Once upon a lost race week an aerodynamic consultant had made a deal that would result in actual $$$ being paid for actual mph on course. All I had to do was produce the modifications and prove the speed was real.
The end of the story is that I produced the first of five highly experimental planned mods during an all night session from 2320 9/10/01 to 0530 9/11/01. We all know what happened then.
The unspoken part of the story is, in some ways, relevent to the current situation on the boards. I did not continue working for that team as they had gone in other directions (such is the nature of Unlimiteds and I have absolutely no ill feelings). I did at the time put every effort I had into making them faster.
During the afternoon of 9/10, the team was troubleshooting an issue with the gear uplocks that was costing them many mph. This troubleshooting left me with mods to do that meant money to me and no way to start them for the entire evening. To say that I was a little anxious is an understatment.
A couple of friends saw me wearing myself out fretting over the lost time and decided I needed some food and counseling. After their rather insistant care, I was much refreshed and better focused when the uplock problem was finally solved at 2300 and I was able to push through my all-nighter. For the record, I created hard templates of the existing oil cooler exit duct attachments, went to my shop and designed and fabricated tooling plugs for new outlets taking into consideration the airflow patterns from the prior day's oil streak testing (left and right hand), and fabricated new outlet ducts. At 0530, they were set up and I placed them in the back of my truck bed for post curing while I got some sleep.
(Technical note: The bed of a pickup truck with a black bedliner or black mat will reach 60 to 100F higher temperatures than ambiant in direct sun and makes a fine post cure oven.)
While I slept, the world changed.
That I lost the work with that team is of little signifigance. What is important (outside of the obvious) is that a couple of people dedicated to air racing saw me running out of steam and helped me out. Those people run this site.
On a completely different note, I was also one of the people who joined (and later quit) the Rare Bear effort during its tumultuous period that is still going on. I could say many things both good and bad about what I saw and experienced. I won't. I will say that I wish the team the best of luck and I do think that the press should be unbiased and not push any one team over another no matter how noble the effort. That said, the Bear team is being very open and communicative about their efforts and, with other teams being so close mouthed, it is somewhat understandable that this site has a great deal of material on the Bear and very little on less open teams.
These are opinions, nothing more.
It is possible that the Bear will either dust everyone or wear them all out. It is also possible that she will blow. We really don't know and that's what makes it a race.
Good luck to all!
Eric Ahlstrom
(who forgot his password and is in between e-mail accounts)
The end of the story is that I produced the first of five highly experimental planned mods during an all night session from 2320 9/10/01 to 0530 9/11/01. We all know what happened then.
The unspoken part of the story is, in some ways, relevent to the current situation on the boards. I did not continue working for that team as they had gone in other directions (such is the nature of Unlimiteds and I have absolutely no ill feelings). I did at the time put every effort I had into making them faster.
During the afternoon of 9/10, the team was troubleshooting an issue with the gear uplocks that was costing them many mph. This troubleshooting left me with mods to do that meant money to me and no way to start them for the entire evening. To say that I was a little anxious is an understatment.
A couple of friends saw me wearing myself out fretting over the lost time and decided I needed some food and counseling. After their rather insistant care, I was much refreshed and better focused when the uplock problem was finally solved at 2300 and I was able to push through my all-nighter. For the record, I created hard templates of the existing oil cooler exit duct attachments, went to my shop and designed and fabricated tooling plugs for new outlets taking into consideration the airflow patterns from the prior day's oil streak testing (left and right hand), and fabricated new outlet ducts. At 0530, they were set up and I placed them in the back of my truck bed for post curing while I got some sleep.
(Technical note: The bed of a pickup truck with a black bedliner or black mat will reach 60 to 100F higher temperatures than ambiant in direct sun and makes a fine post cure oven.)
While I slept, the world changed.
That I lost the work with that team is of little signifigance. What is important (outside of the obvious) is that a couple of people dedicated to air racing saw me running out of steam and helped me out. Those people run this site.
On a completely different note, I was also one of the people who joined (and later quit) the Rare Bear effort during its tumultuous period that is still going on. I could say many things both good and bad about what I saw and experienced. I won't. I will say that I wish the team the best of luck and I do think that the press should be unbiased and not push any one team over another no matter how noble the effort. That said, the Bear team is being very open and communicative about their efforts and, with other teams being so close mouthed, it is somewhat understandable that this site has a great deal of material on the Bear and very little on less open teams.
These are opinions, nothing more.
It is possible that the Bear will either dust everyone or wear them all out. It is also possible that she will blow. We really don't know and that's what makes it a race.
Good luck to all!
Eric Ahlstrom
(who forgot his password and is in between e-mail accounts)
)
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