2011-05-24


By uncleanone at 2011-05-24


By uncleanone at 2011-05-24


By uncleanone at 2011-05-24


By uncleanone at 2011-05-24


By uncleanone at 2011-05-24


By uncleanone at 2011-05-24

Thanks for sharing those! The Qm15's were always my favorites. I didn't race much, but sure had fun with them.

We had Quarter midgets briefly in the UK too. The problem as always was once people started using Rossi .15 and Super Tigre G20/15 motors they became too expensive and too fast. The rules required a rise off the ground start which meant a working rudder and they had to be capable of staying put at idle without the assistance of a helper. Four servos in a very small aeroplane meant a high wing loading back then.

Club 20 was the brainchild of outstanding all round aeromodeller and magazine editor David Boddington. The idea was that Clubs should enter a team of four pilots and compete against other clubs. The models were deliberately very simple and only two servos were used for aileron and elevator. Rudder/elevator was an alternative but I never saw this arrangement used. Mustard Tin fuel tanks were used with a fixed pick up. At the end of a race pilots merely flew inverted for a few seconds and the motor cut. Early models were fitted with an undercarriage. Ground take offs were at the Contest Director's discretion but this was quickly abandoned in favour of a simultaneous hand launch. To keep costs low just six motors were allowed. All motor modification was banned. These were if my memory serves me correctly: the Fox 19 stunt, the Enya 19, the OS 20, the Webra 20 GloStar, the Veco 19 and the HB20. All were simple cross flow motors which had to use a commercially available injection molded prop. They also had to use the motors standard silencer (muffler).

The classes popularity was aided in the early days by the fact that the best motor, the Fox was also the cheapest. This was largely because its exhaust had the biggest outlet and so was the least restrictive but it was also the noisiest. To even things up an exhaust restrictor of 8mm was specified. This killed the Fox and we entered the relative stability for awhile at least where the Webra and the Veco 19 were the favoured motors.

Around this time the first Club 20 kits started to appear with fibreglass fuselages and foam wings from firms like Cotswold kits and Flair products. Club 20 really took off and by the time I entered my first Nats in 1978 there were 67 entries in the Club 20 class. Because of the popularity of the event it was decided that a British motor should be eligible. The motor chosen was the then new Irvine 21. Because it had Schneurle porting rather than crossflow it was obviously a much more modern design. To even its performance a 6mm inlet restrictor was fitted as standard in the Club 20 version. In spite of this the Irvine rapidly came to dominate the class. To open the competition up other Schneurle ported engines became permissable. this then led to a short period of dominance by the new Webra 20 and HP20. The HP in particular was fitted with the same muffler as their 40 size motor which was very non restrictive on a motor of this size. Undaunted Irvine produced a new motor with a large silencer with an internal minipipe. They regained the advantage. Eventually it was decided that any motor could be fitted with the muffler of any other make. Both the Irvine 21 and the HP20 were roughly equal when fitted with the Irvine muffler.

This should have been fine except that along came the OPS21. This was an expensive contest motor that should have killed the class but in fact the exact opposite happened. They were all consistently of very good quality which meant anyone could buy a winning motor. The OPS with the Irvine pipe was to dominate for the next 10 years or so bringing a remarkable period of stability to the class and ensuring its continuing popularity.

Many of Britains best pylon racers honed their skills on Club 20 and went on to become successful in FAI F3D and other forms of racing.

Nice pics,

I always loved the shape of the shark wing. I had a couple of F1 sharks that Lyle Larson sold back in the late eighties.... At least I think it was then?

D.E.

Originally Posted by D.English

Nice pics,

I always loved the shape of the shark wing. I had a couple of F1 sharks that Lyle Larson sold back in the late eighties.... At least I think it was then?

D.E.

My Dad sold his Quarter Midget and Formula One Shark kits up until he passed away in the mid 80's. My Mom shipped the molds out to some guy and let him sell those kits in an effort to bring some extra cash into the house to make ends meet but it didn't work out the way she wanted it to. He also made a Napier Heston Quarter Midget kit as well.

Mr. Brushaber's (sp) Shark was one of my fastest QM ever. I once turned a 1:12 when the record was 1:11 with it. I love the pictures. True Treasures.

Dan Kane

I used to race fai when the magic muffler was popular then we changed to full tuned pipes whole new world {lol} i now fly a GR 7 and it is quicker than those old fai models

Stu

Bump it to keep this alive!

I found a old unbuilt Formula One Shark kit my Dad used to sell as well as a unbuilt QM .15 Shark kit he sold while cleaning my parents basement. I also found a fuselage mold and a couple fuselage plugs. I didn't have too much time to look at them but I think they could be used again with a little love.

I'm preparing a whole lot of Club 20 photos for this thread when I get the time and then that great British invention Sport 40.

I've been following this thread with great interest. During this time frame I was a teenager flying Q500 and always wanted to get into F1. As luck would have it I bumped into one of my mentors of the time at our club meeting, a gentleman pictured here Lou Rodriguez. It was great to see him and talk about the good ole days.