Voodoo's first flight of 2013

[Mluvara]

Re: Voodoo's first flight of 2013

Voodoo completed testing with its primary race motor yesterday, running up to 100" MAP in flight =)

Michael

[Samuel]

Re: Voodoo's first flight of 2013

The engine itself has not been painted for this year. Rather than spend time trying to make things pretty (and worrying about the chemical stripper eating parts), the race motors are built up from parts Bob already has which are a myriad of colors. This includes swapping some cases, heads and banks, thus the unique combination of colors between motors. The prop governor came back from the shop with Larry's touch on it. The header tank was found to have a crack, so it was sent out and came back some random gloss olive color.

Michael

I am curious why new, major engine parts had to be used? The motor didn't see the Gold final in 2011.

[Mluvara]

Re: Voodoo's first flight of 2013

I am curious why new, major engine parts had to be used? The motor didn't see the Gold final in 2011.

The 'core' of the race motor has not really changed since last being raced in 2011. When Kerch and crew came on in 2009, parts were chosen from what Bob had on hand. Hovey and Frank on the crew had built the 2009 motor, so it really didnt change until 2010 when they started to dig into it. In going through the available engine cores, the quality and tolerances of parts varied, thus the reason parts were mixed. Each year, it was refined in some manner.

For this year, the motors were completely gone through and some upgrades done. The race motor was not properly pickled after 2011, so it contained rust and required a thorough rebuild, down to a level that had not been done since the crew came on in 2009. In this process, a lot of details from motor programs prior to 2009 were identified, corrected, and refined. This year's motor is probably the best the team has prepared.

Michael

[Samuel]

Re: Voodoo's first flight of 2013

The 'core' of the race motor has not really changed since last being raced in 2011. When Kerch and crew came on in 2009, parts were chosen from what Bob had on hand. Hovey and Frank on the crew had built the 2009 motor, so it really didnt change until 2010 when they started to dig into it. In going through the available engine cores, the quality and tolerances of parts varied, thus the reason parts were mixed. Each year, it was refined in some manner.

For this year, the motors were completely gone through and some upgrades done. The race motor was not properly pickled after 2011, so it contained rust and required a thorough rebuild, down to a level that had not been done since the crew came on in 2009. In this process, a lot of details from motor programs prior to 2009 were identified, corrected, and refined. This year's motor is probably the best the team has prepared.

Michael

Thanks Michael!