Soooo....Nobody's Talking Precious Metal?

[BEARCLAW777]

Re: Soooo....Nobody's Talking Precious Metal?

as a precious metal fan i was so happy to see them there with all of there engine troubles they had. but i do love the new paint job and i asked them about the new canopy Part and they told me the old canopy that when up and down the arm wore out plus they wanted a easy way to escape if some thing bad went happen and i think they will be back next year ready to kick some but

[Wild Bill Kelso]

Re: Soooo....Nobody's Talking Precious Metal?

After the race engine failed we had to change game plans. Finish the gold on Sunday, and we met that goal. We still had a few unknowns as well. Would we have enough spraybar water, or adi to finish an 8 lap race?! Ended up we had plenty.

[AAFO_WSagar]

Re: Soooo....Nobody's Talking Precious Metal?

After the race engine failed we had to change game plans. Finish the gold on Sunday, and we met that goal. We still had a few unknowns as well. Would we have enough spraybar water, or adi to finish an 8 lap race?! Ended up we had plenty.

Fantastic effort by you guys! Hard to imagine any team, ever, that had to work any harder than you guys did! Talk about rising to it!

[AAFO_WSagar]

Re: Soooo....Nobody's Talking Precious Metal?

NOT to mention, you guys have a pilot who possess very large "begonias"... Taking that racer from coast to coast is an incredible feat in itself! Where's the discovery channel when you need them!

[W J Pearce]

Re: Soooo....Nobody's Talking Precious Metal?

NOT to mention, you guys have a pilot who possess very large "begonias"... Taking that racer from coast to coast is an incredible feat in itself! Where's the discovery channel when you need them!

Dude, you just said Thom has large flowers. Ease back on the IPA! We know what you meant and you are 1,000,000% correct. Let's just say a C-5 needs to fly under and sightly to the left of PM on that trip as a "support vehicle." They tried a C-17, but it could not handle it.

[AAFO_WSagar]

Re: Soooo....Nobody's Talking Precious Metal?

Dude, you just said Thom has large flowers. Ease back on the IPA! We know what you meant and you are 1,000,000% correct. Let's just say a C-5 needs to fly under and sightly to the left of PM on that trip as a "support vehicle." They tried a C-17, but it could not handle it.

LOL.. been watching too much Shelby Stanga

Completely but I remember the year that John Parker lunched his engine at the Nellis Air Show demo race... Bear crew had adopted him and were his Vegas crew for the event. Air Boss "Lips" Hertzberg walked by as the event was winding down and looked at the crew and said.. "anything I can do for you, just ask".. Somebody, probably PhotoMatt said, well if that C-5 hasn't left yet, we sure could use a ride..

I'll never forget the look on "Lips" face.. it was a.. "can we do this?? This would be cool! Let's try!" He picked up his cell phone, called the pilot and found out that they were already rolling and headed for the active..

I'll always dream about what the look on the folks in Reno's faces would have been, had this actually happened!

Baaack on topic.. Let's hear ir for a C-5 for PM's support vehicle!

[W J Pearce]

Re: Soooo....Nobody's Talking Precious Metal?

LOL.. been watching too much Shelby Stanga

Completely but I remember the year that John Parker lunched his engine at the Nellis Air Show demo race... Bear crew had adopted him and were his Vegas crew for the event. Air Boss "Lips" Hertzberg walked by as the event was winding down and looked at the crew and said.. "anything I can do for you, just ask".. Somebody, probably PhotoMatt said, well if that C-5 hasn't left yet, we sure could use a ride..

I'll never forget the look on "Lips" face.. it was a.. "can we do this?? This would be cool! Let's try!" He picked up his cell phone, called the pilot and found out that they were already rolling and headed for the active..

I'll always dream about what the look on the folks in Reno's faces would have been, had this actually happened!

Baaack on topic.. Let's hear ir for a C-5 for PM's support vehicle!

If it could have been done, Lips would have done it. The picture of the Bear crew in front of Blue Thunder race 351 at Nellis is hanging with pride in a place of honor in Parker's office.

