from Reno 1983
shawn
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from Reno 1983
shawn
Hi Neal, Yes, it is me, Steve Hill, Crew Chief, Team Nemesis and former F1 prop builder...Quote:
Originally Posted by wingman
Hello back, Steve. Birgitta says to say Hi.
How many Reno Championships do your propellers have at this point?
Who's making props for the class since your retirement? When I left Racing I think everybody but the two or three slowest Bronze were running Twisted Composite props. How many are still running? How long do you think one of your props can remain raceworthy?
Neal
Hi Birgitta!Quote:
Originally Posted by wingman
My props were on the F1 Gold Winner every year from 1991 to 2017. I sold the prop-making business to Eric Dienst, an F1 pilot from the Chicago area operating as Rev'd Up Composites. I don't know how many are still running but I suspect quite a few. Carbon fiber construction has an extremely high resistance to fatigue so the props I made should last a long time. Thanks for asking.
These days I try to fly my sailplane as much as possible and also produce sailplane parts, do weight and balances, install new instrument panels, etc. Had a fun adventure riding along with another F1 pilot, Justin Phillipson, when we took the NXT from Moriarty to its home at NASM in 2018.
www.twistedcomposites.com
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I remember reading about that flight in the NXT when it happened. A pretty epic flight.
Has anybody ever written up a coherent account of the IF1 propeller odyssey -- the catastrophic failures of the metal props, the struggles with wood in going really fast. and the development (pretty much by one man) of the carbon fibre variety at the end of the 1980s? That's one of the many really interesting things that have always been going on behind the scenes in Racing -- other examples might be fuels in T-6, props in Unlimited, kit vs one off in Sport, and on and on. The fans never see this stuff, but I find all this -- the engineering, the testing, the in-class politics -- really fascinating. There's a lot of Air Racing history that's never been written and may never be. You were around for some of the USARA-PRPA-IF1 battles that were tearing things apart in Jon's early racing days.
It sure was tight in that NXT cockpit. Crappy photo plane, too. It's a good thing it went so fast...
Neal
I guess we killed this thread...
Does seem that way.
Maybe a Mustang for today? I opened the window of the Press bus for this. It was much more comfortable than standing out in the sun and wind.
Neal
I'd love to learn more about the IF1 propeller odyssey, I really don't know much at all about it. Maybe we could start a separate thread?Quote:
Originally Posted by wingman
I'd certainly be interested in exploring this. Steve Hill is a very big piece of the story, but it would be good to also get a man named Bill Rogers involved. He has posted here in the past as "Billro". Bill was crew chief for John Parker's championship efforts in Formula 1 and was involved in the great political battles between Eastern "sport plane" racers and what he considered the "real racers" in the West, as well as the propeller issues ongoing through everything. All this, with breaking metal props and crash landings was happening at much the same time. It was a very interesting and confusing (to insiders and to outsiders alike) time. Many interesting, complicated threads to the story. I wonder if Steve Hill would be interested in such a discussion?
Neal
Have you ever had to pinch yourself to believe all the things you've gotten to experience in aviation?Quote:
Originally Posted by wingman
Due to my memory loss, I get to rediscover things I've gotten to do by sorting through my files.
1997, just a fan who had discovered the power of the Internet..
Probably should be in the what a ride thread but.. Neal posting that shot just made me think of how extremely fortunate some of us are to get to experience stuff like this!