March, 2005

ULA
FORUIII
FORIVI
MARCH/APRIL 2OO5
THE IF1 JOURNAL
FORMULA FORUM
Formula Forum
IF
IFl
EXECUTTVE
@ 2005
VOLUME XVI
NUMBER 2
International Formula One COMMITTEE
Pylon Air Racing,
[nc. All
rights reserved.
Formula Forum is the official
publication of International
RAY SHERWOOD
President
1821 Coldsprings Road
Formula One Pylon Air Placerville, CA95667
Racing, Inc., A Texas Non- 530/626-6106
Profit Corporation. Member RayyJayy@aol.com
of the Air Racing Council of
ING.
the United States.
BIRCH ENTRIKEN
Website: http://www.
Vice President
P.O.Box 3760
iflairracing.com
CONTRIBUTIONS
Articles appearing herein may 530/s62-1363
be edited and are the opinion bentriken@ earthlink.net
ofthe authors and not necessarily the opinion of IFl, Inc..
GARY DALLESKE
Contributions should be sent
to the Editor, BiIl Rogers at
Secretary
3212 Western Drive
Cameron Park, CA 95682
Jeffrey.Gunn@sce.com
TOM DeHART
P.O.Box 1431.
Klamath Falls, OR 97601
s4t/883-3320
grandmaosgolds@aol.com
CHARLIE GREER
Pilot Committee
Place,
5274 Soledad Mountain Rd
San Diego, CA92109
858-270-4s32
SlloPke@aol.com
PC floppies in WP,Word or
Technical Committee
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adelphia.net. Text on CD or DIRECTORS
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DlSCLAIMER
JEFF GUNN
Operations Director
P.O. Box 6235
ED BOWES
Promotions Director
2301 Irving
Lincoln, NE 68521
IFI is open to
pilots, owners, crews, and 402/477-2966
technical people active in ebowes@neb.rr.com
Formula One Air Racing.
Members $60, Non-voting Webmaster - Ray Debs
Associate Members S35. raydebs@aol.com
Applications are available
Membership in
from the Secretary or on line.
GARY HUBLER
Caldwell,ID 83605
2081454-9585
ghubler@starband.net
DAN GILBERT
Procedure Committee
12508 Jewell Street,
Bellville, MI 48111
734/699-5649
dgilbrt@comcast.net
RULES
For IFlTechnical rules, send
a
check
for $5.00 to
Secretary, payable to
cover cost
the
IFl,
to
of printing and
mailing, or check on line.
COVER PHOTO
John Housley, a McDonnell (whoops Boeing)
engineer wheels Aero Magic around a Reno
Pylon last
John Garrett photo
year.
FORMULA FORUM, MARCH
2OO5
CONTENTS
3. President's Report
Ray Sherwood
4. VP Page
Birch Entriken
Ib Hansen
5. Tech Tips - 0-200 Race Prep 1
6. Caption Contest
Roger Sturgess
8. Eric Matheson
Gary James
9. Letters
10. Odds and
1 1. For Sale
_
President's Report
understand how IF I could
conclude that the Reno National Air
Races was a Championship Event when
that was the only air race in which IFI
was involved. The solution for IF1 is
obvious, hold more Air Races. I believe
IFl can realistically support six Air
Races ayear if we schedule them
correctly. The season finale at Reno will
have more meaning to everyone if we
accomplish this goal.
Ray Sherwood I could never
g
IFl
also informed us that secure parking is
available at the Seward event for IFI
entries.
