What did you think of the races this year (2015) ??

[supercub]

I camp at the Air Races and was there for 9 days. Personally overall, I thought the races were GREAT.
Here's my 2 cents. First off, the races were safe, I believe the worse incident was a T-6 that folded a gear. I don't believe any other airplanes were damaged in any classes. Also there were only a handful of maydays, resulting in airplanes completing races, so there was no question as who was the fastest, with a couple of exceptions.
Yes, the unlimited's were down over last year, but 2 of the racers were unable to show or the field would have been larger then last year. The unlimited racers on Friday, Saturday and Sunday was some of the best I've seen. I believe next year we will see more unlimited's with Czech Mate, Steadfast, Mike Browns P-51 and hopefully Precious Metal in the field. Next year will also be the return of the Blue Angeles.
We had a record number of Sport class racers and having the slower aircraft on a smaller course was a good move.
I heard someone comment that the Jet races are just a parade, well that wasn't the case this year. Saw some good passing, resulting in some good racing.
Biplanes saw a new record and as always some great racing.
F-1's, well, no one ran away with this one, was some good racing
T-6's as always is a toss up, who know's who's going to win, stock airplanes, result in close racing.........oh ya and noisy racing too.........love it !!
Next year the Blue Angeles are already schedule and they're a big draw.
The one comment I heard over and over again was..........long gaps between races/airshow acts.
I think when aircraft retrieval is happening the next airshow act should be in position and ready to go after the last airplane has landed.
The time between takeoff and aircraft forming up to air start could be filled by some short demonstrations, such as the jet car, Cub Crafters short field take off and landing, RC flying, or whatever to fill the void time.
This was a great year of racing, I think next year will even be bigger and better.............I already have my RV spot reserved for 2016.
Brian

[GRNDP51]

Re: What did you think of the races this year (2015) ??

I camp at the Air Races and was there for 9 days. Personally overall, I thought the races were GREAT.
Here's my 2 cents. First off, the races were safe, I believe the worse incident was a T-6 that folded a gear. I don't believe any other airplanes were damaged in any classes. Also there were only a handful of maydays, resulting in airplanes completing races, so there was no question as who was the fastest, with a couple of exceptions.
Yes, the unlimited's were down over last year, but 2 of the racers were unable to show or the field would have been larger then last year. The unlimited racers on Friday, Saturday and Sunday was some of the best I've seen. I believe next year we will see more unlimited's with Czech Mate, Steadfast, Mike Browns P-51 and hopefully Precious Metal in the field. Next year will also be the return of the Blue Angeles.
We had a record number of Sport class racers and having the slower aircraft on a smaller course was a good move.
I heard someone comment that the Jet races are just a parade, well that wasn't the case this year. Saw some good passing, resulting in some good racing.
Biplanes saw a new record and as always some great racing.
F-1's, well, no one ran away with this one, was some good racing
T-6's as always is a toss up, who know's who's going to win, stock airplanes, result in close racing.........oh ya and noisy racing too.........love it !!
Next year the Blue Angeles are already schedule and they're a big draw.
The one comment I heard over and over again was..........long gaps between races/airshow acts.
I think when aircraft retrieval is happening the next airshow act should be in position and ready to go after the last airplane has landed.
The time between takeoff and aircraft forming up to air start could be filled by some short demonstrations, such as the jet car, Cub Crafters short field take off and landing, RC flying, or whatever to fill the void time.
This was a great year of racing, I think next year will even be bigger and better.............I already have my RV spot reserved for 2016.
Brian

I'm already planning on 2016 being the revival and one of the best years in a long time. I agree with everything you said, took the words right out of my mouth. And your take on the unlimited field for next year is dead on, those are the aircraft that "should" be showing up. Throw La Patrona in there or another plane for Rod to fly (as I think he really wants to but just couldn't this year). And I always like to think 232 and Merced/Furias will be coming too. And don't forget Tobul's corsair, he had an airshow come up this year that took his time away from Reno and wants to come back next year. What about the Super Corsair Sanders family? You guys have 4 pilots

Can't wait, Blues will really help boost attendance. Long live Reno!!! Looking forward to 2016!

[ignomini]

Re: What did you think of the races this year (2015) ??

It was a noticeably safe year with some really good racing. I would like to hope we will see more Unlimiteds next year, but will the politics be any different? When owners say they won't come back, or cancel out, that's bad.

A particular nitpick of us box seat denizens has been the number of vehicles parking on the ramp to either watch races, or just parked and left. It was apparent RARA has worked to reduce this. Still more to be done, but kudos to RARA for hearing us and doing something.

The Blues are great. Would never be opposed to them, but the Breitling L-39 team put on an excellent display. I'll take them, or the Patriots over the Thunderbirds these days. With fewer Unlimiteds, the racing ended earlier. That was OK, but I'd rather see a full Unlimited field. We used the gaps in the show for conversation/food/Sanihut racing. Never felt the pace was too slow, but would love to see the addition of a big biplane or warbird aerobatic routine. The tumbling is amazing, but so are the Horsemen.