[Wild Bill Kelso]

Re: Soooo....Nobody's Talking Precious Metal?

Next year I hope she comes to the left coast much earlier.

[AAFO_WSagar]

Re: Soooo....Nobody's Talking Precious Metal?

If it could have been done, Lips would have done it. The picture of the Bear crew in front of Blue Thunder race 351 at Nellis is hanging with pride in a place of honor in Parker's office.

In many ways, "those were the days!"

And yes, if Lips could have made it happen, he'd have done it...!

LOL.. the C-17 was not yet rolling... too bad that wasn't thrown into the mix.. "C-17, Stead tower... say again intention?"

[Thom Richard]

Re: Soooo....Nobody's Talking Precious Metal?

Thom and Wild Bill have been very quiet since Reno -- sheer exhaustion? They have had quite a year...

I'm tired. I have to acknowledge the incredible fan support, however. From AAFO and other sources. You guys have been incredible. I'm very humbled by the entire experience. Thank you.

PM will need a fair bit of work over the winter to become what we intended this year. The clock, and that ugly
Murphy guy, were not on our side But I think we slapped him pretty good across the face by just making to the races. (At least our cross country speed was faster than 50mph on a truck).

PM finished higher than ever before. With an old leaky boat motor. Overall, we really can't complain about that.

The concern on Sunday was running out of water, as a Griffon produces more BTU's than a Merlin. We succeeded however by putting 80lbs of ice on the radiator. We did not have to turn on the spray bar until the chute. We had water to spare once we crossed the finish line. However, we did not have enough to increase the power settings to pass the Bear and CM. we will work in this over the winter.

Reno was a great success this year, and I sincerely hope everyone appreciates that. Regardless of PM's final result.

You will receive updates from our group and a lot of historical info from this year's project soon. We were just too busy leading up to the races to post anymore than we did.

Personally, I'll be falling off the radar for a bit, recovering. Not to worry though. More exciting things will come to a theater near you...

All the best,

Thom

[xmh53wrench]

Re: Soooo....Nobody's Talking Precious Metal?

THANK YOU THOM!!!!

Always looking forward to when you do check in, you and your team are 100% CLASS!

[FlyKidChris]

Re: Soooo....Nobody's Talking Precious Metal?

I'm tired...
...All the best,

Thom

Thom,

Thanks for posting. There's no doubt that PM looked better than ever before and that alone is testimony to a huge effort.

You made it in time, started all the races and finished the races, all in the Gold Class. And that is a success, too. Congratulations.

Also, I like the new paint scheme.

See you next September.

Blue skies,
Chris

[Hans Oberev]

Re: Soooo....Nobody's Talking Precious Metal?

Thanks for being so open with your great effort! I will go out on a limb and suggest that your spirit and passion has captured the attention and loyalty of the same crowd that was drawn to Rare Bear and Galloping Ghost! PM looks awesome in her new paint and canopy. To be honest, my first reaction was one of disappointment but that first picture posted on AAFO of PM had the canopy open, looking like an AT-6, old and slow! When closed she is a thing of beauty! Paint and lines just scream fast and sexy! Better than ever! Well done.

From what I've read on AAFO, a new camshaft was installed just prior to the race. What caused the failure? As stated the hybrid motor had this year's top end. I'm assuming this would mean new cams, valves etc. Was it an oil starvation issue? Any relation to losing the bottom end bearings?

Will you be bringing a spare engine next year like Voodoo? You wound it up pretty good last year and I don't think you had a spare so doubt as some have suggested, you let the one engine program dictate how hard you run it. Worry about getting back to Florida later right?

Looking forward to another year of posts from Precious Metal Air Racing. Hopefully you have the plane up and running by June leaving adequate time to test, tune and tweak all new systems for maximum performance. In a perfect world where resources are not an issue, this would probably be the obvious goal. Good luck!

Chris Ober

[wingman]

Re: Soooo....Nobody's Talking Precious Metal?

Thank you Thom. You did look good out there...

Neal

[wingman]

Re: Soooo....Nobody's Talking Precious Metal?