Mr. Bob Cannon of Cannon Aviation
Insurance fame has graciously donated
$1,000 to IFI toward expenses
associated with making these races
possible. IFI will contribute tow money
for all entries to help defray costs of
supporting these races. It is my intention
that each entry will receive at least
$1,000, plus a free hotel room for pilot
and his crew (2 rooms) at Page and
Tunica. We accomplish this goal by
spreading the prize money to the entries
of these events with the thought in mind
that no IF1 entry loses money for
supporting an IF1 sanctioned event.
is now on the road to make this plan
areality. We have a new three race
schedule concluding with the fourth
Championship race at Reno in
September. Our first race is scheduled to
be at Page Airport, located on the
outskirts of Yukon, Oklahoma, over the
Memorial Day weekend. The following
weekend we race at Tunica, Mississippi,
To control confusion and make
the second largest casino area in the
decisions at IFI race events, the Board
United States (Las Vegas is number I ),
has wisely decided to put one man in
and we conclude this three race circuit on charge at our races. The Page and
the 4ft of July with a one day race event
Tunica events will be run by the very
at Seward, Nebraska (near Lincoln). This capable Jeff Gunn and the Seward race
race schedule was intentionally built to
will be run by the also very capable, Bill
allow IFl1o fully participate in the Reno Rogers.
Air Race Association rookie school
scheduled for June 16 - 19,2005.
All of these IFl races will be on a
measured race course and around
The IFl pilot interest has been most
constructed portable pylons which
favorable, and it does appear from my
stand erect about 30 feet in the air and
early survey that we will have at least 18 hopefully with a lighted rotating beacon
entries in the first two races, and at least
on the top of each pylon.
8 entries for Seward. The Seward race is
a one-day event and as we are limited in
Entry for these IFl races is open to all
time, it is my suggestion that we do the
lFl Members and positions will be
qualiffing for Seward at the Page event.
determined by speed qualification. entry
Charlie Greer has graciously volunteered forms for the Page Race are scheduled
to do the race qualifications for all pilots, to go in the mail in early March,
old and new, prior to this race. We have
followed shortly thereafter by the
adequate time on the race course at Page
Tunica entry forms and the Seward
for plenty of practice and qualiffing on
entry forms in May.
Friday, as we are the only race aircraft in
this event. Secure parking is available for I am happy to report that the Board has
all participants who wish to leave their
a financial report and overall we are in
trailers prior to moving to Tunica for the about the same financial position as we
following weekend race. Ed Bowes has
Cont. onPage l0
FORMULII FORUM, MARCH
2OO5
VP Paqe
Birch
Entriken
Just a few things to touch on this month.
If you are going to rent an RV (the kind
you sleep in) for Reno, now is the time
to get on it. They rent out early and the
Burning Man festival overlapping the
beginning of race week doesn't help. For
the
i past several years, I have used Sierra
;t $ nv 775-324-0522.They have nice new
X units and will deliver and pick them up.
When you advertise on the "For Sale"
page, which includes the printed
Formula Forum and the website, please
keep me informed of any changes or
deletions to your ad. I recently surveyed
everyone with an ad and found at least
three dead ads, two incorrect email
addresses and one expired phone
number. Buyers can't find you if your
contact information is no longer current.
In addition, space in the printed Forum
is extremely limited, so its important not
to take up space with deadwood.
Aviation Trivia Department: From
Aviation Firsts,336 Questions and
Answers by Joshua Stoff, "Who was the
first person issued a sunmons for flying
a helicopter illegally? The first person
issued a summons for flying a helicopter
illegally was Roland Roelofs of
Riverdale, Maryland, on April 3,1948.
Roelofs was given a violation for
btzzingthe White House and Capitol
Building at an altitude of 200 feet."
Seems high for someone with that last
name, but there you have it.
Budde with 99. Number 5 is Ray Cote
with 112 races in three classes. At
number 1, with 149 total races in five
different classes is Dave Morss. That is
a lot of left turns any way you look at it.
Lastly, as many of you already know,
long time Formula One pilot and former
owner of Yellow Peril, Eric Matheson,
passed away in January after a long
battle with cancer. The funeral was held
in Regina, Saskatchewan. While the
family wasn't thrilled about getting tons
of flowers, we sent some anyway,
lacking a better idea. The message read
as follows: "In memory of a great
competitor and a magnificent human
being, with deepest sympathy,
International Formula One. "
Someone who did have a beffer idea
was Karen Morss. She proposes that we
hold a remembrance in September, a
race week race wake, if you will. This
will most likely occur at the Wednesday
evening mixer. Anybody with photos of
Eric and/or his airplane is encouraged to
send them to Karen. She will enlarge
them and we will display them at the
mixer. At that time we can toast to Eric
and celebrate his life. Anyone with an
Eric story can tell it. Karen's email
address is KarenMorss@cs.com, or
snail mail at775 Upland Road,
Redwood City, CA 94062. Also, there is
an online guest book that you can visit.