The announcing was arguably as awful as ever. Insanely loud, and full of inaccuracies. Some of the race participant/annoucers are actually far better than the "pros." The woman from Spain (sorry, don't have her name) was wonderful.

The ultimate decider of how well the event came off: will we be back next year? Heck Ya!

[Reever]

Re: What did you think of the races this year (2015) ??

It was a great year. Good racing and the unlimited Gold was very competitive between three top flight racers. Focus and appreciate what you have instead of dwelling on what you don't have.

[FlyKidChris]

Re: What did you think of the races this year (2015) ??

The announcing was arguably as awful as ever. Insanely loud, and full of inaccuracies. Some of the race participant/annoucers are actually far better than the "pros." The woman from Spain (sorry, don't have her name) was wonderful.

I've already lost track of the errors by the professional announcers. "Hoot Wilson" in place of Hoot Gibson? And there were so many more.

I did enjoy the class representatives who did some announcing - or "color commentary" during their race classes. The Frenchman (?) announcing IF1 was quite knowledgable. I had a harder time with the woman as her accent was a bit too much for me at times.

[wadeh]

Re: What did you think of the races this year (2015) ??

I've been a long time (many years) lurker here and have finally decided to register. This seems like a good place to start.

I've been going to Reno every year since 1999, and usually have at least one of my sons with me and sometimes my wife. The reason that I wanted to post is that this is the first time since 2010 that I returned home enthusiastic about the future of the event. Last year, we brought some friends with us and they returned this year. This year, we brought some new friends and they were over the top enthusiastic about the event. They will be back.

The racing was safe and competitive. While the unlimited field was short, there were 3 contenders and lead changes in each gold race. The jet class is normally ho-hum for me (I'm an old unlimited hydro fan and feel that turbines have ruined that sport)...but this year, it was exciting and fun. The sport class is awesome. There were 36 airplanes in the field and John Parker got a well deserved win. Dave Morss was in a slow plane, but it was beautiful with an awesome sound and placed first in a couple of heats to get Dave on the fire truck. The T-6 gold on Sunday was incredible, with Chris Rushing moving up from silver and then slowly working through the field to catch and pass Nick Macy on the last lap for second place. I liked that the weather allowed the biplane gold on Sunday to happen later in the day. Lots of people in the stands around us arrive late enough that they miss the biplanes (my son and I get there for the first race every day). It was interesting to hear the comments as people got to see Tom Aberle and Phantom for the first time. And we always enjoy the formula 1 races. It was great to see Wasabi do well, and we were pulling for Thom and Hot Stuff (we bought lots of stuff from the Precious Metal pits to help support them).

I realize that there are lots here that miss the live streaming, but NBC cameras were everywhere this year. I have to believe that the exposure that's going to result from this will only help the sport. Crowds seemed up this year, especially on Saturday, and if the NBC coverage is good, it should be more so next year.

The airshow was down this year. The acts that were there were good (especially Tora Tora Tora), but there were just less of them. We missed Kent Pietsch. It didn't help that the F16 had mechanical issues...but it was awesome that they credited several of the race crews for help getting it back in the air. We're looking forward to the Blues next year. I hope that they do Jato takeoffs with Fat Albert.

I want to thank the folks here, both those that run or help run the forum, and those that post. It's been great having the information here leading up to the races, and during race week.

We are already looking forward to 2016.

-Wade

[V1670]

Re: What did you think of the races this year (2015) ??

Well, it appears that everyone is in agreement. I too thought they were great I'm an inline-guy but sure enjoyed the performance of the Bear and Mr. Dawson. She was well turned-out and ran like the champ that she is. Next year will be even better. As always, see y'all on the ramp.

[RAD2LTR]

Re: What did you think of the races this year (2015) ??

I thought this year's races were good. Sunday was pretty amazing. Fantastic racing on Sunday, not to say the racing was bad on Saturday but Sunday was really good stuff. The crowd did seem larger, and the whole attitude of the crowd and the races themselves was more upbeat and positive. In short, it was fun to be there, more so than the past couple years. I hope the new racers in all the classes enjoyed themselves and will return next year.

If this year was a precursor to next year, I can't wait for next year.

Will

[RAD2LTR]

Re: What did you think of the races this year (2015) ??

I do think the attendance was up for this year. I shot this Saturday afternoon after the Silver Unlimited heat.


Will

[GRNDP51]

Re: What did you think of the races this year (2015) ??

I do think the attendance was up for this year. I shot this Saturday afternoon after the Silver Unlimited heat.


Will

Nice picture, it did feel pretty crowded. We sit in the F seats which are pretty much on the home pylon and it was pretty crowded around us. That picture shows that the far left proffered grandstands are pretty empty and that's what I saw throughout the weekend. I think because it's pretty far off from home pylon it's worth it to go in the free stands at that point.

Box seats were pretty full as well!