There, you can read a large number of
stories that people have written about
Did you ever wonder who has flown the
most races at Reno? Of course you
have. Karen Morss did some research
on this, and it turns out that of the ten
most experienced Reno racers, five are
current or former IFI pilots. At number
8 is Gary Hubler, with 94 totalraces in
three classes. Number 7 is Carl
Swenson with 96. Number 6 is George
Eric, and add your own. Ifyou knew
Eric, I'm sure you'll find it very
interesting reading. The address for the
site is quite a long string of characters,
so if you want it, please email me and I
will forward it to you.
Fly fast,
Birch Entriken
FORMULA FORAM, MARCH
2OO5
lb Hansen
IIwv to race prep
yo.zr 0-200
you are not familiar with this
find a local machine shoP and
have them do it or send it to
Naticmal Aeronautics, we will
be happy to help you with this.
I also use a Dremel tool and Put
some grooves in the camshaft
bores to helP increase lubrica-
I will start a series ofarticles about how to prepare an O200 for
Fl
racing.
As I do not know every thing I may
miss something but these me things I have done and they
work. It will be limited
for now to meet Fl specs
since that what I am go- tion,
ing to use it for, otherwise 200-250 hp would
be well within reach.
What about TBO
is
a
frequently asked question, if you are going to
race it vilro cares? If you are after 2000 hrs TBO dqn't
touch it. You won't get that anyway however, a well built
balanced blueprinted 0-200 is a better engine than a stock
engine out of the Continental faaory. Why? Because all
the parts and I mean every part is measured and
precisely fitted, and balanced to much tighter specs.
Where do you start? Tear down the engine and clean all
the parts. Then start with the crankcase. After checking
for cracks and not having found any, I start to polish the
see photo.
Later in the process after test assemblies has been done to
determine oil clearances between the crankshaft and cam
bearing surfaces I now start
to bake on the drY lube and
oil
shedding coatings, more
about that later. I know this
may be a bit boring but building a good engine starts with
this.
Next time we will work on
the crankshaft.
inside of the walls, remove all rough casting surfaces.
This facilitates oil scavenging and also removes crack inducers. Check that it is straight, use a good quality
straight edge to visually check the 3 main bearing bosses
for straightress also check the cam shaft bosses the same
way. Now
check
the mating surfaces
for flafiress. And
last check the deck
height of all the 4
cylinder base sur-
faces. On a high
time engine these
surfaces are going
1o be distorted.
Use a dial indicator
in a height gage on a surface plate and check that these 4
surfaces are the same height and that they are flat and parallel with the mating surfaces. If there are any distortion
re-machined, to get
at all, send it to a shop and have
rpm's it must be straight, if its no! some of the hp the ur-
it
gine produces get used up just to overcome intemal friction drag by misaligned parts. Its better to send the hp to
the prop. Check that the hydraulic lifter bores are not excessively wom. I have sleeved bores that where worn and
it works fine but I do not know if an FAA repair station
will do this. Also carefully check all threaded holes for
damaged threads, if any just install a helicoil in the hole, if
For some time I have been lookingfor
someone to write a series of articles on
preparing an 0-200 for racing. I qsked
Don Sanford and JackWells before they
lefi us but had no luck. Ib Hansen of
National Aeronautics did a couple of
these articles for his Cassutt
C ommunic ator new s I e tt er and the fir s t
is republished here with his permission.
Another qrticle on Crankshafts and
Connecting Rods willfollow next
month. Asfar as I lonw, that is asfar
as it goes but we need something on
how to make an engine live (piston/ring/
b e ar in g c I e ar anc e s), c ams haft s,
cylinder he ads magnetos/timing and
assembly. If some of you retired experts
will share your expertise we would all
appreciate it.
Bill Rogers, Editor and airframe guy.
FORMAL,A FORUM, MARCH
2OO5
Caption
Contest
Reno week
produces
some bizarre
photos. lf
you can come
up with a
better caption
send it to the
Editor.
Valuable
Prizes
1. Damn wooden airplanes - I knew I should have gotten rid of those termites
before Tech took a look at it.
1{*-r-.
_.. - d. :i
d
"#s.;.
7"'P;a
ra #*
,*'
,fff
FORMALA FORAM, MARCH
2OO5
,ffi
3. When I was Crewchief Charlie's wing was much shinier than this.
4. Portrait of a Professional
Bill Rogers photos
FORMULA FORUM, MARCH
2OO5
Eric Matheson
Roger
Sfurgess
Eric Angus Matheson lost his fight with
cancer on January 8th this year. Eric was
born in 1952 in Regina, Saskatchewan,
Canada. He grew up around and mostly
at the local airport where he learned to
sweep hangars and eventually to fly. He
flew F/A-18s with the Canadian Forces
and airliners for Cathay Pacific,
cropdusters and Formula One racers.
Eric joined IF1 in 1990, becoming the
owner of the ex-Bruce Bohannon# 92
which had been flown by Hoot Gibson.
The Texas crew taught him to fly, land
and take off, which ain't the most
natural thing in the world when you
have spent considerable time doing it in
If anyone in IF I needed something that
Eric had, it was willingly lent or donated.
Parts, information or a shoulder to cry on,
it was his way of paying back all the
people in the organization that had
encouraged him. Eric, a Reno Silver
winner in 1998, was elated when Dave
Roelofs achieved the same thing with the
aeroplane in last year's race. At Phoenix,
Eric and Rick Todd fought wingtip to
wingtip for many laps, who won? Who
cared? Eric's comment afterwards was
"That was damn dangerous. Let's go do it
again." Racer he was and a jewel of a
human being. Rest well Eric and
Godspeed with the emphasis on the speed.
Mark Johnson spoke for IFI at the
reception and celebration of Eric's life at
the Regina Flying Club. Neal Nurmi
donated some photographs that caught the
a747.
essence of Eric and
IFI
sent a flower
display which was eventually spread
among the ladies present. It was quite
remarkable that any flowers existed in a
place that was under snow, had not seen a
temperature above freezing for weeks and
was suffering with a wind chill in the
minus fifties.
PhOenix
'94
Neat Nurmi photo
Eric raced at l0 Formula One events
from 1992 to 1998; he was frequently in
the gold and he won the Fox Field
Silver in 1991, and after qualifuing
fourth fastest at231mlh, the Reno
Silver in 1998.
Eric was a racer, aeroplanes, cars, gokarts and even an attempt at boats, he
could relate the tales ofeach, good, bad
or just plain hair-raising in a most
eloquent way in a debrief or after a few
pints in the bar. Never was Eric boring,
in fact his intensity for everything he
did was phenomenal yet he did know
how to relax among friends.
FORMULA FORAM, MARCH
2OO5
lI wanted to be a pilot. I w(tnted to
i{oop and roll and soar vertically
gnd spin andflick my wings like a
',bird. I wanted to fly so clo,se lo
gnother airplane that I could
Veach out and touch it. It was my
and my dream came lrue.
@rro*,
Eric lngry ltqtlysgn
Letters
A Question of
Philosophy
Gary James
the Formula One class is that it gives the
competitor the freedom to create his
own airplane and try out his own ideas
and test them against others, on a moreor-less level playing field, all while
operating within the same "formula".
The creation of such airplanes as
Nemesis and the Miller JM-2 attest to
the success of this philosophy. On the
confi guration/aerodynamics is
other hand, the most numerous type of
prop
concerned. Engine and
related issues aircraft in the class is the Cassutt or
would not be addressed and would still
variations thereof. Would a "flock" of
be up to the individual builderlpilot.
nearly identical, high-performance
airplanes be any different than the
going
I am
over to the Philippines in
situation today where we have "flocks"
late February to meet with a company
of relatively low-performance Cassutts?
that produces the "quick build" kits for
Van's Aircraft. For the few that may not
Two different approaches to making
be familiar with Van's Aircraft Co., the
these airplanes come to mind. First,
RV series of all-metal aircraft is the
and probably the most practical way to
most popular experimental aircraft of all
start out, would be to make a composite,
time and more of them are completed
retrofit wing for the numerous Cassutt
annually than the single-engine
fuselage trusses out there. A composite
production of Cessna, Beech and Piper
version of the Ken Stockbarger wing
(such as the one that I designed for #69)
COMBINED! I am going over to meet
with Bonan za MetalCrafters to
would produce a good, upper-middle
investigate the possibility of having
Gold raceq with a top race speed
them assemble "quick build" kits of the
somewhere in the mid 240's. On the
Mini-IMP aircraft, which I provide to
other hand, a wing similar to that on
the homebuilt aircraft industry.
Nemesis would be no more difficult or
expensive to build and would provide a
Bonanza MetalCrafters tells me that
significant speed advantage. Ultimately,
they also have a significant composite
a wing like that on Dan Gilbert's new
capability and have approached me
racer could be produced, although at a
about making the composite parts for
higher cost due to its unusual planform.
the Mini-IMP as well as assembling the
A wing like that would be about the
metal parts. I don't really have much
maximum in performance that I can
interest in having them do this for the
conceive at this time. Would a bunch of
Mini-IMP, but it did cause me to think
those wings be "too much"? Would it be
about the possibility of having Formula
a bad idea to make wings of that type
One airplanes or components manuavailable for purchase to anyone who
factured. The question that this creates
says that they want to get involved in
in my mind is: Would having a bunch of Formula One? Where would one draw
nearly identical, high performance
the line?
Formula One airplanes be a good thing
for the class or would it be a bad thing?
One of the most attractive things about
Cont. on Page l0
An opportunity has arisen that may
allow the production of a relatively
large number of Formula One airframes
or airframe components at an affordable
cost. The airplanes would be of
composite construction and this allows
them to be designed and built in such a
way as to be highly competitive, goldlevel airplanes, at least as far as the basic
FORMAI.A FORUM, MARCH
2OO5
Odds and
I
WARNING:
This is the last
newsletter you will be receiving
you have paid your dues
1 unless
I witl have done so by April l0d',2005
or
,
t__*__l
President's Page Cont.
I
l
I
Congratulations are in order for Scotty
and Karen Crandlemire; they were
blessed with a son, Destin George
Crandlemire on January I 1th, a very
healthy 9 lbs l0 314 oz. Mother and son
are fine.
With a true race series coming up in
2005, perhaps we can have a true points
champion again for the first time since
Laughlin 1998. Ourrules give 10 points
for qualifuing as part of the field and 12
points for winning, reducing to I for l2n
have always been, year in and year out.
I believe we can tighten up on some of
our expenditures such as our annual IF1
Awards Banquet, and take advantage of
some of our marketing abilities, such as
the IFI on-line store, and increase our
income.
Please do not hesitate to contact me
with
any concerns, questions, or suggestions
that you may have. This is your bus, I'm
just the driver and your Board gives me
the direction.
Regards, Ray Sherwood
President, International Formula One
place.
THANKS to our
SPONSORS
.SHEI-L.
a.tI
.fiEEffSHEII
MICROAIR Electronics
The IF1 website www.iflairracing.com
makes interesting reading in the
Community pages - several people are
asking questions that perhaps you can
answer and in the Guestbook we have
Bill Berle, Chuck
Andrews Jr., Bob Moeller, John
Mirley, Scott Morris and various other
had visits from
interested and interesting folks.
10
FORMULA FORAM, MARCH
2OO5
Letters Cont. - Gary James
With composite construction, fu selages
and tail components could also be
produced. All-new airplanes similar to
Nemesis, Mariah, or Miss Behavin'
could be manufactured or a composite
"shell" could be made which would fit
over a standard Cassuff truss and result in
a beautiful airplane such as Miss Lynn.
Would this be a good idea? I don't know.
I would like to start a discussion on the
relative merits of "almost ready to fly"
Formula One racers. Would it be a good
thing for our class or a bad thing?
Thanks, Gary James
Charlie Greer has sold "Aggressor"
figuring that two airplanes is four times
the work of one.
On a sad note, Anita Infante lost her
mother on February 17ft - our
condolences to her and her family.
For Sale
Ads are free as a service to members.
AIRCRAFT
Teledyne Continental Parts at Racer
prices Mattituck Aviation. Mention IFI
Contact: Phil Haponic: a (1800) 6246680 info@airplane.com
Prior to
purchase
of
any aircraft,
please
contact the
Technical
Director for
any IFI rules
compliance
items that
may apply.
#92N17517 Cassutt 111 "Yellow Peril"
Silver winner 2004,Tapered Grove wing and
stab. 0-200 with2 hrs on fresh top end, 0 hrs
on new mains. New wheels/brakes. Many
spares, props, trailer and emergency chute
included $32,000
1105
a(928)
Contact: Luc
710-5309
-*FL.;-*-
# 99 N99DM Cassutt "Cool Runnings" best speed 247 . Plus 20 years of Formula
One stuff, spare carbon wing and tail,lg
parts, spares - race engine, test/ferry engine,
2 cranks,4 cams, 8 cylinders, 2 cases, lots of
pistons, carbs, mags, spiders, etc. 2 canopies,
several props including Owens 65, 68,70.
Race trailer. $50,000
7104
Contact: Dave Morss a(650) 592-3292
davemorss@pacbell.net
New Composite Parts
Light Weight 9" Spinners................ $90
...... $350
Wheel Pants..........
Assorted Cassutt Tail Feathers....... Ask
LED Flashlights, Super Bright, Compact
Size, Up to 155 Hours of Run Time on 2
AA Batteries.................................... $32
10% Discount to IFl members
Contact: Ray Sherwood a(530)626-6106
rayyjayy@aol.com
Graphite Race Props by Twisted
Composites- Run One or Follow One.
All-composite, race proven, record
setting, carbon fiber race props. 55x62,
55x64,54x65,54x66,
Contact: Steve Hill B (505)832-1148
Twisted Composites, LLC
PO Box 399 Moriarty, NM 87035
carbonprop@earthli nk. net
RCATS Wireless airborne telemetry
systems for your racer. l1 Channels and
up, including airspeed, G's, GPS track,
etc. Custom work available; used on 5
Fls at Reno. Calliemail for details.
Contact: Michael Luvara a@09)292_
9794 mike@rcatsystems.com
Cassutt Taperwing Flying Cassutt with
OWL Taperwing off "ALOIIA" former FAI
Custom Embroidery: Team shirts, hats,
Speed Record holder pre-NEMESIS. $11,000 jackets, etc. at racer rates for 72 pcs &
w/o engine or $16,000 w/
5104 up.
Contact: Steve Wohnorlpa a(417) 327-2489 Watch for monthly specials on our
steve_wohnoutka@yahoo.com
website: www.allstarwarbirds.com,
0-200
Cassutt Project stock wing, aluminum gear,
Cleveland brakes.
3/04
a(405)
Contact: George Budde
733-1449
patbudde@earthlink. net
Cassutt Parts. National Aeronautics has
Al and Steel landing
gear legs. Contact: Ib or Sue Hansen: I
(303) 423-0780
Cassutt parts including
PARTS
Sharon Sandberg: a (763)856-3148
SSandberg@aol.com
One of the VP's many duties is to keep
the "For Sale" section of this Forum
current. Ifyouhave aircraft and other
items for sale, please email me at
bentriken@ earthlink.net or call 530562-1363 and update me with any
changes. Birch
FORMAL,A FORUM, MARCH
2OO5
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Reno 2004, Two pretty planes - Dave Roelofs and Ed Bowes, pilots
PYLON AIR RACING . TIIE WORLD'S F'ASTEST ENGINESPORT
FORMULA FORUM
926 Rawhide Place,
Newbury Park, GA 91320
==-